20 Minute Dinner–Fresh Pesto, Cannellini Beans and Red Peppers Over Pasta

I have recently been making lots of quick, simple dinners with my new work/school schedule which is proving very demanding.  Sometimes, too, I get cooked for, or make grilled cheese and open a can of soup.  But on the nights I can motivate I do make an effort to get some kitchen time–for both nutrition and for peace of mind.  Cooking for me is like meditating.

When basil is in season (which it is in the Bay Area now), pesto is a quick and tasty addition to any meal.  Kasha has a great post on pesto, so no need to repeat it.  But it takes only a few minutes as the results are always so impressive.

Fresh Pesto, Cannellini Beans and Red Pepper Over Pasta–for 2

1 cup pesto
1 can cannellini beans
1/2 red onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
salt, pepper, red pepper flakes
pasta for 2, cooked to perfection

Saute red onions in butter (or olive oil) until they are translucent and tender.   Add red bell peppers and saute for another 5 minutes.  Add cannellini beans and season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes for those of you who enjoy a little heat.  Toss bean mixture with pasta, plate it and top with fresh pesto.

Grilled Okra, Corn and Tomato Salad

Okra is a popular, if not essential food in many parts of the “third world”–it is widely used in India, the Caribbean and West and East Africa, where it originated (it is thought to have originated in Ethiopia).  In the southern states it is more common, but generally, it is minimally used in  the US and Europe.  I first came to know okra, or lady’s fingers as they are called, as I began experimenting with Indian cuisine (okra in Hindi is “bindi” and is always cooked to little nibbles of delicious perfection).  More recently I have been enjoying this cold salad of grilled okra, fresh corn off the cob and heirloom tomatoes (inspired by/adapted from Bryant Terry’s Vegan Soul Kitchen).

In this recipe grilling the okra helps eliminate what okra in the US may be best known for: slimy insides.  Use two wooden kebab spears to pierce each piece of okra to make it more manageable to grill and flip (see above photo).

1.5 pounds tomatoes diced
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 jalapeno or habanero, de-seeded and minced
the juice of one lemon
1 pound okra pods, grilled and diced
3 large ears corn, grilled and
freshly ground pepper and salt!

Grill the okra until tender and browned.  About 10 minutes, depending how hot the grill is.  You can also “grill” the okra in an oven if need be.  Then cut off the heads of the okra and the rest of the pod into 1/2 inch pieces.  Grill the corn (or boil) and then carefully slice the kernels off the cob.

Toss all ingredients with the lemon juice, salt and pepper and enjoy!

Bruscetta with Hierloom Tomatoes

I was totally overwhelmed with my pre-school to-do list when I got home from work today and so i settled into making myself a 15 minute meal while I called to cancel by dinner plans of Moules Provençale with Kasha (postpone–not cancel–I am still looking forward to learning how to steam mussels tomorrow).  I find one of the finest meals one can make in 15 minutes (unless you have a gluten allergy–whoops) is bruscetta: grilled bread with any assortment of delightful toppings.

Ingredients for Bruscetta with Hierloom Tomatoes

Heirloom tomatoes (An heirloom plant is a cultivar that are hand-me-downs from vegetables have kept their traits through open-pollination while other varieties such have been intensely propagated over the centuries)
Basil
Balsamic vinegar
Olive Oil
Ground Pepper
Good, Crusty Bread–I used rustic baguettes from Acme Bread here

Chop the tomatoes and slice the basil into strips.  Stir the tomatoes and basil in with a tablespoon of good quality balsamic vinegar and grind some fresh peeper over it.  Salt to taste.  Slice the bread and lightly butter (I use Earth Balance vegan spread because I actually like the taster better) or alternatively use the traditional approach and lightly  brush each side with olive oil.  And here is the pat that recently became easy for me: grill the bread.  Claire (most highly skilled counselor is OUSD) bought us an amazing panini, etc. grill and it is fabulous!  So all I have to do is plug it in and put the bread on the grill and in minutes I have fabulously-grilled-to-perfection bread for bruscetta.  I highly suggest you all invest in this appliance.  However, those of you sans a grill, preheat your oven to 450 and put the rack up high.  Once the oven has reached 450°F, place a tray of bread slices in the oven on the top rack. Toast for 5-6 minutes, until the bread just begins to turn golden brown.  Take the bread off the grill or out of the oven and run one side down with garlic if you so desire, and then attractively arrange the bread on a serving dish.  Then, scoop out the tomatoes and top each slice with a generous portion.  I served my  bruscetta with a dallop of chevre as well.  Always a treat. Last night I toppped off the appretizer bruscetta with caramelized shallot, as pictured below. There are, of course, many ways of making stunning bruscetta–and I am hoping to try a few others in the near future.  I’ll add them on.  For now, back to work…

Potato Cod Cakes with Dijon Tartar Sauce, Arugula with Caramelized Shallots and Corn on the Cob!

I have been in school super full time this summer as I work toward earning my Administrative Credential and my Masters in Education, so there has been little time to cook and I have subsisted mostly on Ethiopian food from around the corner (a God send) and Trader Joe’s Roasted Veggie frozen pizza (also fabulous). But now I am on my one week vacation (in which I am going in to work every day…) and trying to get in some good kitchen time.  Over breakfast I pondered what it was I wanted to make and decided on Cod Cakes–a less expensive alternative to Crab Cakes, which are oh-so-good.  They turned out fabulous and I even have some batter left over to make appetizers with tomorrow evening.  Brilliant.

Cod Cake Ingredients:
1 medium baking potato, peeled and cubed and cooked
1 cup panko (Japanese bread crubs, or regular bread crumbs if you don’t have access to panko)
4-5 green onions, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper chopped finely or processed in a food processor
fresh parsley to taste
fresh oregano to taste
salt and ground pepper to taste
2 + cloves garlic chopped finely
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 lbs cods fillets, cooked

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix together all the ingredients except the eggs and fish.  You can taste the batter at this point and see if it needs more salt or pepper.  Add in the cod slowly, separating the fillets into chunks while checking carefully for any stray bones!  Add the eggs and stir it all together.  Heat a bit of oil in a skillet on high heat and form the batter into medium size cakes.  Cook the cod cakes for 2-4 minutes on each side so that they brown and then gently lay out on baking sheet.  Bake for 10-12 minutes and serve immediately with the below sauce.

Sauce Ingredients:
1/2 cup lemonaise (or regular mayo!)
large dollop of the following (to taste): Sweet pickle relish, Dijon mustard
juice of half a lemon
3 Tablespoons finely diced red onion
freshly ground pepper

Preparation:
Mix it all together!  Taste it!

Arugula with Caramelized Shallots

Arugula with it rich, peppery taste is rich in vitamin C and potassium and furthermore, in the Roman empire it was considered an aphrodisiac.  This simple salad had a red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing with freshly ground pepper.  I caramelized thinly sliced shallots and toasted a few chopped pecans to toss in as well.  I also topped it with a dollop of creamy, smooth chèvre to calm the peppery flavor of the greens.

Julie & Julia

I went to see Julie & Julia a few nights ago, the story of a modern day woman who cooks her way through Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961) and blogs about each recipe.  The film was good, perhaps not all that it was hyped to be, but really, you can count on Meryl Streep to deliver a high quality performance.  Julia Child went to Smith (she was class of 1934 and I was class of 2004) and her cookbook was published around the same time as Betty Freidan’s The Feminine Mystique (1963).  After seeing the film I am refreshed to recognize that there is no irony in that publishing coincidence, as both authors were seeking to enhance the fulfillment women had access to in this time period (of course, both these books were targeting a white, middle class audience).

On a similar theme, I read the following in a New York Times review and appreciated it: “Most strikingly, this is a Hollywood movie about women that is not about the desperate pursuit of men. Marriage is certainly the context both of Julia’s story and of Julie’s (about whom more in a moment), but it is not the point. The point, to invoke the title of a book whose author has an amusing cameo here…is the joy of cooking” (A.O. Scott).

I am feeling very motivated to try Julia Child’s Beef Bourguignon, which is a classic French stew of cubed beef.  Apparently, a greater taste can be obtained if cooked it on low heat with red wine and served with pearl onions & sautéed mushrooms.  We’ll see.  I am also feeling motivated to pick up Child’s mémoire, My Life In France. I’ll blog about both when the time comes…

Chocolate Beet Cake

Marissa's Birthday Cake! 30 and Sturdy!

I am not a baker–all that chemistry and the exact measurements, it has never been a forte.  I usually mess it up.  But thanks to Lydia I have a good cake recipe that seems to come out reasonably well every time and is a crowd pleaser among the adventurous.  Beet chocolate cake.  I love beets–why not add them to cake?  The cooked and pureed beets helps keep the cake moist and delicious.  I don’t think the cake ends up tasting at all like beets, but apparently this faint taste of beets is a turn off to some–read your crowd before the bake off!

1 1/2 cup cooked pureed beets (food processor works perfect for this)
3 oz. semisweet chocolate chips (melted)
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Beet colored batter

I divide the batter into two circular 8″ spring form pans and cook at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes–checking every few minuets thereafter until the chopstick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Choose your frosting weapon–Here Adrionna and I used a cream cheese frosting and colored some of it with the beet juice.  Chocolate frosting is a good choice as well, or you can use this cake recipe for a caramel turtle cake with toasted pecans.   One of the nice things about this cake recipe is that the cake is not too sweet.

Coconut Cream Pie (Sugar Free, Vegan and Raw)

This dessert is a labor of love.  It is amazing and worth the coconut cracking effort as it is such a healthy, beautiful choice to satisfy a sweet craving.  This recipe came from many visits to Cafe Gratitude and eating $8 slices of this magic dessert.

That's Josey chopping open a young coconut in the background

Coconuts are, in themselves, an important and valuable resource.  The husk, shell, meat and water could satisfy many of our basic needs.  Indeed, in Polynesian cultures the coconut tree is considered a generous provider and a tree of life, as it gives the essentials for survival in the South Pacific: coconut water is perfect in its composition of electrolytes and nutrients, and it is sterile, pure and refreshing, the meat is nourishing, the palm tree can provide shelter, the wood makes a superior charcoal and the strong leaves and fibers can be used for a variety of things.

For the crust:
2 1/2 cups dry coconut flakes
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup chopped dates
1/4 cup raw almonds

Place in food processor and blend until consistency is ideal for pressing out into a 9″ pan.

For the filling:
Break open (easier said than done) two young coconuts.  (Use the young coconuts because the hard coconuts have meat that tends to be very hard and does not get all pudding like.)  You may want to use a corkscrew or nail to drain the coconut water first, so it doesn’t splash all over when you break/saw open the young coconut.

Meat from two young coconuts
Water from two young coconuts (start with the water of 1 and add the water from the second as needed)
Heaping 3/4ths cup well packed, chopped dates
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 Tbs lecithin
1/2 cup raw coconut butter
Place the water, meat, vanilla and coconut butter in the food processor and mix.  Gradually add more coconut water as needed and lecithin 1 tablespoon at a time to obtain a texture that is reminiscent of pudding.

Pour the filling into the crust and top with coconut flakes and put in the fridge to set.  Below you can see that I have used a springform pan until the pie sets–then I spring off the band to serve.

Deviled Eggs: Don’t Hate on the Mayonnaise!

Mayonnaise made its English language debut in a cookbook of 1841.  Not sure when it made its migration from France to the Americas, but I am sure glad that it did.  it is one of those things that I think has a horrible rap for no good reasons–everything in moderate,  people.  My love of deviled eggs is an extension of my love for mayonnaise based foods.  I also think that deviled eggs might have been the first thing I learned how to make.  Here is my version:

Boil eggs.  If you don’t know how google  it!

After peeling the eggs and gently cutting them in half horizontally take out the yolks and mix well with the following ingredients.  Do everything to taste–some folks like more yolk, less mayo, some folks like more spice, do what tastes good to you.

Ingredients:

Mayonnaise (to taste–I love The Ojai Cook lemonaise)
Stone ground mustard (to taste)
Finely, finely diced jalapeno (to taste)
Relish or finely diced pickles (to taste)
Salt & pepper

If you want to get creative you can add things like chipotle!

Enjoy!

Caribbean Sweet Potato Salad

I grew up on good old potato salad with mayo and hard boiled eggs.  My mom was a master at this delight and I would always beg her to make it (unlike some of you I have embraced my love of mayonnaise and I will not be ashamed).  Somewhere along the line I found a recipe for Caribbean Sweet Potato Salad (I think in the cookbook Vegetarian Planet by Didi Emmons) and loved the new twist on my old favorite. The recipe below is from my memory of the first time I made Sweet Potato Salad with some additions that I think add  nuance.

Ingredients

3 Sweet Potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite size pieces
1 large or 2 smaller Cucumbers, de-seeded and chopped
2 ears corn (take off the cob)
1 Small Red Onion chopped finely
Cilantro, roughly chopped
Capers (if you like these)
Stone ground mustard
2/3rds-1 Cup Mayonnaise (I am really into lemon mayonnaise made by The Ojai Cook, which is also a fabulously cute town outside of Santa Barbara)
Salt, pepper, paprika
3-4 fresh limes for juice!
Place the sweet potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with salted water. Bring to a boil, turn the heat down, and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Be sure to not overcook or your salad with be mashed potatoes–you want to cook them enough so that they are cooked, but not too much so that they loose their form.  When the potatoes are cooked, drain and let them cool off.

Take corn off the cob and place it with a dash of oil (peanut, canola or olive oil) in a skillet and cook until it begins to brown.  Add salt and pepper and the juice of one lime and continue to cook while it browns. About 10 minutes…

When cooked ingredients are cool, begin assembly.  Mix the mayo, a high quality mustard, oil, and lime juice in the bottom of a bowl large enough to fit all the ingredients.  Mic in the onions, cilantro, cucumbers corn and potatoes.  Add salt, pepper and paprika to taste.  Add more mayo to your heart’s desire.  If you like capers throw some in and mix.  Another option is adding peanuts, toasted and ground.

Garnish with extra cilantro and serve chilled on a hot summer day.

Making Chicken Stock & Simple Curried Kale Soup

After enjoying the Coconut Thai Chicken last night I set to work to make a simple chicken soup this morning.  My mother always made the best, most heart-warming soups in the aftermath of turkey dinners.  My knowledge of making carcass based broths comes only from watching my mother do it (and I have fond memories of this).  I think I must do it somewhat correctly because the broth I make with chicken/turkey carcasses always is tasty.

Broth/Stock Making Process

Place the carcass with the leftover bones, skin and meat bits into large pot.  Or, if the one you cooked the chicken in is large enough, keep it there.  Because I am really into the broth that I cooked the chicken in with its curried coconut milk and spice, I am keeping the chicken carcass in it and adding water.  In other cases you may wish to add vegetables such as carrots, celery, onion, garlic, etc depending on the flavors you wish to add.

Bring to a boil and immediately reduce heat to bring the stock to barely a simmer. Let it stand at a simmer uncovered at least 4 hours.  Let the broth cool and when it is easy to touch, painstakingly remove the small bits of remaining meat from the bones and cartilage and add back to the broth.

Simple Curried Kale Soup

For this soup I wanted to keep it simple because the flavors from the curry chicken broth are so strong and good.  I simply sautéd the following with 1 Tablespoon left over curry paste while hard-boiling some eggs and bringing the stock up to a simmer:

1 red onion chopped

1 shallot chopped

3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

1 head kale, chopped into bite size pieces

Sauté onion, shallot and garlic with one tablespoon curry paste.  Add kale and 1/4 cup of the broth.  Let simmer while occasionally stirring while liquid cooks off.  Taste the kale to make sure it is cooked to tenderness.  Add the mixture to the pot of broth!  Stir and continue to cook for a few minutes.  When ready to eat, serve over a split hard boiled egg to temper the spice.