Manifesting Good Things

Missing The Meditation of Cooking

manifestinggoodthings — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 15:22:02 +0000

I miss cooking. It has been a long while since I was able to really delve into the meditations of the kitchen: peeling the thin skin of a red onion, the rhythm of a knife chopping, the sizzle of sauteing, the aroma of a meal waiting to be made. This year has been filled with the unexpected, and so many interruptions have come between me and my love of cooking. My graduate program ends on July 22. I plan on taking a long vacation after which I plan on returning to the kitchen with beautiful fury.

gelato italiano

Cumin Flatbread

manifestinggoodthings — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:08:54 +0000

A simple, easy and quick recipe.

1 1/3 cups warm water

1 Tbs dry yeast

1 Tbs honey

3 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbs minced lemon peel

2 1/4 tsps course salt

2 tsp ground cumin

3 cups bread flour

1 Tbs cumin seeds

1 Tbs sesame seeds

Place water in a big bowl, stir in the honey and sprinkle in the yeast. Stir and let sit for 10 minutes. Add oil, lemon peel, salt, ground cumin. Slowly add flour and gently stir in. Continue stirring for 5 minutes and then turn onto flour surface and continue kneading until smooth dough forms (the dough is very soft and can sometimes be sticky, just keep your hands well floured!).

Lightly oil large bowl, add dough and tun the dough to coat it with oil. Cover with damp town and put in a warm place. (Growing up in Vermont my mother used to put the dough near the wood stove. Here in the Bay Area I don’t really have a “warm” place. Usually I put it on the stove and hope the the pilot lights keep it warm.) Let rise for an hour or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Oil a cookie sheet and place the dough on sheet. Using fingertips, press the dough out. Sprinkle with cumin and sesame seeds. Bake until golden, approximately 30 minutes. Mmmmm….

Enjoy with Roasted Red Pepper and Chickpea Salad!

Çoban Salatası: Cucumber, Tomato, Olive and Feta Salad

manifestinggoodthings — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:58:07 +0000

When I was a sophomore at Smith College I began cooking in the Kosher Kitchen as my work-study position. We provided Shabbat meals every Friday evening along with some crazy-making. It was a great culinary experience and for some time it was also a great experience in the community it created for me (see my friend Jacqui Shine’s 2003 article on “the K”: http://www.smith.edu/newssmith/spring2003/challah.php). I worked there for a year a half and had lots of opportunities to experiment with ingredients and recipes on someone else’s budget.

Ingredients:
2 English Cucumbers, de-seeded and chopped into bite-size pieces
1 pint grape tomatoes, cut length wise
1/4 cup-1/2 cup (to taste) red onion finely chopped
1 cup black olives pitted and chopped
2/3 cup Greek Feta, chopped or crumbed
1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
Juice of 2 (preferably) Meyer Lemon
2 Tablespoons Zaa’tar (A Middle Easter spice blend that includes sesame seeds, oregano, salt and other dried herbs)

Really all you have to do is mix it all up! Add the feta last, just before serving as toss gently. Serve with pita chips, also easy and quick to make.

A Quick Fix–Roasted Red Pepper and Chickpea Salad

manifestinggoodthings — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:28:38 +0000

My friends Claire & Alex had their baby’s unveiling yesterday (it was supposed to be a baby shower, however their little girl arrived six weeks early, so she was there to be held and coddled all evening long). I was called upon to bring some vegetarian dishes that complemented the Moroccan Chicken and Couscous which was already in the works in someone else’s kitchen. So I made this dish and the forthcoming post–both quick (except the roasting of the peppers which can be done ahead) and simple.

Ingredients:
4 Red Peppers, Roasted (See previous post for a step by step tutorial)
Garbanzo Beans (If using canned, two 25 oz cans)
1/2 cup capers
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
1/2 cup finely chopped mint
3-5 cloves garlic, minced (or more to taste)
The juice of 4 (preferably) Meyer Lemons
2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
Salt & Freshly Ground Pepper to taste

Process:

The most time intensive part of the this recipe is the roasting of the peppers which takes about an hour when all is said and done. So go ahead and roast your red peppers so you have a nice pile of roasted pepper for this salad.

Rinse your chickpeas and place them in a big bowl. Add in your minced herbs, garlic and capers. Mix well. Add in the lemon juice (be sure to avoid getting lemon seeds in the mix) and the red wine vinegar. Toss gently again. Finally, cut the roasted peppers into bite size pieces and add them in–mix well and add salt and pepper to taste. This tastes better after sitting and letting the flavors mingle and settle for several hours, or overnight.

A Pepper Roasting Tutorial

manifestinggoodthings — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:12:03 +0000

I use roasted peppers in many of my recipes. This is an easy process that yields wonderful results with both sweet and hot peppers. So, alas, here is a tutorial on roasting your own peppers:
1. Preheat your oven’s broiler! Place a rack close but not too close to the top flame (exercise culinary judgment)
2. Wash the peppers, and with larger bell peppers, split in half length wise, core and de-seed.
3. Some folks like to line their baking sheets with tin foil, as the burned edges of the peppers are hard to get off the surface of the baking sheet. I don’t like to use tine foil excessively, so my baking sheets are all harmlessly stained. I spill a little bit of oil on the baking sheet and go from there.
4. Place the peppers on the baking sheet with the inside facing down (see photo) and brush them with oil making sure to get inside all the nooks and crannies. Apparently you should avoid extra-virgin olive oil as its smoke point is low and will burn when broiled–but this is usually what I have around and therefore what I brush my peppers with.
5. Place the baking sheet of peppers in the oven. Keep a watchful eye. The pepper’s sin will being to scorch which is good. Keep watching and waiting, allowing the peppers to roast for 30-40 minutes. If you are roasting them whole (which is fine, too) turn them every 15 minutes so all sides get exposed to the heat/flame.
6. When you deem the peppers roasted remove them from the oven. Let them cool for 20 minutes or so, until they are cool enough to handle easily. The skin should generally slip right off, but the peppers themselves become quite slippery, so take care in this process. When you are done, discard the skins and you will enjoy your nice surprisingly small pile of home-roasted peppers. Good work.

Rice with Poblano & Walnut Cream Sauce

manifestinggoodthings — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 23:08:48 +0000

The poblano pepper originated in the State of Puebla, Mexico and dried, it is called an ancho chile. They have a rich and smoky flavor. My friend Ariel made this dish at my house once and it was incredible, creamy and savory with a smooth crunchiness from the nuts. The Poblanos lend this dish a mild but convincing heat. Although this is a side dish, I could eat it all by itself, all day long, and be deeply satisfied.

Ingredients

4 poblano peppers, de-seeded and roasted and de-skinned.
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon butter
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cup sour cream
salt
rice (long grain Basmati works well with this recipe) 2 cups

Roast the peppers: Wash the peppers, cut of the tops of the peppers and remove the core with all the seeds, cut in half, place skin side up on foil-lined baking sheet and broil, 4 to 6 inches away from the heat source, until blackened all over, 5 to 10 minutes. Let cool and peel the skins off, leaving the roasted pepper behind. Chop into bite size pieces, see below.

Roasted Whole and Roasted Chopped

Place butter in a skillet and melt. Add the chopped onions and sauté on medium-high heat until the onions are translucent and beginning to brown. Add in the roasted poblanos, stir and let cook for 5 minutes. Add in the heavy cream and the sour cream, stir and let the sour cream liquefy. Add in the chopped walnuts, stir and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add salt to taste.

Either spoon the sauce over rice, or mix the rice into the sauce. Both are good ways of serving this fabulously delightful and rich rice dish.

The Famous: Enchiladas With Green Sauce

manifestinggoodthings — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:17:34 +0000

The dish I am most well known for among my foodie friends is enchiladas with green sauce: tortillas wrapped around caramelized onions, shredded Monterrey jack and Cheddar and sweet potatoes, drenched in a spinach cream sauce and baked to sizzling perfection. I have been making this dish since 1999, when my friend Cora’s mother Elaine (who grew up in Houston) taught me some of her TexMex specialties. This dish was one of those, in some less evolved form. Now I make it for special occasions, like Claire having a baby. This is somewhat of a process, but the results are worth it.

6 onions, sliced into thin rounds or half rounds
1/3 cup olive oil
salt (preferably kosher–to taste)
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped and cooked (boiled or baked)
flour tortillas (15-20)
1 block Monteray Jack cheese, shredded
1 block Cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup butter
5 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
24 oz of sour cream (2 containers)
chili powder (1 tablespoon or to taste)
cumin (1 tablespoon or to taste)
15 oz baby spinach (1 1/2 big bags)

onions, before and after caramelization

Step 1, caramelizing the onions: Onions caramelize at different speed and with differing ease depending on their sugar content. I use regular yellow onions for this recipe, and sometimes I will mix in some red, any combination is fine. Start by dividing the olive oil between two skillets and heating the skillets to a medium-high temperature. When the oil begins to ripple add the onions and stir them until they are coated in oil. Add salt (liberally if you are of my temperament). Continue to stir the onions every few minutes and make sure they aren’t sticking to the bottom of the pan. They will get darker in color and they will shrink down in size. Be patient, a good caramelized onion takes a long time. If done right, caramelized onions are the key to many people’s hearts.

Step 2, making the sauce: Get ready for cholesterol. Melt 1/2 cup butter and saute garlic in a medium-large pot. Add in sour cream and stir until it melts down and is a thick liquid resembling egg nog. Add in salt and chili powder, stir. Add in all the the spinach, stir well and cover. Take off cover every few minutes to stir. When the spinach is cooked (10 minutes) turn off the heat and let cool for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the mixture has cooled off a bit, begin poring a few cups at a time into your cusinart/food processor/blender and blending. Repeat until all the mixture has been blended.

Step 2, filling the tortillas, spreading the sauce: In each tortilla place 2-3 spoon fulls of caramelized onion, sweet potato and 1/3 cup of mixed shredded jack and cheddar cheese. Roll then and place them seam side down in a casserole dish (See photo).

When all the tortillas have been filled drench them with the spinach cream sauce, sprinkle with remaining shredded cheese and bake at 375 for 45 minutes, until the cheese on top is brown and crispy. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

I sadly didn’t remember to take photos of the final product, but I am hoping that some folks can give testimony that it is well worth the effort.

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

manifestinggoodthings — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:34:09 +0000

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

manifestinggoodthings — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:12:06 +0000

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

manifestinggoodthings — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 00:45:31 +0000

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…