Not Derby Pie » main dishes

Mushroom Pea Curry

rivka — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 20:30:53 +0000

It’s a week after New Years, and I’m talking about vegetables. Could I be more predictable?

Yes, it’s that time of year when everyone you know has committed to hit the gym 3 days a week, quit cursing, and eat less meat. Personal experience tells me that while everyone clamors to steal my spot at spin class for a few weeks after the holidays, by mid-February, I’ve got my bike back (even if I have to call before 6 to reserve it – and yes, it’s that worth the early wake-up: Dave is my overenthusiastic spinning instructor who hasn’t bought a record since “Walking on Sunshine,” and I love him for it.)

I’ve made resolutions before. A couple Augusts ago, I spent an inspiring day with my friend Cathy (known to the interwebs as Mrs. Wheelbarrow), and felt so fired up by all the things we’d made that I spontaneously made a list of Kitchen Resolutions. You know what? I’ve done all but two – I’m pretty proud of that.

Still, when it comes to traditional New Years resolutions, I’m more of a tweaker, preferring incremental changes to whole-hog lifestyle makeovers. While eating minimal meat was how I was raised, it’s also a lifestyle choice I’ve consciously adopted. I try to avoid meat and poultry from animals not raised sustainably, which means most of the meat served at large functions and in typical restaurants is off-limits. I also keep a kosher home, and there’s no way around the fact that kosher sustainable meat is incredibly expensive; I buy it only a few times each year. As such, I’m always on the lookout for interesting vegetarian dishes. This time of year, with all those Meatless Monday resolution-makers, I’ve got plenty of company.

A few weeks back, before climbing onboard for two family vacations (more about those later), a slew of holiday parties, and really more cookies than I feel comfortable counting, we made Indian food for dinner. I steamed basmati rice with saffron. I grilled up some impossibly smooth, silky avocado chapatis. We made Jen’s Curryflouwer Surprise. And then there was this: mushroom and pea curry from the queen of Indian cooking, Madhur Jaffrey. It’s the best curry I’ve made to date.

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Leek Latkes with Herbed Yogurt

rivka — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:50:14 +0000

By now you know that my mom was the primary cook in our house. She made us dinner almost every night. Still, my dad does have a few signature dishes that he’d make occasionally, which I really loved as a kid. One was apple pan dowdy. Another was matzah brei. And the third — the marvelous third — was latkes.

My father’s latkes are the best. They’re lacy and delicate, well-seasoned, and unshyly fried to a (sometimes deliciously burnt) crisp, just the way I like them. I’ve made them his way several times over the years. I’ve also tried my hand at my mom’s equally good sweet potato latkes, and have — as she sometimes does — mixed some zucchini into my pancakes. All varieties are worth making, now aren’t they?

Hanukkah provides an annual excuse to blithely and guiltlessly fry things. Never one to squander such an opportunity, this year I decided to experiment in the fried-root-vegetable-pancake department. No potato latkes for us this time around; the wringing and sieving and squeezing what appears to be an endless stream of liquid from those tubers simply got the best of me. Instead, I turned to the book that now sits front and center on my new cookbook shelf: that’d be Plenty, the newish book from Tel Avivi/Brit Yotam Ottolenghi. It’s like this book was written just for me: eggplant, pomegranates, tomatoes, feta, and yogurt are just about everywhere. And everything I’ve read about this book suggests that it’s ideal when used as a starting point, a resource for improvisational cooking. That’s just my speed.

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Mushroom Shallot Quiche

rivka — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:12:32 +0000

A couple weekends ago, our friends Meryl and Benjy came to town. We slept in for the first time in years, and then we hosted a late morning brunch. There’s nothing like nursing a cup of strong, steaming coffee, stirring eggs and cream, and soaking in a perfect fall day.

First to the table was my new cold-weather staple, citrus salad: peeled sliced grapefruit and oranges, a little honey, some mint, presto. Rebecca made French toast casserole, dripping maple syrup and topped with fresh blueberries. To round things out, I made this quiche.

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Beef Stew with Vadouvan

rivka — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:54:49 +0000

I didn’t believe it was possible to make a flavorful beef stew without beef stock, but this recipe proved me wrong. An unassuming combination of cheap stew meat, green beans, tomatoes, and spices come together on the stove and cook low and slow, turning into something distinctly more than the sum of its parts. The green beans melt into lusciousness while, miraculously, maintaining their texture through hours of cooking. And the tomatoes become a complex, silky sauce that coats the beef and does wonders for a bowl of hot rice.

I adapted this stew from a Food52 recipe that, quite frankly, needed no adapting. It calls for coriander and cumin, which I used in moderation, and which are quite lovely. However, I also added plenty of vadouvan, an intriguing blend combining many of the spices in curry – cumin, tumeric, mustard seeds – with more French spices like shallots and nutmeg. It’s positively seductive, and it works magic on this stew.

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Mushroom Turnovers

rivka — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 14:22:48 +0000

Most of you regulars probably know that in the summer months, D and I operate under a cold-oven policy. Our apartment, see, it loves the heat. It clings to every last morsel of July humidity like there’s some shortage (which, having spent the past week in town clinging to my vent, I can say with certainty there is not). Living in this hot, sticky mess, I’m so tired I can barely cook. We’ve been eating lots of salads these past few weeks, and in our near future, there’s no shortage of those, either.

On the rare occasions that I do turn on the oven (for, say, this peach blackberry wonder), I try to maximize its utility. That’s what had me making these mushroom turnovers a couple weeks back. The oven was already on, so I figured I should get as much stuff inside as I possibly could. The beauty of these triangles is that you can cook the whole batch at once, freeze them, and then pop a couple into a container any which day and call ‘em lunch.

I’ve been making spanikopita for years, both with puff pastry and with phyllo dough, and apple turnovers are a beloved winter brunch staple. But mushroom turnovers are the newest addition to my turnover repertoire. They’re easy, delicious, and appropriate for all seasons. Also, they’re pretty easy to make.

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Corned Beef

rivka — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 15:41:37 +0000

Corned beef is one of those foods I always assumed I couldn’t make. Even by the looks of it – mysteriously pink inside, despite the brining process, perfectly I’m happy to try my hands at kimchi, sour cherry preserves, even babka, but deli sandwiches are best made by the pros. Or so I thought.

But Mrs. Wheelbarrow knows better than to let nice, well-meaning home cooks like me get intimidated by something as easy (yes, you heard me, easy!) as corned beef. In fact, she’s created a yearlong project devoted to dispelling just such a notion. And while these days, the Charcutepaloozans are conquering fancy things like homemade bratwurst and chicken liver terrine, corned beef is so very easy to make, that it was their very first challenge. If corned beef is just a warm-up for Cathy, I knew it wouldn’t be too hard for me to make, either. And I was right.

I can see the eye-rolls through the interwebs. Let’s back up. Corned beef is nothing more than pickled, boiled brisket. That’s why it’s so easy to make: first you pickle it, then you boil it. The key, of course, is to use the best pickling spice there is, which, at least in this case, is a homemade concoction. I used the pickling spice recipe from Ruhlman, the king of charcuterie (no really, he’s the author of the book Charcuterie and the godfather of Charcutepalooza). I’m really excited that his recipe made extra spice, because I’ll be using it for green beans and cabbage later this week.

So that’s the rub with corned beef. Marinate in salt water with spices, rinse, boil with more spices. Poof. The real question is what to do once you’ve got a beautiful piece of corned beef. The possibilities! We’ve eaten quite a few sandwiches so far, and I’m planning for some very traditional corned beef and cabbage, with some egg noodles to wash it all down. I only wish I’d made more. Stuff’s delish.

Corned Beef
adapted from Ruhlman

A note about pink salt: if you’ve got it, use it, and your brisket will stay pink. If you don’t have it, don’t sweat it.

for the brisket:

1 (2.5-lb) first-cut brisket
3/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons pink salt (sodium nitrite), optional
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons pickling spice

for the pickling spice:

1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon hot red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon allspice berries
1/2 tablespoon ground mace
1 small cinnamon stick, crushed or broken into pieces
2 bay leaves, crumbled
1 tablespoon whole cloves
1/2 tablespoon ground ginger

First, make the pickling spice: combine pepper, mustard, and coriander seeds in a dry saute pan and toast over medium heat, being careful not to burn. Let your nose guide you; I found everything fragrant and adequately toasted by the time the mustard seeds had just started to pop. When seeds are toasted, transfer to a heatsafe bowl. Combine with other spices. Let cool completely, then transfer to sealable jar.

Now, brine the brisket: in a pot large enough to hold the brisket, combine half a gallon of water, salt, sugar, pink salt (if using), garlic, and 1 tablespoon of the pickling spice mix. Bring to a simmer, letting salt and sugar dissolve. Cool liquid completely, then transfer to a storage container. Add brisket, weighing meat down with a plate if necessary to keep it submerged, and brine for 5 days.

After 5 days, remove brisket from brine and rinse thoroughly. Transfer to a large pot, add the remaining tablespoon of spices and enough water to cover the brisket, and bring to a slow simmer. Partially cover the pot, and cook brisket in the spiced water for about 2 1/2 hours. If water boils down to the point where the brisket is no longer covered, add enough water to cover the meat.

When brisket is fork-tender, remove it from the cooking water. If you’re planning to serve the corned beef with vegetables reserve the cooking water and use it to cook the vegetables.

Once corned beef has cooled for about 10 minutes, use a sharp knife to slice against the grain into slices. Either serve immediately, or wrap tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

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Pescado a la Veracruzana (Fish, Veracruz Style)

rivka — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 13:33:45 +0000

I grew up in a dairy household. This fact always elicits some “huh”s, lotsa “really?”s and even a few “ugh!”s but that’s the way it was, and I actually didn’t mind it, mostly. About two times a year, I’d really crave meat – but the only real option was takeout from Royal Dragon, the local kosher Chinese joint. It was always eaten on paper, always lukewarm. I taught myself pretty quickly to be satisfied without it.

At Friday night dinner, most of our crowd served chicken, meatballs, brisket. We usually had fish. Salmon teriyaki, tuna with mango salsa, flounder with lemon herb vinaigrette. (Gosh, can you tell I grew up in the nineties?)

If these fish dishes made occasional appearances on our Shabbat table, there was one that was so regular in its appearances, and so beloved, it was practically a part of the family. That dish is Huachinango a la Veracruzana. My mom’s version originated in an unassuming little cookbook called “Latin American Cooking.” It’s a scrawny little volume, doesn’t look like much. The recipes in it are simple and straightforward, and in my totally-not-expert opinion, they seem authentic.

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In the Small Kitchen: Noodles with Peanut Sauce

rivka — Tue, 31 May 2011 14:36:29 +0000

When a package arrived at my office earlier this week, I could hardly wait to tear it open. Inside was this gem:

Cara Eisenpress and Phoebe Lapine, the lovely ladies behind Big Girls, Small Kitchen, recently came out with a cookbook, and people? It is beautiful. The book charts Phoebe and Cara’s first year of cooking “in the real world,” offering recipes, tips, hosting ideas, and more for the just-out-of-college crowd. I can’t think of a better gift for new grads.

Naturally, the night it arrived, I read In the Small Kitchen cover to cover. The book is organized by occasion, rather than by type of recipe, which is surprisingly utilitarian: finger-food and drinks are grouped together in the cocktail parties section, while grainy salads and sandwiches can be found in the very comprehensive section on potlucking. Thinking back to my years as a recent college grad, I’m pretty sure the ladies cover basically everything I wanted to know at that time: how to host a good party, get drunk, and eat enough good food to keep down the liquor.

But this book isn’t just for the post-college crowd. Over the past couple years, I’ve cooked many of Phoebe and Cara’s recipes — mostly from Food52, where we met, but also several from their blog. From secret ingredient beef stew tochicken tagine and more, these ladies know how to cook. They write thoughtful, funny recipes, and their book puts that talent on display.

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Strozzapreti with Broccoli Rabe

rivka — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 23:27:42 +0000

I’ve already revealed my affinity for curly pasta shapes. With strozzapreti, I’ve found the apex of my obsession. Strozzapreti literally means “priest choker.” Not the type I generally keep in my company, but for these wiry hand-made noodles, I’ll make an exception. They’re thin at the ends, thick in the middle, and tightly curled. Even when fully cooked, they keep a deliciously chewy texture.

I like strozzapreti with tomatoes. (I like everything with tomatoes.) My usual approach to these slurpy little noodles is a take on this dish, an old-school NYT recipe. But sometimes, especially when tomatoes aren’t in season, I opt for something more winter-friendly.

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Cook a Duck, Part 2: How to Make Confit

rivka — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:00:37 +0000

So you’ve rendered all the fat one duck can pack. You’ve got a few cups of the stuff in the fridge, and you made yourself a mighty nice salad with some cracklings on top. The breasts, legs, and thighs (not to mention the wings and the carcass!) await their delicious fates. Why yes: it’s cook-a-duck week here on NDP. Today’s lesson: making duck confit.

Among the many things about duck confit that thrill me are a) that making it was, no joke, a cinch; b) that my house smelled like an honest French bistro as I made it; and c) that the process makes duck taste like someone rubbed its body with butter each day and sang it to sleep every night. There simply is no better treatment for duck legs than a slow, gentle cooking bath of its own fat. If that sounds gross to you, I don’t know what to say. If you’re salivating right now, step into my office.

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Mujaddara with Yogurt Sauce

rivka — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 15:28:30 +0000

Happy New Year!

In anticipation of my first post in 2011, I looked back at my last posts in 2009 and my first in 2010, to jolt my memory about where I was and what I was doing the last time I rang in a new year. Turns out, I was in Israel. Lucky me. I’m stateside this year, which, if you factor in the 12 hours I won’t spend on a flight to get there, ain’t half bad. We brought in 2011 with cocktails (lychee martinis, bourbon gingerale, the fancy stuff!) and appetizers (all sorts of delicious: we’re talking lahmajoun, deli sliders, chicken wontons, coconut corn fritters, the works). I’m chasing the debauchery and excess of December 31st with a healthy, wholesome 1/1/11. This here is a recipe even the most stern-faced New Years resolution-makers will be able to enjoy.

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Marcella Hazan’s Pasta with Eggplant Sauce

rivka — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 17:48:36 +0000

For most of you, this weekend was chock full of great food. I may not have had Christmas dinner, but I had a southern feast of fried chicken, pulled smoked beef, and collards that rivals the best Chinese takeout of my storied Jewish-Christmas past. Still, as I think back on the past couple weeks of eating, I tell you this with little hesitation: long fusilli with Marcella Hazan’s Tomato-Eggplant sauce is the single best food item I’ve eaten in weeks.

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Spiced Chicken and Rice

rivka — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 15:22:34 +0000

I know the big T is just under two weeks away, and I get why everyone’s talking cranberry relish and turkey like it’s their job. But we’ve all gotta eat between now and then, and this is one damn good way to get nourished.

Last week, we had the first cold weekend in DC. Now my immune system is starting to feel like the Little Engine that Could. I’m teetering on the brink of a mighty cold, and no amount of OJ or echinacea or (ick) Emergen-C has helped. Not to mention, somehow I didn’t get the email about the free flu shot clinic at work, so I’m totally exposed to the best of winter’s illness smorgasbord. Surely, I’m not alone in my unfortunate predicament. (Right?)

I’m starting to think fighting the cold is overrated. Let’s face it: I’m going to get sick sooner or later. And when I do, I’m going to to curl up on the couch, wrap myself in the sweatshirt-blanket, and tuck into a deep bowl of something warm and comforting. My will to not get sick may also be diminished by the fact that, lastweekend, I made the best chicken and rice I’ve ever had. If I’ve gotta go down, I’d like to do so over a bowl of this stuff.

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Rigatoni with Radish Pesto and Oven-Roasted Tomatoes

rivka — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 13:47:25 +0000

A couple weeks ago, my friend Jeremy told you using the last of the summer bumper crop to make oven-roasted tomatoes. Like the diligent readers you are, several of you went and made your own oven-roasted tomatoes. But then you emailed me later that week asking what to do with the oven-roasted tomatoes you had made. Recognizing that my first-impulse answer, “what can’t you do with them?!” wasn’t exactly so helpful, I started a list of ways to use these plump little suckers. Toss a couple on pizza; pile them in a heap on baked feta and serve with pita chips; add to roasted broccoli and drizzle vinaigrette over the whole mess; and so forth.

One suggestion I neglected to share, of course, was to toss them with pasta. Ironically, that’s my most frequent use for them. I toss them with spaghetti and finish with parmesan, I add them to baked dishes like ziti and lasagna, and — as you’ll see — I mix them with some rigatoni and coat it all with pesto. In this combination, the tomatoes brighten the pesto-coated pasta, punctuating with sweetness and acid. Once you’ve got the tomatoes, the dish takes about 25 minutes to make, though the results would suggest otherwise. An added plus: this doubles as weekday lunch. What more could you ask for?

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Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce

rivka — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 17:45:12 +0000

Where we live, time is running out to make this sauce. Tomatoes are on their last legs here in the Northeast, and I’ve been alternating between panic and panicking on and off for the past three weeks about their impending disappearance.

By now, you’ve seen posts on cream of roasted tomato soup and sundried tomatoes. Everyone’s trying to squeeze the last little bit out of summer’s tomato bounty, and really, who can blame them? I’ll be doing the same — there are many jars of oven-roasted tomatoes in my future — but for now, I’m chopping the last of those tomatoes raw into my bowls of pasta and enjoying them in their juicy, fresh state while I still can.

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A Menu for the Jewish New Year

rivka — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 21:22:57 +0000

For serious, how has a year passed already? Eek.

The Jewish New Year is upon us. What’s a girl to make for a holiday this big and momentous? Answer: a whole lotta food. But at the request of quite a few lovely readers, this year, I’m getting more specific. I’ll be posting my Rosh Hashana menu from soup to cake, and — per your requests — I’ll share my recipe for apple cake. In my humble opinion, it’s a perfect recipe, with cinnamon-laced apples and the all-important crust. Let’s get to it, shall we?

First things first: my work schedule is such that I’ll have one day – one half day, if we’re being precise — to cook. With this in mind, my wonderful stepmother-in-law-to-be, Terri, is bringing a bunch of the staples with her from Detroit. Among the things coming on the plane are soup, 3 chickens, and 2 briskets. Clearly the lady is used to cooking for a crowd, and thank god for that.

Have no fear: just because she’s doing brisket doesn’t mean I’m not armed with a recipe for ya. It’s hard to believe I haven’t shared this brisket recipe yet, because it is my absolute favorite, and I rarely make brisket any other way.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Here’s the whole menu:

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Sesame-Crusted Tuna on Arugula Salad

rivka — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:00:37 +0000

Much as I love to serve fish for dinner, I return to my weeks-old whining about the heat. How are we expected to endure an hour of 400-degree air in the kitchen, followed by several hours of still-not-cool temperatures, just to get a piece of protein on the table? We’re not, is the answer. We make a salad — any salad will do, but there are lots of nice ones here — and call it a night. But we both know that gets old. At a certain point, we start craving something more.

Here, then, is an entree that won’t blow the gasket on the delicate balance between the blazing outdoors and the “little engine that could” of an air conditioning system. It requires no braise, no long boil, but a quick flash-sear on a hot stovetop, followed by a rest in the fridge, while you set the table, stick your head in the freezer for a moment, and suck on an ice cube hoping for that sweet, sweet redemption known as fall.

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Pasta Primavera

rivka — Fri, 07 May 2010 14:47:11 +0000

Forget that crap they serve in bad Italian restaurants. (All year round, mind you. Does anyone else see the irony in that?) This is the real thing. It’s spring (did you hear?), and this is a pasta dish that shows off the season’s finest. It’s a dead-simple preparation that doesn’t skimp on flavor, and it takes mere minutes to throw together.

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White Pizza with Ramps

rivka — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 13:03:23 +0000

In the five-plus years that D and I have been together, I think she’d probably say she’s learned that vegetables aren’t half bad. Hell, she really does enjoy them sometimes. Does she love asparagus? No. Ditto brussels sprouts. But I make ‘em, she eats’ em, and we all come out alive.

It’s not a one way street, either. D’s got plenty to teach me about the wonder of simplicity. I may love my arugula salads dressed with nothing more than lemon and olive oil, but that girl knows her mac and cheese. She’s got the Subway sandwich situation down to a science. And she’s the reigning expert on homemade pizza.

I never used to want to make pizza, but these days, I seemingly can’t get enough of it. I always used to marvel at what a wood oven and ten minutes could do to a lump of dough; since giving homemade pizza a whirl, I can marvel at the fact that my modest little oven produces a damn good pie.

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Smothered Cabbage Risotto

rivka — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 00:51:01 +0000

Among the oft-neglected cookbooks on my shelf is a big, light green volume called Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. It’s by Marcella Hazan, the justly venerated Italian cookbook writer notorious for her particularity, her precision, and her deep understanding of proper Italian cuisine. While the recipes reflect that precision (you can practically hear her preemptively chiding you for matching pasta with the wrong sauce), some of them are really quite simple. Case in point: smothered cabbage. A whole head of cabbage is shredded thinly, then braised low and slow with olive oil, onion and garlic, salt and pepper, and a shake of red wine vinegar. To say it’s simple is to understate it a bit.

If you have extra cabbage (though really, why would you? I made a double recipe so I wouldn’t be forced to choose), Hazan offers a modest recipe for Rice and Smothered Cabbage Soup. It’s basically chicken broth, rice, the cabbage, and a dusting of permigiano reggiano cheese. A one-pot wonder.

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Thin Crust Pizza

rivka — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 23:42:37 +0000

I’ve tried making pizza on several occasions. Every time, as I bite into a not-quite-crunchy crust and get a lick of too-thick tomato sauce on my tongue, I wonder why we didn’t just hop on the 96 bus and get off at Two Amys, the best pizza in town. Well, all that’s changed. Armed with not one, but two excellent pizza recipes, I’m here to assure you that homemade pizza really is within reach.

I recently indulged in a couple new cookbook purchases. Peter Reinhart’s Artisan Breads Everyday” and Jim Lahey’s My Bread have joined the party on my cookbookshelf, and I’ve spent the better part of the last several weekend mornings tucking into their recipes, devouring their advice. I’ve been making Lahey’s No Knead Bread for quite some time now, both plain and with all sorts of add-ins. His book offers all that and more: imagine his bread dough, studded with fruit and infused with spices, then baked wrapped in banana leaves. Or the same dough, flavored with coconut and chocolate, baked in that hot oven so that some of the chocolate crusts on the outside of the bread. The pictures in this book animate already-delicious-sounding recipes. I’m thrilled to have it on my shelf, and his pizza recipe is just one more reason. Ditto Reinhart, who offers many solid recipes for sandwich breads, challah, and even a cinnamon chocolate babka, sitting on my counter now and the subject of a future post. But I’m getting carried away: let’s talk about pizza.

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Gnocchi with Butternut Squash and Shiitake Mushrooms

rivka — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:14:13 +0000

As you probably already know, I’ve had a pretty big food week. For one thing, I managed to roast a whole fish in a big pile of salt. I also made 2 loaves of bread, and 4 pizzas — pizzas that actually tasted as good as something I could buy, which has never happened before. If that’s not enough, I decided to take advantage of my already gutsy week and try a Thomas Keller recipe. People, the sky is falling.

Thomas Keller is the renowned chef of The French Laundry, Bouchon Bakery, and a handful of other spots. He’s certainly one of the most famous chef in America. He’s known for his particularity, his precision, and his meticulousness. Every recipe of his — even the simplest, most elemental — consist of countless steps, involve several pans, and have you running around the kitchen in a mental state that’s pretty much the opposite of the low-key way I like to cook. See why I was nervous?

If you read Carol Blymire, you probably think TK recipes are no biggie. After all, she made a whole book of them. And now she’s working her way through the only cookbook I can think of that seems more intimidating than Keller’s: Alinea at Home, Grant Achatz’s documenting of the molecular-gastronomy-heavy dishes at his Chicago restaurant Alinea. Not all of us are as adept at guestimating weights in grams, using products like methocel F50, and generally rocking out. But we’ve gotta start somewhere, now don’t we.

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Spinach Bourekas

rivka — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:24:24 +0000

At some point last year, I fell off the puff pastry cliff. It all started with this onion-date tart, one of the best and easiest recipes I’ve ever written. I made it once, twice, three times, and more; I couldn’t stop. I’d tweak a thing or two every time: I’d add mushrooms, swap the goat cheese for feta, add some roasted red peppers, etc. The tart never failed to please, so I just didn’t stop making it.

From there, I branched out to other similar tarts, like this one with zucchini and olives. Why hadn’t I thought of this sooner? Why had it taken so long to realize that when you pile delicious stuff on a buttery piece of dough and bake it off, the results are…delicious?

Just when I thought I’d had my revelation, D had had just about enough. She finally confessed that she hated all these tarts — these big pieces of flaky dough meant to pose as entrees — and that if I could stop making them, forever, that’dbegreatthanks. I was bummed: had I reached the end of puff pastry heaven so quickly? Without it, what else would I make? There was NOTHING else to make! Nothing but puff pastry! AACK!

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Down and Dirty Pasta e Cecci

rivka — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:00:01 +0000

Anything that has the words “down and dirty” in the title is something I will, sooner or later, make. “Down and dirty” suggests a rough-and-tumble version of the refined original, something you’re more likely to eat on your front stoop than in a dining room. When I hear down and dirty, I see myself in cutoff jean shorts and one of those ribbed white tank tops, sitting outside on a balmy summer day. There are mosquitos in the air, bangs in my face. I’m eating from a clay bowl I threw in the pottery studio down the street. When lunchtime rolls around, I notice some chickpeas in the cabinet, so I decide to throw them in with some chili, anchovies, and pasta, and call it lunch. Down and dirty lunch, that is.

Surely you can understand how, when I saw a recipe for “down and dirty pasta e cecci” on Food52′s website (via Jennifer Steinhauser of NYT, via her friend fisheri — that’s his username, not his real name — oh, the confusion!), I simply had to make it. Mind you, I didn’t even know what “cecci” were. I don’t speak Italian. But down and dirty pasta is something that best be coming out of my kitchen, like, pronto.

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Moroccan Salmon with Curried Yogurt

rivka — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:00:33 +0000

Though it doesn’t appear very often on this site, fish — salmon in particular — is a staple in the NDP kitchen. I like it because it’s a substantial cornerstone of a meal without being as heavy as meat often is. I frequently host lunch on Saturdays, and I almost always cook for these lunches in advance; salmon can be served cold with a dipping sauce, obviating the need to carefully par-bake it before reheating the next day to serve. Also, it’s delicious.

Last year, I frequently cooked fish “en papillote,” each filet wrapped with care in its own little parcel of parchment paper. It’s a very healthful way of cooking fish, in its own juices and little else. Sometimes I’d add slivers of thai bird chillies or slices of peach, but the method was always the same. This year, I’m planning to broil my fish more often. That little spot at the bottom of my oven doesn’t get enough airtime, and considering its ability to make sugar into caramel and turn anything that beautiful shade of brown, it really should.

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Broccoli with Capers and Olives, Two Ways

rivka — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:43:44 +0000

Finally, the next chapter of “Weekday Lunch,” where I offer recipes for food that fits in tupperware and warms in the office microwave.

This dish happened completely by accident. D had decided to order a pizza for dinner, and I decided to do something else, seeing as it would have been my fourth pizza meal of the week. (Ugh.) I did a quick scan of the fridge and saw a bag of nice-looking young broccoli that I’d picked up at the weekend farmers’ market. I also had the last of a tub of greek olives that I’d recently replaced with a new tub and wanted to use up, and the end of a jar of summer’s tomato sauce. There was about 1/4 of a box of macaroni left in the cupboard, so I figured I’d throw the last little bits of each of these to make a nice pasta dinner.

I started by finely chopping a shallot and heating a tab of butter in a large, shallow pan over medium-low heat. When the shallot was translucent and fragrant but not brown, I added about 1/2 teaspoon of red chili flakes and 2 cups of broccoli. I knew I planned to cook the broccoli just until al dente, but I wanted to use the stems as well as the florets, so I sliced the stems pretty finely — about 1/3-1/2-inch thick — so that they’d cook pretty quickly. I added a hefty pinch of salt and tossed the pan a couple times to combine.

Soon after adding the broccoli, I tossed in what was left of the olives, probably about 1/2 cup worth. I also added about a tablespoon of capers. At this point, the broccoli was heating up and had turned a vibrant shade of green. I wanted to preserve this color, so I added a very little bit of water from the pasta, which had already started to cook. Non-pasta water would have been fine as well, but it helps to have the water be hot, so that it doesn’t slow down the cooking.

After about five minutes, the broccoli was almost perfect; still that beautiful green shade, mostly cooked but still with a bite. I ended up adding several ladlefuls of my tomato sauce, and eventually some hot pasta, to make this dinner. But before tomatoes ever hit the pan, I looked down at the broccoli with its briny accompaniments and thought, gosh, this’d make a fantastic side. So there you have it; broccoli with capers and olives. I’d probably squeeze a bit of lemon if I were serving this alone; hitting it with some acidity would compliment the vegetal and salty flavors. I could see it served atop israeli couscous, or as an accompaniment to chicken. It was also pretty great mixed with tomato sauce and tossed with the end of the box of macaroni. Just sayin’.

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On the Occasional Chicken Dinner

rivka — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:14:48 +0000

I’ve been thinking a lot about Jonathan Safran Foer’s article in the New York Times Magazine’s recent Food Issue about why he stopped eating meat. If you haven’t read the article, take a look. Safran Foer tells the story of his long-time struggle with vegetarianism and the ways in which fatherhood helped him strengthen his convictions to not eat meat. The question with which he grapples has been posed many times before: how do we reconcile our appetites for meat with the ethical questions of animal cruelty and environmental damage that are part and parcel to the process by which 99% of American meat is produced? While Safran Foer’s insights and answers aren’t new, not everyone reads The Omnivore’s Dilemma and shops at farmers’ markets. I imagine that given the wide circulation of NYT, the author’s message reached a wider, less “in-the-loop” audience. I’m glad for that.

Still, I struggle with something he said, one sentence in particular:

According to an analysis of U.S.D.A. data by the advocacy group Farm Forward, factory farms now produce more than 99 percent of the animals eaten in this country. And despite labels that suggest otherwise, genuine alternatives — which do exist, and make many of the ethical questions about meat moot — are very difficult for even an educated eater to find. I don’t have the ability to do so with regularity and confidence. (“Free range,” “cage free,” “natural” and “organic” are nearly meaningless when it comes to animal welfare.)”

That sentence about how alternatives to factory-farmed meat are hard for even the most educated eater to find? That’s just not true. Now, there certainly aren’t enough alternative sources out there to feed Americans’ insatiable appetite for meat and poultry, and the price-point of said alternatives may make meat and poultry consumption cost-prohibitive for many families, but alternatives most certainly do exist, and they’re as accessible (geographically) as the nearest farmers’ market. Yes, they require some research to discover, but they’re there. The issue isn’t that they’re hard to find, it’s that people simply aren’t looking.

About a year ago, just around the time I got back from our cruise to Alaska, I started looking for those alternative sources. Remember that in addition to the various ethical concerns I had, I also needed the meat to bear a kosher certification; that notwithstanding, I managed to find a source of meat and, eventually, poultry, that was both ethically and technically “kosher.” If I didn’t keep a kosher home, it would have been as simple as hitting up the Polyface stand at the Dupont Circle farmers’ market. Rumor has it their chicken is out of this world.

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Moroccan Chicken with Olives

rivka — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:22:58 +0000

Today was seriously busy — fortunately for me, D’s stepmom Terri came in a couple days early to help cook, finish up grocery shopping, and see to it that the house was clean. That last bit she takes more seriously than you can imagine; when D and I moved into our apt, in a 100-year old building, the stove was caked with some hard-core black stains that I assumed were there to stay. I tried a couple of times to get them out but made no headway whatsoever, so I just got used to them. Terri doesn’t give up so easily; she’s got a big back of tricks up her sleeve when it comes to cleaning things, and I could swear she also pulled some sort of voodoo hex thing while I wasn’t looking, because folks, my stove is crystal clean. If you only knew the sort of filth I’ve been cooking with — it’s the sort that builds up over many many years — I can’t believe it’s actually all gone. amazing!

Meanwhile, on the cooking front, today I made (among other things) a delicious chicken recipe that I’ve just gotta share with you all. It’s a braised chicken dish with Moroccan flair. It starts with lots of onion that’s been cooked to the point of soft, caramelized translucence; punchy green olives are then added along with preserved lemon, which is both uber-tart and floral from the cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in which it’s preserved. I was on the phone while I was cooking this dish, and after sampling a bit of the sauce, I added a splash of apple cider on a whim to cut all the salt, which worked very nicely. It’s not in the recipe on which this is based, but it adds depth and balance so I’d recommend adding it. If you’re looking for a chicken dish, I can assure you — this is the one.

Meanwhile, I don’t think I’ll have a chance to post between now and the start of the holiday, so…

To all those celebrating Rosh Hashana, may you all have a sweet New Year, filled with joy, laughter, and wonderful eating. I feel lucky to have you all in my ‘life,’ and I hope that you’ll continue to read, enjoy, and cook from NDP!

Also, though it’s been a busy little month here, I don’t want to overlook the fact that this weekend marks my 2-YEAR BLOGIVERSARY! That’s right: exactly 2 years ago, I had the quirky little brainchild to hatch Not Derby Pie. I worried at the time that I’d be too bored to keep a blog, not talented enough to cook and photograph my way through it, and not lucky enough to draw readers; fortunately, I’ve made it thusfar! You’re the best readers (and commiserators!) I could ask for, and I feel exceptionally lucky to have you all hangin’ out around here. So cheers to all, happy birthday to NDP, and here’s to many more years together!

Moroccan Chicken with Olives

8 wedges or slices preserved lemon*, rinsed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, halved, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 cup apple cider
1 4 1/2-pound chicken, cut into 8 pieces, skin removed
1/2 cup green olives

Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and sprinkle with salt and pepper; sauté until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Add next 5 ingredients; stir 1 minute. Add broth; bring to boil. Sprinkle chicken with salt (if not kosher or brined) and pepper; add to skillet. Add preserved lemon and olives. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until chicken is cooked through, turning occasionally, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer chicken to platter. Add apple cider to skillet. Increase heat to high; boil uncovered to thicken slightly, about 5 minutes. Season with pepper. Add chicken back into sauce, and serve together. I guarantee people will lick their plates clean.

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Salmon with Herb Butter and Various Roasted Vegetables

rivka — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:01:05 +0000

D and I had people over Friday night. As of Thursday, I not only had done no cooking, I hadn’t even figured out my menu. Now, I’m not one to plan these things all too far in advance — but 24 hours is not much time to plan, shop, and make food for a dinner party. Not impossible, but not ideal.

When I’m cutting it close to the wire, I tend to keep it as simple as possible. I picked up a bunch of salmon fillets and all the good-looking vegetables that TJs had to offer. Without much time to contemplate interesting recipes and a lingering fear of making the whole house smell like fish, I wrapped each piece of salmon individually in parchment paper and tucked a bit of herb butter inside. The herb butter infuses the salmon while it steams, and the end result is both healthy, flavorful, and much less potent. No fish smell whatsoever in the house as of Saturday morning.

I made a vinaigrette with the herb butter, some capers, and lots of lemon and lime, and served it alongside the fish. In retrospect, I should have just made the vinaigrette first and skipped the herb butter step entirely; that’s the recipe I provide below. It’s a simple presentation that almost always pleases.

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Tamarind-Cherry Meatballs

rivka — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:23:24 +0000

Short post today, but I wanted to offer a recipe that puts the tamarind puree I recently posted to good use. These meatballs are really a cinch to make; they’re studded with rich, nutty pine nuts, and the sweet-tart sauce, with fresh and dried sour cherries and plenty of tamarind, is downright addictive. The recipe is a combination/adaptation of two recipes, both from Aromas of Aleppo, that beautiful Syrian Jewish cookbook I mentioned in my post on tamarind puree.

Sour cherries are done for the season here in DC; if they’re over in your area as well, you can substitute frozen sour cherries, available at some grocery stores, or replace the fresh ones with more dried cherries, and add a bit of extra apple cider or wine or even water to compensate for smaller amount of cherry juice.

I served these with saffron rice, which provided both flavor and color contrast to the meatballs. The combination was perfect, and I highly recommend it.

Sour Cherry Meatballs
adapted from Aromas of Aleppo

1 pounds ground beef, preferably NOT lean (if lean, add a couple Tbsp. olive oil)
1/2 cup chopped pinenuts
a couple sprigs of parsley, leaves removed and chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons allspice, divided
3 onions, diced
1 pound sour cherries or 2 cans/jars pitted cherries, including liquid (NOT pie filling!)
3 tablespoons tamarind puree
juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup red wine
1/2 cup crushed tomatoes
3 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil, divided

Combine beef, pine nuts, parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon allspice in a medium mixing bowl. Using a fork and a light hand, break up ground beef and incorporate other ingredients; do not overmix or press too hard, as you want beef to stay light and airy.

In a medium saucepan, saute meatballs in 2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil over medium heat, until lightly browned, turning gently to brown on all sides. Remove meatballs and set aside.

Using the same saucepan, saute the onions in the remaining tablespoon oil over medium heat until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add liquid from cherries (if fresh, use 1/2 cup water or apple cider instead), lemon juice, tamarind puree, red wine, 1 teaspoon allspice, and crushed tomatoes. Stir to combine; bring to a boil. Add meatballs and cherries back into the pan. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 1 hour, or until sauce has thickened.

Serve hot, either over pita or over saffron rice.

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Feta Phyllo Torte

rivka — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:43:03 +0000

Feta Phyllo Torte

Of all the incredibly culinary feats out there (and there are plenty), one of which I’m truly in awe is the ability to consistently serve vegetarian food that fees like a main dish. As I’ve written before, one of the challenges to purely vegetarian cooking is that often, everything on the table looks like a side dish, and there’s no one thing that, when brought to the table, elicits the oohs and ahhs of, say, a whole roast chicken. There are a few people who are particularly excellent at this. One is Deborah Madison, author of Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (one of my favorite cookbooks to read; I often find myself leafing through it while killing time at Barnes and Noble). Madison understands the challenge of creating a “wow factor” when serving vegetarian entrees, and she conquers that challenge seemingly effortlessly. Her books are endless sources of inspiration for meatless entertaining.

Another, though she may not intend to be (given her well-publicized love of meat) is Melissa Clark, a food columnist for NYT and recipe writer extraordinaire. Reading Melissa’s column, I not-infrequently stumble upon a really new idea for a vegetarian entree. One excellent example is her cornbread and broccoli rabe strata, a vegetarian Thanksgiving main that doubles as a side for the turkey eaters. Another, for a phyllo feta torte, was published just a couple weeks ago, and after reading her recipe, I had an undeniable urge to rush into the kitchen and make it, immediately.

Originally called “No-fear Phyllo Torte,” Clark’s recipe originates in a dinner party hosted by a lauded French literature professor and his Greek wife, for whom phyllo is second-nature. Clark claims intimidation, but her recipe proves her an equal master of this domain. In the torte, made in a bundt pan for a particularly impressive presentation, thin, crisp layers of butter-soaked phyllo cloak a tender filling of feta, cottage cheese, dill and nutmeg. Sound like a spinachless spanikopita? Think again: the finished product is drizzled with honey before serving, for an irresistible hit of sweet to balance the rich, salty torte. Stop me from drooling.

Clark was intimidated when she first saw the torte emerge from the oven, and wondered whether she needed to be Greek in order to make it successfully; I had an all-out panic attack when, just before serving the torte, I realized that I had used salted butter in place of the unsalted butter called for in the recipe. It didn’t matter; I had used less salty Greek feta in the filling, which offset the extra salt in the crust. Other changes I made to Clark’s original recipe include swapping out some of the cottage cheese for extra feta (since cottage cheese generally gives me the creeps, and 3 cups sounded like a lot), upping the level of dill and nutmeg for added kick, and cutting the butter from 3 sticks to 1 (because who needs 3 sticks of butter in anything? and 1 was more than enough to coat the whole torte and make the insides crispy). Other than those changes, I found this recipe absolutely to die for and would make it again in a flash. I actually served it with some homemade rhubarb chutney, which I’ll blog in a future post, and I was really pleased with the combination. The tanginess of the rhubarb brought out the acidity in the feta and the chutney provided a nice textural contrast to the torte. An all-out thumbs up from this happy eater — I recommend you give this a go; your guests will be thankful — and maybe even intimidated.

Sonia’s Phyllo and Feta Torte with Dill and Nutmeg
Time: An hour and a half, plus cooling
adapted from Melissa Clark, inspired by her husband’s friend’s wife Sonya, via The New York Times

Time: An hour and a half, plus cooling

1 1/2 pounds Greek feta cheese, crumbled (I used feta from a local Mediterranean market, but TJ’s carries Greek feta that’s pretty good)
2 cups cottage cheese
3 large eggs
1/3 cup chopped fresh dill
1/4 cup grated Romano cheese (I used Parmesan, which was what I had on hand)
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1-pound box phyllo dough, thawed overnight in refrigerator if possible
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Greek honey, for serving (Clark says this is optional but I say it’s a must).

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. combine feta, cottage cheese, eggs, dill, 2 tablespoons Romano, the nutmeg and pepper in a food processor and pulse just to combine (Clark says you can also use a large bowl and a fork). Clark also says the mixture should be chunky, but I made mine smoother.

2. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons Romano into a Bundt pan. Drape a sheet of phyllo on top of Bundt pan, poke a hole into phyllo with your finger where center tube is and push phyllo into pan to line it. Do this with another phyllo sheet, but place it perpendicular to first sheet. The first couple of sheets will seem disorderly and may collapse some, but as you start layering them, the process will get easier and the sheets will keep their shape. Continue adding phyllo sheets in alternating directions until all sheets are used. Edges of phyllo should hang over edges of bundt.

3. Scrape cheese filling into pan, and fold edges of phyllo over filling. Using a sharp knife, poke many holes (at least 20) in dough that reach all the way to bottom of pan. Then pour melted butter over the torte; some will seep into holes, but a fair amount will pool on top of torte, which is fine. I actually poured the butter before poking the holes, and my torte tasted perfectly delicious, so fret not.

4. Place Bundt pan on a baking sheet and bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes, or until torte is puffy and golden brown. Allow torte to cool in pan for 1 to 2 hours before inverting onto a plate and slicing. Serve warm or at room temperature, with honey and/or sweet chutney.

Yield: 10 to 12 servings.

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Classic Mac and Cheese

rivka — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:39:18 +0000

As you all know by now, D’s made lots of culinary concessions for the sake of our relationship. In the four-plus years we’ve been together, she’s become someone who appreciates good food far more than I ever thought she would. So this past week, I felt inspired to acknowledge that by taking a couple of steps in her direction and finally trying my hand at macaroni and cheese.

I’ve been meaning to make mac and cheese for quite some time. After seeing Ina Garten make it several months ago on her FN show, Barefoot Contessa, I knew it wouldn’t be difficult to make. Then I saw that show rerun like four or five times (ok, Ina, I get it!) and decided to give it a go. The method is simple: heat flour and butter to make a roux. Add milk and mix to combine, then continue stirring until the milk is thickened. Add lots of cheese, stir until it melts, then incorporate cooked and drained macaroni. Optional step: transfer macaroni to a gratin, add some very optional tomato slices, top with buttered bread crumbs, and broil until bread crumbs are golden and crunchy.

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Pesto Streudel and Panzanella Salad

rivka — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:41:12 +0000

Now that it’s summer, my counters are teeming with beautiful red tomatoes and my fridge is packed with brightly-colored produce of all sorts: radishes, favas, beets, strawberries, you name it. It’s a welcome change from the endless supply of potatoes, yams, potatoes, and kale, oh, the kale. Thank goodness I’ve got some red back in my life!

Of course, with beets and radishes come a whole new type of greens — the kind attached to the stems of the beets and the radishes, of course. Both are too often overlooked — especially radish greens, for which I’ve never seen a recipe. Until now.

Here’s the thing. Pesto? It doesn’t just have to be basil in there. Stick in some cilantro and call it chimichurri or — better yet — send some radish greens under the knife and start to enjoy what too often ends up in the disposal (or, in my case, the compost bin. Yay!)

Radish greens are best used within a couple days of buying or picking them, so they’re a bit more finicky than basil. But they’re spicy and a little bitter like arugula, and quite flavorful. They’re also almost always attached to the radishes you buy, so why not use them? I’ve blended them up with walnuts and pinenuts, and they pair beautifully with both. But I’ve got a lingering curiosity about how they’d play with pecans, so if you try it, lemme know.
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Bulgur with Black Eyed Peas, Spinach and Dates

rivka — Thu, 14 May 2009 19:44:00 +0000

Yet another installment of my weekday lunch series. You can never have enough work-lunch-friendly dishes, now can you?

I work on the ninth floor of my firm’s office building. There are lots of conference rooms on our floor, and when a lunch meeting yields leftovers, they usually make their way into the ninth floor kitchen, which happens to be right across from my cubicle. When we hear the clomp-clomp of high heels in the kitchen and the rustling of plastic trays and wrap paper, we know it’s going to be good. Within seconds, my entire pod will have descended on the kitchen, scavenging for the best wrap, the freshest-looking corner of the spinach salad, the last piece of baklava. After poking around for ourselves, we’ll shoot out an email to our friends down the hall alerting them to the free food bonanza. We’re that nice.

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Rigatoni with Broccoli Rabe

rivka — Tue, 12 May 2009 11:09:15 +0000

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know by now that I’m a self proclaimed ingredient-adder. I’ve got issues leaving things simple: I find myself constantly tempted to tinker, to add just one more spice or sauce or vegetable or seed or something. I’ve been working on it, folks, really I have, but it ain’t easy.

As much as I’m inclined to clean out my pantry into a recipe, there are certain recipes that are not to be futzed with. One of those recipes is Marcella Hazan’s pasta with broccoli rabe. Hazan is a legendary Italian cook and cookbook author. Her directions are so very precise, her knowledge and expertise so colossal, I’d be crazy to fiddle with her ingredients or proportions.
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Miso Chicken with Braised Fennel

rivka — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:32:36 +0000

Boneless chicken breasts are one of those things I cope with for the sake of my relationship. If I had my way, you’d never see them in my fridge or freezer: I find them flavorless and boring (unless breaded and fried — no complaints about homemade chicken fingers from this lady). But D loves those chicken breasts — especially when coated in cornflakes and eaten with applesauce — so once in a while, I throw some on the stove or in the oven and call it dinner. I try to make ‘em interesting, though I should mention that in doing so, I’ve ruined several perfectly boring but fine chicken breasts with bad-tasting sauce. Tonight, however, was one of those nights when the boneless chicken breasts found themselves on both of our plates, topped with a sauce that was pretty darn delicious, and I thanked my lucky stars that I’d given D yet another chicken fix while making something that I also enjoyed eating.

My recipe is loosely based on a recipe I saw on epicurious, originally published in SELF Magazine, for a miso-marinated chicken. I made the marinade called for in the recipe but found it pretty flat, so I added some more things. The result was something I can recommend unequivocally; it was sweet but not overly so, salty in the wonderful way that miso and soy sauce are, tangy from rice wine vinegar, and zippy from fresh ginger and wasabi. The breasts were well-browned (I like’em with a hefty crust) and the sauce was properly reduced so as to be thick and drizzly. Also, I used homemade chicken stock, which really did make a bit of a difference.
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Oven-Roasted Olives

rivka — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:50:59 +0000

In recent years, a slew of upscale pizza places have sprouted up to sate the ever-growing yuppie appetite for $13 (or $15, or $20) pies. Just look at Manhattan and Brooklyn: they’re bursting with fancy pizza points, from the old-school Lombardi’s and my favorite Grimaldi’s to the newer Roberta’s and Co., dreamt up by the breadmaster Jim Lahey. Washington is following suit, in its own more muted way, and by now we’ve actually got a few great spots for the ultimate Neapolitan treat.

One such spot, Two Amys, is a standby in this house. We pop over there at least once a month, and by now we’re buddy-buddy with a waitress, we know our favorite wine on the menu, and we’ve even found a bus that takes us, literally, from door to door.

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Spaghetti with Ramps

rivka — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 16:58:39 +0000

Hello out there! Sorry to have abandoned ship for the past week — due to Passover, I’ve been subsisting on a strange diet of matzah, farmers cheese, avocado, and salad. Not exactly the stuff worthy of a blog post. Most people would rather clean their bathroom than volunteer to host a dinner party the day after Passover ends, but moi? I’ve been itching to get back in the kitchen something serious. So yesterday, I did just that. I cooked up dinner for some of D’s law school friends and relished every minute of my time with my dishes, my kitchenaid, and best of all — FLOUR.

As if eating carbs again weren’t cause enough for celebration, have you looked outside? It’s Spring! The cherry blossoms here in DC are in full bloom (many are already past their bloom, which means the grass is blanketed in pink) and the weather this weekend has been just gorgeous — a perfect 76 and sunny today, in fact. I couldn’t be happier about the weather; so you better believe last night’s menu took full advantage not only of the end of the holiday, but of the start of my favorite season.

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Vegetarian Passover Main Dishes

rivka — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:06:52 +0000

See the notes before each recipe for ways to make recipe non-dairy.

One week from today, Jews will celebrate the holiday of Passover, in which we tell the story of our enslavement in Egypt, our eventual exodus from slavery, and our future wandering in the desert and entering of the land of Israel. As tradition has it, the Jews left Egypt in the wee hours of the morning, and thus did not have a chance to let their daily bread dough rise before baking it. As a result, during the whole holiday of Passover, we are not supposed to eat any leavened product of any kind. Once flour and water come in contact, they must be cooked and ready to eat no more than 18 minutes later. That’s where matzah comes into play: it’s “bread” that is made and baked in record speed, and it’s a staple during the course of the holiday (even if it’s totally flavorless and not so kind on the stomach).

Faced with a prohibition on eating any bread, cake, muffins, and other good carbs, many folks make Passover into a meatfest. Not in this house, though: I grew up in a pescetarian household, and Passover was no exception. As you might imagine, this made good Passover cooking a challenge. If you can’t use any flour in what you cook — including non-wheat flour — what do you make as a main dish?

In the past couple weeks, I’ve gotten more than a few questions from people who are vegetarians or are hosting vegetarians over Passover and are at a loss for what to serve. While I won’t say that I don’t miss flour on Passover — because I do, and I get very, very excited for my annual pizza trip after the holiday ends — I will say that there are a lot of great ideas for Passover-friendly vegetarian mains, things that are truly delicious and will take the edge off Passover prohibition.
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Edamame Cabbage Slaw with Sweet Potatoes

rivka — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 16:30:00 +0000

Hello from vacationland! We’re in Israel for the next few days and beyond thrilled to be back. It’s been way, way too long — almost two years since I lived here. I’ve missed every bit of it. Yesterday, I spent the most lovely afternoon at the shuk (market) with my dear dear friend S. We met up in my favorite corner of the shuk… A little cafe tucked in the back portion that’s locals only and serves up a mean cup of coffee. After lots of hugs, kisses and catch up, we ran around to the different vendors so that I could grab my favorite spices (more on those in a future post…) And met up with her mom, where I freshened up on my slightly-rough but actually not-too-bad Hebrew. We spent the past 24 hours hanging out with family and friends, relaxing and eating copious amounts of food. Tonight we’re planning on hitting up another of my favorite restaurants, Tmol Shilshom. There’s something at once familiar and refreshing about being in a place I used to call home; it’s wonderful to be back.

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Zucchini Ricotta Tart

rivka — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 03:45:10 +0000

D and I host Friday night dinner pretty regularly. Being the slight lunatic that I am, prep usually starts on Tuesday, if not earlier. I start thinking about themes, poking around online and in my cookbooks for possible main courses, and trying to decide what vibe I want to create. Is this an apps and wine crowd, or more of a straight-to-the-table kind of meal? Are we going meat or dairy? (Usually we do dairy; I simply can’t part with butter for dessert.) Is it cold enough for soup or even a one-pot-meal? Etc.

This past weekend, D and I were so pooped from the long week that we decided to do just the two of us for dinner. Our friends Kira and Dina also wanted something low key, so we decided to combine forces. K and D would bring salad and a vegetable side, I’d make soup, some sort of tart, and dessert. We had challah in the freezer and plenty of wine on the rack.
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Yam, Zucchini, and Chickpea Salad

rivka — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 03:23:46 +0000

I’m definitely a bag-luncher. While I enjoy the occasional salad-bar salad or panini, I find that bringing my lunch to work is often healthier and more cost-efficient than the alternative. Especially since I work in Georgetown, where lunch joints are pretty high-end, and (as you all surely know) I’m not the biggest fan of Subway, bag lunches are my speed.

As someone who routinely brings my lunch to work, and I’m always on the lookout for recipes that are simple to make, easy to nuke or tasty at room temperature, and pack in servings of carbs, vegetables, and protein. Needless to say, there are plenty of these recipes floating around the blogosphere, which has given me ample opportunity to experiment.
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Best Cauliflower EVER

rivka — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:43:48 +0000

Before you get annoyed that the title of this post is dramatic without being descriptive, consider the following: this recipe has 6 ingredients, including salt. It takes 25 minutes start to finish and is easily the most delicious cauliflower dish I I’ve ever had ever ever. Ever. Better to tell the world how wonderful it is than to try to name what can only be described as good, yes?

Now then, let me tell you about cauliflower with capers and sherry vinegar. That’s all that’s in this — save for a drizzle or two of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt — but it’s good, lip-smackingly good. No surprise that it comes from the king of simple, Mark Bittman, and his wonderful bible “How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.” Having cooked from it and read many chapters straight through, I think I can safely say that it’s the best $23.10 you can spend in the cookbook section. Check it out here.

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Butternut Squash Cannelloni

rivka — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:17:57 +0000

First, let me just say that if you’re not in Washington right now, I’d be surprised. This city has officially been infiltrated: hundreds of thousands of tourists have descended upon the nation’s capital to witness this historic event, and boy does it feel crowded around here! The weekend was relatively quiet — I say relatively because Adams Morgan simply isn’t a quiet place, ever ever ever — but today the hordes arrived. Friends and I walked down to the Mall after lunch, and and apparently so did the rest of the country’s citizens! Boy was it crowded.

D was talking to her Bubbie the other day about inauguration festivities, and what was Bubbie’s one question? (Remember, this is in her adorable Czech accent) “All those people standing outside for the inauguration, where are they going to go to the bathroom?” Well, let me assure you, the sheer number of port-o-potties was massive. There’s plenty of room to pee.

Now, for today’s recipe:

Martha’s recipes have become an ever-increasing portion of my cooking repertoire. When Epicurious fails to inspire me and I’m too lazy to start leafing through cookbooks, marthastewart.com inevitably has a good suggestion, and usually, her recipes are accompanied by some mouth-watering photos. Granted, some of her recipes are way, way more fuss than they’re worth, and not all recipes actually turn out tasty, but I’ve been having mostly good luck.

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Polenta with Tomatoes, Shallots, and Goat Cheese

rivka — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 03:48:39 +0000

Forget Rachael Ray, with her hoarse voice and her annoying little mannerisms. I’ll show you a 30 minute meal — better yet, a 15-minute meal — that’ll have you at the table before you can say “EVOO“. It’s called polenta, and it’s really flippin’ easy. You can actually make it more quickly than I can write this post. And while I’ve included the recipe for polenta with tomatoes, shallots, and goat cheese, you can easily make it with something else. As always, I’ve listed several variations.

Polenta is basically poor man’s food: it’s simple, it’s cheap, it’s sustaining, and it’s dead-easy to make. All you need is cornmeal, salt, and water — ohh, and a fair amount of muscle for all the stirring you’ll be doing.
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Minute Steak with Cherry Red Wine Sauce

rivka — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:18:07 +0000

You may have noticed that it’s been quite some time since NDP posted, say, a recipe for chicken. Or meat. It’s probably starting to look like I’m a closeted vegetarian, but I swear, I’m really not. It’s just that eating factory-farmed beef and poultry gives me the creeps. Blame Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma for showing me just how repulsive factory-farmed steers’ lives are. It’s just hard to imagine eating a cow that spends its life cooped up in tight quarters with other cows, is forced to eat a diet of grain (not cattle’s natural food source) that obviously makes it sick, and then sits in a pool of…frankly?…its own poop. Yuck.

A couple months ago, this fear really got the best of me, and I pretty much stopped buying meat. Kosher meat is hard enough to find; organic, grass-fed beef is nearly non-existent in these parts. For months, I satisfied my cravings for meat with Morningstar Farms (which, as you’ve read, makes a pretty mean substitute not just for meat but for bacon, as well). For quite some time, this impromptu vegetarian lifestyle was perfectly fine. I’ve never been a particularly regular meat eater, anyway, and D made do with the occasional meat meal at friends’ houses. But at a certain point, my cravings for real, honest-to-god boeuf got the best of me, so I started doing some research. To my genuine surprise, a synagogue right near where we live actually has an arrangement with a local farm, and every two weeks, they bring in a truckload of local, organic, grass-fed beef. Customers buy a “share” of beef or lamb (!), and that share contains between 25 and 30 pounds of assorted cuts, which might include ribeyes, minute steaks, pepper steaks, briskets, cube meat, flanken, ground meat, chuck steak, and more. The meat certainly isn’t cheap, but after my having my first taste of it tonight, I can assure you the price is well worth every penny.
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Summer vegetable (and fish) stew

rivka — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 15:49:37 +0000

If you’re anything like me, your fridge is swimming with zucchini and corn, your counters teeming with beautiful tomatoes. Not that I’m complaining, mind you — I wouldn’t dare, with summer produce this close to done — I’m just saying, I’ve got three bumper crops and I don’t even have a garden. What’s a girl to do?

Not fret, that’s for sure. I’ve found countless] great sources for ideas to use up the big three. Not to mention the inner-workings of my own crazy imagination…which led to this summer vegetable (and fish) stew. The fish in () because it’s optional. (Not that everything in this recipe isn’t optional — hell, you could change the stew entirely for all I care — but I’ve been told by my friends that I need to be more assertive and instructive, less “just do what you want”ish. I’m trying.) You want to know a secret? I didn’t plan on making this a fish stew at all. I planned on making braised zucchini-ratatouille dish, then pan-frying some turbot fillets and laying them nicely on top. All went as planned, until I flipped my fillets (which were doing beautifully in a generous helping of browned butter). I’d hoped for them to have a nice, crisp browned crust, but instead the grains had separated and stuck to the bottom of the pan and it didn’t look pretty at all. For your sake — so that you wouldn’t have to look at a picture of a yummy-ugly dish — I took the ratatouille, tossed it right back in the pan, and started spearing the fillets with my spatula to break them up a bit. As I finished them off in the ratatouille, they started to break down a bit, forming a nice-looking stew. I served the stew (to myself and D) with a slice of good, crusty sourdough, which proved ideal for mopping up the juices at the bottom of my bowl. What started as a mistake ended…quite nicely, if you ask me.
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Portobello Burgers

rivka — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:09:59 +0000

Until two nights ago, I’d never made a portobello burger. Hard to believe, I know. It’s, like, the simplest thing to make. Like, ever. And yet I somehow managed to make chocolate pretzels, potato foccacia, even Buche De Noel before getting around to this dead-simple dinner. Well, we’ve remedied that, folks, yes we have — and it certainly won’t be the last time I do it. Some facts about portobello burgers: they’re freakin’ easy. And tasty. Did I mention easy? Oh, and they’re uber-versatile. Like last night, for example, D ate hers as she would a normal burger: pickles, honey mustard, tomato, bbq sauce. I had mine like a true snob: taleggio cheese, avocado, heirloom tomato, pesto, on ciabatta bread. Delicious either way, we’ll both assure you. And really, took approximately 8 minutes to cook. I don’t have a grill or grill pan, but I used a very hot castiron pan and it did the trick.

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Onion Tart

rivka — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 23:42:07 +0000

I have less than no time to write this post: work is suuuper crazy right now and I’ve hardly had time to cook, let alone write. But how’s this for a teaser: it’s taking me longer to write this post than it did to make the onion tart I’m sharing with you. Really.

As long as you don’t make your own puff pastry, this tart can be put together in no time with just a bit of advance prep work (read: caramelize onions). I had a bit of time one night last week so I caramelized down two whole white onions into a big sweet mush. They served as the main ingredient of this here tart, topped off with some goat cheese, quick-sauteed mushrooms, and a few snippings of chives. That’s it. And with such little effort, the whole thing still got polished off at Friday night dinner.
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Mediterranean Orzo Salad

rivka — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 00:17:52 +0000

Well hello dear readers! Nice of you to join me here, at this oft-neglected blog of mine. Work has taken a turn for the busier, and I’ve not been posting as much as I’d like. The craziness will likely continue through the end of the month, but then I’m home free and will post much more! Meanwhile, thanks for hangin’ in there. And you’ll be handsomely rewarded for your patience — I have a couple of smashingly delicious recipes in the queue.

As you may have noticed, it’s pretty smokin’ hot these days. For those of us city folks without a porch, grilling isn’t much of an option, but nonetheless, I try to minimize indoor cooking as much as possible during summer months. This orzo salad requires no oven time, and just around 20 minutes of stovetop cooking. It can also be tweaked in any number of ways; as usual, the recipe I provide here is entirely a function of what was in my fridge when I made it, and you should listen to your fridge’s innards just as carefully.
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Sweet-Tart-Crunchy Skirt Steak Salad

rivka — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:11:46 +0000

If you haven’t noticed, we at NDP eat almost all vegetarian food. Meat and poultry rarely make their way into our weekly diet, and I personally couldn’t be happier. I can’t say the same for my co-habitant, but who makes the food? I do. That’s right.
An important distinction: I am NOT a vegetarian. No, no, no. That would never be. Every once in a while, I really, just really really need some meat. When that happens, I like to humor D with a little beefy deliciousness.

I’ve been seeing skirt steak everywhere lately, from other blogs to Top Chef and beyond. It’s a summer favorite because it cooks up in minutes, and it’s lovely on salad. It also happens to be particularly flavorful, which can’t hurt. We picked some up on our way home this afternoon, and my usual patient self decided to make it right away. I’d tagged an epicurious recipe for skirt steak with wine sauce, which I imagine was intended to serve as a main dish, but as I had a hankering for spinach salad tonight, I plopped the saucy steak on top of a bed of leaves.

Not to sound like a broken record, but you can make a thousand variations of the salad I made tonight. In fact, I’ve probably made spinach salad at least 30 different ways during my measly 25 years. Granted, not all varieties would go well with wine-flavored skirt steak, but lots would. I happened to have some plump dried cherries that D’s mom sent me a while back, as well as my favorite “crunchy mix” consisting of sesame seeds, sliced almonds, and raw crushed-up ramen noodles that I’d toasted. I threw both of those in with the spinach, dressed it all with some balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and a few drops of pomegranate syrup, and laid slices of steak on top. So long as your skirt steak isn’t loaded with fat and connective tissue as mine was, I guarantee you’ll have a delicious dinner.

Sweet-Tart-Crunchy Skirt Steak Salad

1 1/2 lb skirt steak, cut into 4 pieces
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3/4 cup dry red wine
4 fresh thyme sprigs
1 Turkish or 1/2 California bay leaf
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Pat steak dry and sprinkle all over with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then cook steaks, turning over once, 5 to 7 minutes total for medium-rare. Transfer to a platter.

Pour off fat from skillet, then add wine, thyme, bay leaf, sugar, and Worcestershire sauce and bring to a boil, scraping up brown bits. Continue to boil until reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add any meat juices on platter, then remove from heat and discard bay leaf and thyme. Slice steaks thinly, drizzle with pan sauce, and serve.

Sweet-Tangy-Crunchy Spinach Salad

3/4 cups loosely packed spinach
1/2 cup dried cherries (or substitute cranberries, raisins, black currants, etc)
1/8 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup sliced and/or slivered almonds
1/2 cup ramen noodles, raw and crushed

2 Tbsp good olive oil
4 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp pomegranate syrup
salt and pepper to taste

In a 350-degree oven, toast noodles, almonds and sesame seeds until golden brown, about 15-20 minutes. Let cool completely. Aside from that, you know the drill — combine the dressing ingredients; drizzle over the salad ingredients; eat.

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Whole Wheat Leek and Onion Tart

rivka — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:33:53 +0000

File this under “unexpectedly delicious.” When I developed the recipe for this tart, I purposefully avoided making the center quiche-like. I wanted a cheesy filling laced with caramelized leeks and onions; a quiche, eggy and milky, is a whole different thing. That said, eggs make things hold together and puff a bit in the oven, so I was concerned that my eggless tart filling would be dense and soggy, and might even disintegrate once sliced. Not so, my friends, not so. This was truly an unanticipated success, and perhaps the best thing on my dinner table last Friday night.
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Pasta Puttanesca

rivka — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:12:26 +0000

I am notoriously bad at making decisions. When we eat out, I always order last, often oscillating between two or three choices to the very last second. “What do you want to do tonight?” is my least favorite question. I’m not gonna tell you that it’s different in Italian restaurants — i still take forever to make up my darn mind — but when in doubt, I unwaveringly choose pasta puttanesca. It may even be the benchmark by which I judge an italian joint. For D, that’s gnocchi; if the gnocchi is bad, the place ain’t worth it. But I’d happily forgo plump, soft gnocchi anyday for a solid bowl of homemade pasta and that delightfully salty and spicy puttanesca sauce.
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Teriyaki Tofu with Brussels Sprouts and Soba

rivka — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:43:34 +0000

I’ve been on a tofu hiatus lately. Its estrogen-mimicking qualities had me a little nervous, and I hadn’t been craving it much anyway, so I took a tofu timeout. Then I was at the whole foods near work and some baked pressed tofu caught my eye. I can’t remember the brand, but it’s the kind that comes in thai, teriyaki, and lemon-pepper flavors. I usually buy regular organic extra firm tofu, and do the pressing and marinating myself. But don’t kid yourself — that process takes time. Ideally, you’d put the tofu in a bowl, cover it with a paper towel, rest a heavy can on top, and let the liquid drain out over at least half an hour. Then you’d marinate the tofu for half an hour more, replacing the plain liquid with flavor. But whole foods, the blessing that it is, carries ready-made-and-marinated tofu for only eighty times the price! Actually, this stuff was under 2 bucks — not bad at all.

With the tofu flavored and ready to go, I was able to make this entire meal, start to finish, in 23 minutes. People, that’s faster than our not-so-favorite thirty-minute-meal star. And it was delicious to boot! Even D thought so.
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Baked Stuffed Eggplant

rivka — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 03:45:21 +0000

This week, I was in North Carolina for work. I stayed in the coastal plains of NC, in an all-American town. By all-American, I mean the only things to eat were carbs and packaged food, and the most popular restaurants were Wendy’s, Popeye’s, Arby’s, and other restaurants whose names are people. Get the drift? Needless to say, I was thrilled to touch down on the runway in the nation’s capital, my mouth watering at the thought of cooking up some freakin’ vegetables for dinner.

I was going to blog about cookies tonight, but the sheer thought of butter and sugar makes me shudder with memories of my daily intake earlier this week. (Though, to NC’s credit, it’s not every day that a waffle costs $2.65, a side of grits sets you back 35 cents (!), and breakfast for two with tip comes to 8 bucks.) In short, I can’t think about sweet stuff right now, so I’ll tell you instead about the stuffed eggplants I made this past Sunday.
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Make-your-own Mexican Dinner

rivka — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 01:49:56 +0000

D and I were both very excited at the thought of turkey burgers, but you can’t make turkey burgers when the grocery store is out of turkey. hmm.

After a few moments’ hesitation about what to make my very hungry and over-studied cohabiter, I settled on mexican. Now, before you get too excited, this isn’t Diana Kennedy, from-under-the-adobe-flap Mexican (though I love Kennedy’s cookbooks, especially this one, and need to make some of her recipes soon!). This is Americanized Mexican food with just a few twists to make it more authentic. And you know what? It’s pretty damn good. Because we’re kosher, we do either the meat inside or the cheese on top. But please, don’t hold back. A little cotija cheese and sour cream never hurt anyone.

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Vegetable Galette

rivka — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 13:16:00 +0000

Few things showcase the rustic nature of fruits and vegetables better than a galette. Essentially a freeform tart, a galette has a hand-folded crust that is folded half way into the center, leaving some of its innards exposed. A galette is by definition slightly asymmetrical, but more beautiful for its imperfection, in my opinion.

I most like galettes with thinly-sliced fillings. If slices are more like chunks, it becomes quite unweildy and difficult to eat. However, packed with thin slivers of apples, spices, and brown sugar, or layered with red peppers, yellow squash, onions, and goat cheese, a galette is both easy to eat and oh-so-delicious.

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Open-Faced Spanikopita

rivka — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 13:05:00 +0000

Several times a week, I get home from work, open the fridge, and sigh. What the hell am I going to make for dinner? There’s half a red onion, a package of mushrooms, two slices of bread, leftover kale, one red pepper….yea, I’m not getting very far.

Last week, I had a blip of inspiration between long-ish bouts of cooking drab food, and managed to throw together these open-faced spanikopita with roasted peppers and tomatoes. There was a bit of leftover filo dough in the freezer, but it wasn’t wide enough to fold into triangles as I usually do, so I just left them flat and piled the goodies on top. And when you’re working with such few ingredients and almost no technique, there’s room to play with decorative aspects of the food. I arranged the red peppers in a criss-crossing pattern atop the spinach-kale mixture, and D thought the whole thing looked very fancy-shmancy.

Point is, don’t let a fridge full of half-used veggies and scraps get you down. There are lots of easy dishes that make use of leftovers in creative and easy ways. Now if only I could think of a couple more….for now, I’ll leave you with this spanikopita, which was truly a hit. For a quickie weeknight dinner, it truly fits the bill.

Open-Faced Spanikopita
makes 2 servings.

10 layers of filo dough, about 6″x16″
olive oil for brushing between the layers (about 1/4 cup)
1 red pepper
6 cherry or grape tomatoes
combined 1 1/2 cups frozen or fresh spinach or kale (I used a combo)
1 cup cheese — I used a mix of feta and ricotta, but farmer’s cheese would also work
Parmigiano-Reggiano for grating on top

Set out the filo dough and allow to thaw completely before unrolling.
Meanwhile, roughly chop spinach and/or kale if fresh; if frozen, thaw and drain completely.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine chopped greens with cheese, and mix thoroughly until well combined. If you prefer a smoother texture, blend in the food processor.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Set one rack on the highest shelf.
Put the red pepper and tomatoes on a baking sheet, and drizzle with a bit of olive oil and salt. Roast for about 20 minutes, until the skin of the pepper is charred. Remove from the oven, and put the pepper in a paper bag to steam for 5 minutes. Turn the oven down to 400 degrees.
When you remove the pepper from the bag, its skin should be easy to remove. Once the skin is off, slice the pepper into matchsticks (pretty thin slices).
Now, slice two 6″x8″ rectangles out of the filo dough.
Working with one rectangle at a time, take a layer of dough, brush it with olive oil, and place the next layer on top. Repeat with each layer, then with the second rectangle.
When all layers are brushed and stacked, scoop 2/3 cup of the spinach-cheese mixture onto the filo stacks.
Put the pepper slices and tomatoes onto the spanikopita in a haphazard or decorative (your choice) way. Grate some parmigiano-reggiano cheese on top.
Bake for 15 minutes, or until filo dough layers are golden. Be careful — it’s hot!

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Vegetarian Chili with Green Beans

rivka — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 23:00:00 +0000

Veggie Chili was always a staple in my house growing up. We may not have had meat, but you know I’ve sung the praises of morningstar farms more than once, and chili brought out the best in MF’s “veggie crumbles.” Yea yea, it sounds really unappetizing, but trust me, it’s amazing. Obviously if you’re not restricted by vegetarianism, feel free to add all the BOEUF you desire. Morningstar will come through for the rest of us.

As usual, this falls somewhere between method and recipe. My standard veggie chili has garlic, onion, tomatoes, peppers, morningstar, white beans, and spices. This one had all of the above except no white beans — I only had black beans in the house. I also added a bit of sweet potato, since I had some baked, mashed, and in the fridge. I’d do that again in a flash: the sweet potato added subtle sweetness and earthiness to an otherwise typical Mexican veggie chili. Finally, I threw in some green beans and a bit of spinach at the very end, which made this chili a one-pot meal. Pop it on some whole wheat tortillas, and you’ve got dinner! Oy, I feel like Rachel Ray…

Veggie Chili with Green Beans
serves 2

1 jalapeno pepper
1/2 onion ( I used red, any will do), chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 package morningstar farms veggie crumbles OR 1/2 lb. ground turkey or beef
1 8 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 sweet potato, chopped and baked
1 1/2 cups green beans
1 cup spinach, chopped
1 green pepper
1 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. crushed red chilies
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. coriander
a few springs of fresh cilantro
salt and pepper to taste

In a heavy-bottomed pan, saute onions, garlic, and jalapeno in 2 Tbsps. olive oil.
When onions are fragrant and soft, add veggie crumbles or meat, a bit more oil if needed, and all spices except cilantro, plus salt and pepper to taste. saute until thawed and/or browned.
Add tomatoes, and toss to coat everything with their juices.
Add sweet potatoes, green beans, and spinach, and continue to cook over medium heat until green beans are soft, about ten minutes.
Finish with chopped fresh cilantro; serve with whole wheat tortillas. Enjoy!

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Indian, round 1: Potato and Eggplant Curry

rivka — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 03:07:00 +0000

I know, I know. “Indian food? Scary!” But really, it’s not all that scary. Not if you have an endless list of totally obscure ingredients you’ve never heard of in quantities much larger than you’ll ever need, from the grocery store that’s farthest and most inconvenient to the rest of your life.

See? Not so bad.

Today I had a car, and I made sure to take extra-long at my doctor’s appointment. Read: I went to the Indian grocery store way the hell down Rockville Pike. I actually thought I’d missed it, and just as I sent a text to google asking where in the world “International Indian Supermarket” was (yea, that’s what it’s called. It’s Indian and International), I found the IHOP, turned left, and there, on the side of the pancake house, was a small slice of Indian heaven. Think curry leaves, dried papadum, dosai mix, whole nutmeg and turmeric and amchur (huh?) and lots of frozen dinners. Daunting? A little, but also ridiculously fun. I was a kid in a candy store. Only I didn’t recognize any of the candies. But still, candy store, people.

Here’s what I came home with:

1 package toor dal
1 package whole nutmeg
1 package brown sesame seeds
1 tub tamarind paste (crack, as far as I’m concerned. This stuff is amazing.)
1 jar garam masala paste
garam masala and chana masala powders
1 bag curry leaves
1 bag dried papadum
1 box dosai mix
1 large box saffron

True to form, I used only four of the above ingredients in the curry I made tonight, and I used them in proportions that an Indian food connoisseur would poo-poo. And by that, I mean that I made it all up.

But hey, it was edible! In fact, it was so edible that even D ate it. And when it came time to take seconds, she chose my odd creation over the palak paneer (spinach and cheese) from a package. So it really must have been pretty decent.

I’ll happily provide the recipe here, but as with most things I make, this “recipe” never really was a recipe as much as a taste-and-adjust experiment. The moral of the story is to always try new things, especially Indian food, because with Indian food, all the flavors on the plate are supposed to blend together — so if you accidentally over or under-season something, just mix it with something else until it tastes like something you want to eat. Kapish?

Potato, Yam and Eggplant Curry
serves 2, with leftovers.

2 large potatoes of any sort (I used regular old baking potatoes), in chunks
1 sweet potato, in chunks
1 small eggplant (I used most of one Japanese eggplant), in chunks
1/2 a tomato, diced
1/2 a red onion, diced
2-3 small curry leaves
1 1/2 tsp. garam masala paste
1 Tbsp. tamarind paste
1 Tbsp. sugar
peanut oil (veg. oil is fine)
salt to taste

Add 1/3 cup peanut oil to a heavy-bottomed pan. Add garam masala paste, curry leaves and diced red onion. Saute until translucent.
Add potatoes, and toss to coat with seasoning. Saute five minutes.
Add eggplant, and toss to coat. Saute 2 minutes.
Add water by the cupful (I added about two cups), until curry stops sizzling. The idea here is to bring the water to a low boil, and allow it to cook of gradually. This will create a sauce with concentrated flavor, and it will also allow the potatoes to cook through.
When the first round of water is mostly evaporated, add a cup or two more and keep cooking. Continue this process until potatoes are easily pierced with a fork; then allow the water to boil down to a thickened sauce.

Raita
makes 1 cup.

1 cup yogurt
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. finely diced onion
finely diced cucumber and carrot, optional

Combine the above ingredients and serve as a condiment. It offers some relief from the heat (temperature) and heat (spice) of the curry.

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A Very Vegetarian Thanksgiving

rivka — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 17:11:00 +0000

Having spent 22 Thanksgivings with my family, I’ve seen my fair share of crowded dinner tables, overstuffed tummies and packed fridges. This year will be no exception. As promised, the array of dishes that my mom and I made for Thursday’s feast is so vast, turkey simply will not be missed. We planned a menu with something for everyone (and too much for any one person) to eat. Below, I’ve outlined every step of our process, complete with shopping lists, directions, and substitutions for those with allergies or dislikes. I hope this comes intime for your prep, and as always, I’d love any and all feedback on recipes, readability, etc. Happy shopping, cooking, and eating!

SHOPPING LIST

Squash Stuffed With Red Quinoa, Pears and Cranberries

1 red onion
2 firm pears, any kind will do
1 stalk celery
¼ cup pecans
1 bunch fresh thyme
1 small container apple juice (total ½ cup)
1 small container vegetable broth (total 2 cups)
4 delicata squash, depending on size, or substitute butternut squash
1 box red quinoa; can substitute regular quinoa or wild rice

Jalapeno-Fruit Chutney

2 jalapeno chilies
1 package dried apricots
1 package cranberries
small package crystallized ginger (total 1 Tbsp)
white and brown sugar (total ½ cup of each)
cloves, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg – whichever you have

Cornbread Broccoli Rabe Strata

Note: we made half a recipe, in a square pan; we’re guessing people will love this, but they’ll only take one helping. It’s pretty rich!

olive oil
1 head garlic (you’ll only need 1 clove for this)
crushed red pepper flakes
1 lb. broccoli rabe, or rapini — those big leaves with what look like little broccoli florets
1 red pepper
1 small container kalamata olives (total ¼ cup)
1 quart whole milk
8 eggs
whatever you need to make cornbread – we do from scratch, but there are easy mixes out there as well
1 container ricotta cheese OR farmer cheese (we did farmer cheese, and prefer it)
1 block gruyere cheese (6 oz. total)

Mushroom Soup

1 ½ lbs. mushrooms of any kind (we used a mix of white, baby bella, cremini, chanterelles and shitake. If you’re on a budget, use baby bella and cremini, which run much cheaper than chanterelles and shiitake.)
8 cups of broth (we bought two cartons of no-chicken broth, which was perfect)
5 shallots
2 cloves of garlic (one head of garlic will suffice for all the recipes we made)

Squash Stuffed With Red Quinoa, Pears and Cranberries
Quinoa adapted from “Cranberry Pear Wild Rice Stuffing” by Nava Atlas, chutney adapted from this recipe in delicious living magazine
Serves 8-12.

Red Quinoa:

- 2 cups vegetable broth or no-chicken broth
- 1 box red quinoa (approximately 2 cups)
- 1 red onion, diced small
- 1 celery stalk, diced small
- 2 medium firm pears, cored and diced
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ¼ cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts
- 1 tsp. fresh thyme (can substitute ½ tsp. dried thyme)
- ½ cup apple or pear juice
- 4 delicata squash, or substitute butternut

Fruit Chutney:

- 1 cup dried apricots
- 1 ½ cups water
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 1 Tbsp. crystallized ginger, chopped
- ¼ tsp. cloves
- ¼ tsp. allspice
- 1 package cranberries
- 2 jalapeno peppers

For the Quinoa:

Bring the broth to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the quinoa and cook according to the directions on the package. (We cooked ours over medium heat for ten or so minutes, then turned off the heat and let it steam the rest of the way.)
Once the heat has been turned off, add the diced pears and cover the pot, allowing them to par-cook with the quinoa.
Meanwhile, sauté onion and celery in a couple Tbsp of olive oil over medium heat, until soft and translucent. Add thyme, and continue to sauté. (Here’s the truth: we let the onion and celery go on a bit too long, and it got a bit charred…and delicious. I highly recommend charring the onion and celery!)
Add the cranberries, onion/celery/thyme, pecans and apple juice to the cooked quinoa, and toss. If needed, add salt and pepper.

For the Squash:

Slice squash lengthwise, and remove seeds. (If you save them, you can prepare them this way.)
Roast squash, upside down, in a pyrex with an inch of water in the bottom. For delicate, 30 minutes is plenty; butternut need about an hour. Remove squash from the oven when you can easily pierce their flesh with a fork.
Fill the crevices of the squash with the red quinoa filling.

For the Fruit Chutney:

Bring 1 ½ cups water to a boil and pour it over the apricots in a small bowl. Leave for ten minutes; this will reconstitute the apricots. Keep the liquid when done!
Meanwhile, roast the jalapeno peppers under the broiler until the skin blackens and develops blisters, 10-15 minutes. (If you have a gas stove, you can char them over an open flame much more quickly.) Remove them from the oven and insert them into a brown paper bag. Allow them to steam in the bag for 5 minutes, then remove them and slide their skins off under running water. Chop them into a fine dice; they should total about 2 Tbsp.
Into a pot on medium heat, add apricots, jalapeno, cranberries, crystallized ginger, spices and the leftover liquid from the apricots plus enough extra water to total 1 ¼ cups. Allow all of the ingredients to simmer until cranberries start to pop and the mixture gels, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat, and allow the chutney to set.
Top squash and quinoa with a dollop of the chutney, and serve some alongside as well.

Alternative recipe:
Add chickpeas to the quinoa, and mix in some salsa with the fruit chutney for a more savory topping.

Mushroom Soup
Adapted from this recipe on Epicurious

1 ½ lbs. assorted mushrooms
5 shallots, diced
5 cloves garlic, chopped
3 Tbsp. olive oil
6 cups broth
salt and pepper as needed

Rinse or wipe mushrooms clean, then pat dry; chop roughly into two or three pieces each. Save two or three mushrooms, which you can later chop and use as a garnish.
Sauté shallots and garlic in olive oil until soft and translucent.
Add mushrooms and sauté over medium-low heat until mushrooms start to emit liquid, about 10 minutes.
Add half the broth, and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.
Remove mushrooms and shallot pieces with a slotted spoon and put into a food processor. Puree them with 1 cup of broth until smooth. Return to the pot, add the rest of the broth, and simmer 15 more minutes. Remove from heat.
Serve warm, with mushroom garnish.

We also made:

pumpkin bread
pumpkin pie (my mom did this before I arrived, but I imagine her recipe is pretty standard)
pumpkin cheese cake (I’ll be getting this recipe soon!)

We will also be making:

cornbread broccoli rabe strata (recipe from the New York Times; we’re making half a recipe, and baking it in a square pan.)
sweet potatoes two ways: with marshmallows, and with lime syrup
a greek salad
cranberry-etrog sauce
apple-cranberry pie
pecan pie

If I’m forgetting anything, it’s hard to tell. See why it’s so hard to miss turkey with this thanksgiving feast?

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Chicken Cholent

rivka — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:58:00 +0000

I think I officially have enough blog traffic that my Jewish friends aren’t the only ones reading! This means that I actually have to explain what cholent is. (This is very exciting.)

Cholent is what Ashkenazi Jews (from Eastern Europe) used to eat every Saturday for lunch. Sephardi Jews ate something similar, but they called it “Hamin” (which means “hot stuff” in Hebrew…funny, no?) We still make this today, and to my knowledge, little has changed in terms of the basic ingredients — though every cook adds his or her special touch.

The key to cholent is cooking time. Because traditionally, no cooking is allowed on the Sabbath, people start cooking cholent by sundown Friday, and don’t touch it until they’re ready to eat it on Saturday for lunch. By Saturday afternoon, the watery, murkey pot-o-goodies is an entirely different animal: the barley has soaked up all the water and turned soft and supple; the meat (or, as here, chicken), having been braised for about 18 hours, falls off the bone unprodded. Potatoes have turned dark brown from steeping in chicken stock and whatever else is in the pot — and the marrow in the bones is creamy, flavorful and delicious. Sound appealing?

Over the years, the basics of cholent have stayed the same (meat, potatoes, barley), but the little things change from chef to chef (and, in my case, from time to time). I find that meat sits in my stomach like a brick when I eat it on Saturday afternoon, so my new thing is subsituting chicken. Sometimes I add apricots and carrots, sometimes prunes or dates. Once I even did a tagine style and included preserved lemons. As for the liquid, I frequently add chili sauce or bbq sauce, which are both pretty common — but anything will do.

The best part about cholent is that it only improves with age; leftovers are even thicker and more flavorful. I’ve included a recipe below, but that’s really not necessary, for two reasons:

a) cholent is a method, not a recipe. Just throw some protein and carbs in a pot, cover with liquid, and cook forever.

b) my actual cholent recipe is someone else’s prized posession, and it was given to me on strict condition that I never write it down, let alone pass it on. I wasn’t even allowed to transcribe it as I heard the holy words uttered; I merely had to remember it as best I could, and try to replicate the recipe according to my (very flawed, very human) memory. You may not be surprised to know that he who gave me this recipe actually called it “Torah She-B’al Peh,” or “Oral Law.”

So that’s that.

Cholent

serves lots.

1 whole chicken or many strips of flank steak

several potatoes or any kind, washed and quartered

a few cups of barley

a couple marrow bones, optional

salt and pepper

any or all of the following things and more: carrots, apricots, prunes, dates, raisins, gosh I don’t know — preserved lemons, olives, tomatoes, you name it.

Dump all this in the crock pot.

Cover with water by at least a couple inches or more.

Add any or all of the following sauces, if you wish: bbq, teriyaki, sweet chili sauce, tomato sauce, soy sauce, etc.

Turn on high until boiling, then switch to low and leave it alone until ready to eat!

I should mention one note: some people stick balls of tinfoil between the actual crock pot and the heating device in which it sits, so as to avoid the burnt crust that forms at the bottom of the pot. I like burnt, so I leave well enough alone.

Happy Cholent!

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delicata squash — an addiction

rivka — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 21:08:00 +0000

Are you a squash hater? Please don’t be. Squash get a bad rap among carnivores for being a lame substitute for meat; it gets boiled, mashed, sugared, buttered, and baked into squash soufflé, yet so many people refuse to eat it as is. Well, if butternut and acorn and spaghetti squashes don’t do it for you, delicata is a wonderful last resort. It has a thinner flesh than other squash varieties, and the inside has a crevice running the length of the squash (as opposed to the small crevice at only one end of a butternut) that can be filled with all sorts of deliciousness. As for the flavor, it’s simply remarkable. Delicata is buttery, nutty, and smooth.

My dad gets all the credit here; he introduced delicata squash to our family, and I’m pretty sure it was an instant hit. I find it’s best prepared simply: my preference is to bake it plain, as my mom does and drizzle a lemon-garlic butter over top just before eating.

Delicata Squash
serves 2.
1 delicata squash, halved, seeds removed (and preserved…I’ll post a recipe for roasted squash seeds soon)
half a lemon
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp. butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Put squash halves, flesh-side down, in a pyrex or other baking pan.
Add water to the pan until 1/2 and inch of the squash is submerged.
Bake squash for half an hour, or until flesh is soft and a fork goes right through.
Meanwhile, melt butter in a saucepan. When it starts to sizzle, add garlic. Toast until garlic just starts to turn brown, and then remove from heat. Garlic will continue to toast.
When squash are ready, flip right-side up onto plates; drizzle with garlic butter, and finish with a squeeze of lemon.

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Tilapia en papillote, purple potatoes, chile verde sauce

rivka — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 01:36:00 +0000

Ok, lots of words in the title, I know, but it’s not really all that complicated to make.

I was in a creative mood last night, and I’d just read a post from Elise at Simply Recipes describing a recipe for Chile Verde. Pig is pretty high on the treif list, but I love tomatillos, and hot peppers are my new favorite food, so I figured I’d take a stab at making the dish sans pork — which basically amounts to a yummy and versatile green sauce. I made several adjustments which I’ve spelled out in the recipe (below).

Now, tilapia en papillote.

“En papillote” is French for “in paper.” This cooking technique involves creating a steam packet out of parchment paper, which seals flavors and juices into whatever steams inside. I ususally layer a protein (fish, meat, tofu, even) with fruit and/or vegetables, spices, salt and pepper, and just a few dashes of sauce or scented oil, depending on the recipe. Last week, my mother served salmon en papillote with peaches, julienned carrots and red peppers, and a dash of sesame oil — simple and absolutely delightful.

The technique is a very healthy way to cook: it requires no oil, and ingredients are cooked just to doneness, so that they retain most of their nutrients. It’s also relatively easy and quick: Just place the fish on the parchment paper, top with the other elements (or place them beneath the fish), fold up, and bake in the oven. Finally, en papillote makes for a beautiful presentation, as the fish and all its accoutrements are unwrapped and plated tableside. I know, it sounds like a lot of fussing, but it’s really not that bad. Think of it as a ziploc sip n’ steam bag but it’s cheaper because it’s just a piece of paper. Plus, it won’t leak dioxins into your dinner the way plastic does. One rule of thumb about en papillote cooking: everything you cook inside the paper must have more or less the same cooking time. This means that if you’re including carrots, potatoes, or other starchy things that take a while to soften, you must slice them very thinly so that they will cook more quickly. When you make this (yes, you will make this), let me know how it goes.

Chile Verde Sauce
2 Anaheim (or other) chiles — Elise uses jalapeños
3 tomatillos, husks removed and cleaned well
1 small yellow onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic
salt
olive oil

Put tomatillos and garlic cloves under a broiler for about 12 minutes, until the tomatillos’ skins are a browned and the flesh is soft. Remove, and allow to cool. Meanwhile, sauté the onions in the olive oil over low heat, until soft, translucent and caramelized.

Roast peppers naked on a gas stove (as seen above — yowza!) until their entire skin is charred. Put in a peper bag and allow to steam for a couple minutes; then remove, run under water, and slide the skin right off, exposing the flesh of the pepper. chop coarsely.

Put the tomatillos in a blender and pulse. Add, then chiles, and season liberally with salt. Transfer to a bowl and store, covered, in the fridge for up to a week.

Tilapia en papillote with purple potatoes
serves 2.
2 filets of tilapia
2 pieces parchment paper, about three times the size of the filets
2 purple potatoes
1 lemon
salt and pepper
buckwheat honey

Lay tilapia filets in the center of the pieces of parchment paper.
Slice the potatoes VERY thinly (otherwise they will take longer to cook than the fish)
Slice the lemons. Stack the lemons and the potatoes in a domino-effect on top of the filet (I did them separately, but one may alternate them also for a more exciting presentation.) Alternatively, place the potatoes beneath the fish and the lemons on top.
Season with salt and pepper, and drizzle 1/2 a teaspoon (max!) of buckwheat honey atop each filet.
Wrap the filets as follows:(Like my elementary school drawings?)
Step 1: place fish in the center of paper with potatoes, lemons, salt, pepper and honey.
Step 2: fold the LONG sides of the paper over the fish toward the center so that they overlap.
Step 3: making sure that the paper stays overlapped, fold the short ends BENEATH the fish toward the center. In the finished packet, the fish should be resting on the two short sides of the paper (folded so that they’re each in a double layer), keeping the packet closed.

Ok, that was the hard part. Now put the packets on a baking sheet, and insert into a 350-degree oven for about 15 minutes. You may have to leave them in for 20, depending on the thickness of the filets. I always open my own to check it so that I don’t serve anyone accidentally undercooked fish.

That’s basically it: for this dish, I drizzled a bit of honey over the chile verde, then plated the fish atop the sauce, and garnished with a sliced pear to complement the acidity of the chile verde. I’d probably skip the honey on the chile next time, as it tends to overpower the flavor of the chile.

*Phew!* enjoy.

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Stuffed Squash Blossoms with ricotta, cheddar, baby squash, sausage and chili

rivka — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 18:28:00 +0000

Being that it’s summer and zucchini is in abundance, these little numbers have been popping up all over the place. I’ve been wanting to make these for quite some time now, but hadn’t quite settled on a recipe for the filling. I’ve seen any number of variations, from plain white or cotija cheese to corn-laced ricotta to bread crumbs and monterey jack, but none quite fit my bill. I wanted a mix of vegetables, cheese and non-cheese protein (but since I keep kosher, I couldn’t use meat). So ever since my Sunday trip to the farmers’ market at Dupont Circle, the blossoms have been sitting untouched in my fridge.

When I got home last night and opened the fridge, there they were, staring at me. That was it, I decided. These babies won’t last forever anyway — might as well make use of them before they wilt and I lose my chance. I had a nice hunk of sweet ricotta in my fridge, and I decided to pair it with with some good Vermont cheddar, which I grated into the ricotta.

The other obvious inclusion was chili. I had two baby jalapeños, which I roasted over an open flame, steamed in a paper bag, and julienned.

Through the vegetable drawer I saw a couple baby squash that I had completely forgotten about; typical me. In keeping with that very trendy “____ two ways” concept, I decided to include the squash in my filling. But what else?

Enter Morningstar Farms, my best friend. Actually, we’re going steady. I have at least four of their products a day — two of the fake-bacon strips in the morning, and two of the sausage links sometime during the rest of the day. I’ve been addicted to these as long as I can remember, and the Safeway near my house has this automated coupon dispenser that coaxes you to try new things by giving you big coupons, then cutting the savings in half on your next coupon for the same item until you’re addicted to buying it, regular price, from now on. That’s how I got onto the bacon strips.

But I digress.

I actually thought that a somewhat spicy, smoky sausage would make a nice accompaniment to the richness of the cheese and bitter chili, and boy was I onto something, if I dare say so myself!

While I was sautéing the squash, I tossed in three sausage links. Once they had thawed, I roughly chopped them and tossed them, along with the squash, into the big cheese-chili bowl. I guess, in retrospect, I was also going for texture here, and the sausage added a much needed toothsome quality to the mixture. Did I really just use that word? That’s such a restaurant critic word … eek, sorry sorry.

So now I had an appetizing mush (if that makes any sense) of ricotta, cheddar, jalapeño, sautéed baby squash and fake sausage. mmmmm.

(Okay that pic is before I added the squash and sausage. Too much coordination required!)

I guess it was about this point when D asked me what was for dinner. She’s got this skill of being totally not ready for dinner one second and being OH MY GOD FAMISHED the very next. By the time she’s asking what’s for dinner, she’s way beyond the point of hungry and just dying to put food in her mouth. This clearly doesn’t bode well for my cooking experiments, which take longer than, say, throwing together a deli sandwich.

…which is exactly what she did.

Now I was left with four squash blossoms, a bowl full of cheesy filling, half a pan of oil, and myself. Thank god I skipped the gym this morning. Wouldn’t want to compensate for the thousands of calories I was about to consume, not one little bit.

It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it. I cleaned the little green bugs off the blossoms (yea, make sure you do that…), stuffed each one with a hefty amount of filling (do not be afraid to overstuff them), and twisted the ends together in a lame attempt to keep the filling inside.

Next, I dunked each one in a bowl of half-and-half, then rolled each in a mixture of flour, cornmeal, salt, and pepper. A quick bath into the deep-fryer (also known as my cast-iron skillet with an inch and a half of oil in it) and they’d be ready to eat….

Which I dutifully did. What’s really nice about these is that if you like burnt things like I do, you can leave these in a little longer than a professional would, giving them a nice, crisp exterior and oozy, melty innards. Otherwise, leave them in the oil about 45 seconds per side, just until the flowers are warmed through.

Bon appetit!

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Butternut Squash and Creamed-Spinach Gratin

rivka — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 12:51:47 +0000

This dish is rich and satisfying without being super heavy. The butternut squash lends sweetness, while Parmesan cheese gives it a salty, crunchy bite. It’s also good-to-go for gluten-free folks.

Butternut Squash and Creamed-Spinach Gratin
adapted from Gourmet

3 pounds fresh spinach, stems discarded, or 3 (10-ounce) packages frozen leaf spinach, thawed
5 tablespoons unsalted butter plus additional for greasing pan
3/4 cup finely chopped onion (1 small)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
Rounded 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup heavy cream
4 pounds butternut squash (2 large), peeled, quartered, and seeded
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

If using fresh spinach, bring 1 inch water to a boil in a 6- to 8-quart pot over high heat. Add spinach, a few handfuls at a time, and cook, turning with tongs, until wilted, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold water.

Thoroughly squeeze cooked fresh or thawed frozen spinach in small handfuls to remove excess moisture, then coarsely chop and transfer to a bowl.

Melt 3 tablespoons butter in an 8-inch heavy skillet over moderately low heat, then cook onion and garlic, stirring, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add onion mixture to spinach along with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cream and stir to combine.

Put oven rack in upper third of oven and preheat oven to 400°F. Butter a 3-quart shallow baking dish (13 by 9 inches; not glass).

Cut squash to separate bulb section from solid neck section, then cut pieces lengthwise into 1/8-inch-thick slices with slicer or sharp knife (with knife, slices will be slightly thicker — which is fine).

Layer squash and spinach mixture in baking dish, using about one fifth of squash and one fourth of spinach for each layer, beginning and ending with squash. Sprinkle top layer of squash evenly with cheese and dot with remaining 2 tablespoons butter, then cover directly with a sheet of parchment or wax paper. Bake until squash is tender and filling is bubbling, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove paper and bake gratin until browned in spots, 10 to 15 minutes, or broil 3 inches from heat, 2 to 3 minutes.

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Crisp Potato Eggplant Tart

rivka — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 14:46:58 +0000

This is a dead-simple dish that can serve as a side to a good steak, or as a vegetarian main dish. It’s not too difficult to make, and the payoff is worth the trouble.

Crisp Potato Eggplant Tart
adapted from Great American Food, by Charlie Palmer with Judith Choate

2 1/4 cups finely diced, peeled eggplant
1 teaspoon coarse salt plus more to taste
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons safflower oil
3 tablespoons minced shallots
4 large Idaho potatoes
Pepper
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

Place eggplant in a nonreactive bowl. Toss with 1 teaspoon of salt and allow to sit for 20 minutes. Remove to a clean kitchen towel and tightly twist to squeeze out all moisture. Set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a medium sauté pan over medium heat. Add the eggplant and shallots and sauté for about 6 minutes, or until very tender. Remove from heat and set aside.

Peel potatoes. Using a hand grater or mandoline, shred potatoes into a clean kitchen towel. Tightly twist to squeeze out as much moisture as possible.

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Heat remaining 1/4 cup of oil in a 9-inch ovenproof, nonstick sauté pan over medium heat. Using a spatula, evenly press half of the potatoes into the pan. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spread the reserved eggplant over the top. Pat remaining potatoes evenly over the eggplant. Again, season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until bottom is golden. Carefully turn and dab the crust with bits of butter. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until bottom begins to crisp. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 25 minutes, or until potatoes are cooked and tart is golden and crisp. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Using a sharp serrated knife, cut into 6 wedges and serve immediately.

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Spinach and Roasted Red Pepper Gratin

rivka — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 14:42:34 +0000

This rich, flavorful gratin dish makes a fantastic light supper or lunch main course. It also happens to be gluten-free and kosher for passover — go figure.

Spinach and Roasted Red Pepper Gratin
adapted from Epicurious

4 10-ounce bags fresh spinach leaves
3 red bell peppers
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
3 medium leeks (white and pale green parts only), thinly sliced (about 3 cups)
1 large shallot, chopped (about 1/4 cup)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup whipping cream
4 large eggs
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Heat large deep nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches (about 10 cups at a time), sauté fresh spinach in dry skillet until bright green and wilted, about 2 minutes per batch. Transfer spinach to strainer. Squeeze spinach dry; roll in kitchen towel to remove excess water.

Char peppers directly over gas flame or in broiler until blackened on all sides. Enclose in paper bag; let stand 10 minutes. Peel, seed, and slice peppers into 1/4-inch-wide strips.

Melt butter with oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add leeks, shallot, and garlic; cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk cream and eggs in large bowl to blend. Whisk in all cheeses, salt, and pepper. Stir in spinach, leek mixture, and 2/3 of roasted red peppers (reserve 1/3 of peppers for topping). (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously butter 13x9x2-inch baking dish. Transfer spinach mixture to prepared dish. Bake gratin until knife inserted into center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Arrange remaining red pepper strips decoratively atop gratin and serve.

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Squash Stuffed with Quinoa, Pears and Cranberries

rivka — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 14:41:37 +0000

This is a dead-easy recipe that’s gluten free, kosher, kosher for passover, and wonderful year-round.

Squash Stuffed with Quinoa, Pears and Cranberries
from the archives

1 red onion
2 firm pears, any kind will do
1 stalk celery
¼ cup pecans
1 bunch fresh thyme
1 small container apple juice (total ½ cup)
1 small container vegetable broth (total 2 cups: can substitute water)
4 delicata squash, depending on size, or 2 butternut squash
1 box quinoa of any variety
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Bring the broth to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the quinoa and cook according to the directions on the package. (We cooked ours over medium heat for ten or so minutes, then turned off the heat and let it steam the rest of the way.)

Once the heat has been turned off, add the diced pears and cover the pot, allowing them to par-cook with the quinoa.

Meanwhile, sauté onion and celery in a couple Tbsp of olive oil over medium heat, until soft and translucent. Add thyme, and continue to sauté. (Here’s the truth: we let the onion and celery go on a bit too long, and it got a bit charred…and delicious. I highly recommend charring the onion and celery!)

Add the cranberries, onion/celery/thyme, pecans and apple juice to the cooked quinoa, and toss. If needed, add salt and pepper.

Halve squash, and remove seeds. Roast squash face down on a sheet pan covered in parchment paper until a knife can easily pierce the flesh — about 45 minutes for butternut and 15 for delicata. Turn over and allow to cool about 20 minutes.

Fill squash with quinoa mixture; if desired, drizzle with a bit of honey. Serve warm.

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