Re-trying the Refrito Spread

Another recipe from The New Laurel's Kitchen (I know, I know. I should just marry this book already), and this one is really, really good, you guys! The official attempt recorded below is technically from our second batch. The first time we mistakenly misread the part where the onion and garlic should be cooked, and so we chopped them up and added them raw; that made a passable sandwich spread, but left your breath pungent enough to strip the bark off a tree. This time, by (ahem) following the directions, we were able to more completely and less stinkily enjoy this fabulous dish as a dip.

Whip some up and serve at your next office potluck, family picnic, or just bring the entire giant bowl into bed with you and scarf down on dip and chips while watching Angel on Amazon Prime.

Refrito Spread

• 1 1/2 cup cooked, well-drained pinto, kidney, or black beans
• 1 bunch scallions or a big onion
• 1 Tbs oil
• 1 or 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 chopped green pepper or chopped green chili pepper
• 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1/2 tsp salt

   Mash the beans. You should end up with about a cup.
   Chop the onion and saute with whole garlic cloves in oil. When the onion is done, crush the garlic with a fork. Add the spices and the green pepper. (If you are a chili fan, you can use green chilies instead of the pepper.) Cook until the pepper is softened and the spices are fragrant.
   Remove from heat and cool slightly. Add beans and mix. Add cheese and salt, and check the flavor:  if the beans were unsalted you may need more salt.
   Makes about 1 3/4 cups. 

I used pinto beans and substituted tomato salsa for the green pepper (didn't have any on hand and was feeling too lazy to chop up a Jalapeno). Delicious!

Count this as "sauce" number 6 of 24. Don't call me a cheater.

Strawberry Vanilla Pudding Pie with Oat-Nut Crust

With amazing deftness I managed to cram three recipes into one dessert last weekend. I hereby present record to you of a fantastic Strawberry Vanilla Pudding Pie with Oat-Nut Crust.

First make the press-in crust:

Oat-Nut Crust from The New Laurel's Kitchen

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 3 Tbls water
• 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400F. 

Blend oats and walnuts in blender or food processor until the mixture is floury, with only a few visable oat pieces. turn into bowl and mix in water and salt (try just 2 Tbls water at first, and add the third only if needed to hold the dough together). Press into 9" or 10" pie tin and bake just 10 mins. 

Next, make the pudding:

Vanilla Pudding also from The New Laurel's Kitchen

• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 Tbls cornstarch or arrowroot
• 1 tsp vanilla

Gently heat 1 1/2 cups of the milk in a heavy pan. Stir in the sugar and salt. 

Combine the cornstarch or arrowroot with the reserved milk. Add to the milk when it is very hot; cook and stir over low heat until thick.* If you are using cornstarch, continue to cook and stir over very low heat for a few minutes more. (If you want richer version, you can stir in a beaten egg into 1/2 cup of the pudding, then beat that into the whole pudding while it is still very hot.) Cool somewhat and add vanilla. 

Makes about 2 cups. Good warm or cold.

And finally, combine and add fruit!

Berry Pudding Pie yup, still from The New Laurel's Kitchen

Fill a prebaked pie shell or crumb crust with 3 cups or so of fresh blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries or sliced peaches. Pour Vanilla Pudding over them while it's still warm. Sprinkle with toasted nuts if you like, and chill. 

If you have fruit too pretty to hide, fill your pie shell with pudding and let it cool slightly. Arrange sweet berries or slices of ripe, sweet peach, kiwi, or apricot on top. (You can prevent the sliced fruit from turning brown by dipping it orange juice.)

******************************

A few comments:

First:  since my daughter is allergic to peanuts and any nuts purchased at the store may have been cross-contaminated with peanuts I was careful to rinse the walnuts before I used them for the crust (I set them out to air dry after washing them, so I wasn't added extra liquid to the crust).

Second:  since the oats are being ground down anyway, I used my stash of Quick oats instead of my nice rolled oats.

Third: I don't understand the directions about only adding 2 Tbls of water to the crust. I ended up using more like 6 Tbls of water all told before my crust would stick together. But maybe it's a case-by-case thing.

*Fourth: Have you ever made non-instant pudding before? I hadn't and I was amazed that it was as easy as it was. However, initially it wasn't setting for me and I was frustrated until I Googled about using cornstarch as a thickener. It's essential that you keep the heat high after adding the cornstarch. Don't reduce the heat until after it's started to thicken. I think the recipe's directions were a little misleading in that regard so I'm noting it in my cookbook for the next time (because you know I'll forget).

Fifth: Yum. This is good stuff.

Baked Apples

ready for the baking

I made an attempt at a Passover meal this year and was pleased with the results. Also, it was a fantastic opportunity to use my cookbooks!

Starting with the last first, here is the evening's dessert:  a delicious and simple recipe from my current go-to, Laurel's Kitchen.

Baked Apples

from The New Laurel's Kitchen

4 large flavorful apples

1/2 cup toasted wheat germ

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup chopped walnuts or filberts

zest of 1/2 lemon

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1 Tbls brown sugar

pinch salt

1 tsp flour

3/4 cup apple juice [I actually used lemonade]

Preheat oven to 350. Core apples and place in a greased baking dish with a cover. It's good if the apples are a snug fit: if not, cut up a fifth apple and tuck it around.

Mix the wheat germ, raisins, nuts, lemon zest, cinnamon, sugar, and salt and press lightly into the apple cores. Mix the flour and juice and pour over the apples.

Bake 40 minutes or until the apples are very soft. Let cool slightly before serving for best flavor.

Serves 4.

Variation:

Substitute 2 Tbls toasted sesame seeds for the nuts and use 6 Tbls of raisins.

I used the straight recipe (though I like the sound of the variation), substituting matzo meal for the germ/flour and lemonade for the apple juice (used what I had).

Imagine I'll make this many times in the years to come---apples are a favorite (inexpensive) fruit and for a dessert this is high fiber and includes protein. Can't ask for much more!

Yogurt Sauce

Faced with a rapidly expiring (already past date, but still good) container of plain yogurt, I turned to Laurel's Kitchen for inspiration.

from The New Laurel's Kitchen:

Yogurt Sauce

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 Tbls oil [I used EVOO]
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds [I only had about 1/8 cup. Just fine.]
• 1 Tbls lemon juice
• 1/8 tsp salt [I used a bit more. I like my salt!]
• pepper to taste [I also like my pepper!]
• 1/2 - 1 cup plain yogurt [I used a heaping cup]

Saute the onion in the oil. In a separate pan, toast the sesame seeds [takes just a few mins, constantly sturring the seeds]. Put all ingredients into the blender [food processor] and puree. Thin if desired with additional yogurt or buttermilk [I didn't need to thin].

The recipe intro had suggested this sauce as a nice accompanyment to boiled potatoes, for a potato salad. And, whatdoyaknow but I had rapidly expiring (but still hangin' in there!) red potatoes in the cupboard. Boiled them in their jackets and sliced them up. Combined the taters and the sauce. Perfect.

An excellent way to cook with plain yogurt. And another sauce for my Twenty-Four-New-Sauces-in-2012 self-challenge!

Brown Rice & Resolutions

As part of my new year's resolutions I decided to make at least 24 new sauces (or dips or dressings) in 2012. Sometimes it's too much to make an entirely new main dish, but a new salad dressing seems doable. And I'm happy to inform you that January isn't even half over and I've already succeeded in making a new sauce! (Please, hold your applause until the end. Thank you very much, though, thank you.)

from The New Laurel's Kitchen:

     Stroganoff Sauce

1 cup buttermilk
1 Tbls cornstarch

1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic (optional)
1 Tbls butter
1/3 - 1 1/2 cups mushrooms, sliced

1/4 tsp salt or 1 Tbls shoyu
black pepper

Combine buttermilk and cornstarch and set aside. Saute onion and garlic in butter until soft. Crush the garlic with a fork. Stir in mushrooms and cook just until tender. Remove mushrooms and juices from the pan and pour in the buttermilk mixture. Stir and cook until thickened, then return the mushrooms and their juices to the pan. Season with salt (or shoyu) and pepper.

The recipe claims to taste "like a sour cream sauce," and I suppose it does. And I even cheated a bit when I made it by substituting vinegar in milk rather than using the buttermilk that was called for (tell me I'm not the only one who doesn't ever have buttermilk on hand?) I also used dried mushrooms instead of fresh (soaked in boiling water for 10 mins to reconstitute), and they worked great.

Overall, I'm happy with the sauce, but I admit that when I first tasted it I thought it was just okay. What took it from okay to happy? Putting it on the bestest, most delicous rice ever.

I made this rice almost as an afterthought (had to put my sauce on something) and am still amazed by how wonderful brown rice is when done right. I'm not kidding. I'm a convert. No more brown rice in the rice cooker,  not ever again. This is the way it should be:

from Nourishing Traditions:


     Basic Brown Rice I
     (unsoaked rice)
    

2 cups long-grain brown rice
2 Tbls butter
2 Tbls extra virgin olive oil
3 cardamom pods
4 cups stock or combination of water and stock
1/2 tsp sea salt

In a heavy, flameproof casserole, melt butter and olive oil. Open cardamom pods and add seeds to the casserole. Saute rice in butter and oil, stirring constantly, until rice begins to turn milky. Pour in liquid, add salt and bring to a rolling boil. Boil, uncovered, for about 10 minutes until water has reduced to the level of the rice. Reduce flame to lowest heat, cover tightly and cook for at least 1 1/2 hours or as long as 3 hours. Do not remove lid during cooking. Serves 6-8.

My rice took exactly the 1 1/2 hours on the stovetop. And. It. Was. Wonderful. It sounds ridiculous, to say rice tasted wonderful. But I'm serious, cross my heart and everything. Wonderful.

Sauce + Rice = superb side for dinner and delectible leftovers for lunch (which I'm eating right now). Very, very pleased with this receipe attempt! (This is what I'd hoped for, starting Wellcookbooked!)

You may now applaud.

Five Recipes from a Cookbook!

I have met my goal of cooking five recipes (and then some) out of a cookbook! One cookbook, anyway. Only took two years. Something like a hundred more cookbooks to go. One at a time, baby, one at a time. 

Which cookbook had me in the kitchen rather than mentally snacking from my armchair, you ask? The New Laurel's Kitchen by Laurel Robertson, Carol Flinders, and Brian Ruppenthal.

So far I've made:

Carrot Soup
Cranberry Squash
Gingerbread
Gingered Squash
Whole Beet Borscht
and
Whole Wheat Pie Crusts (two different recipes)

Winners, every one.


If I'd been counting by the number of times I'm re-made a recipe, I'd have met my first five before now, still from this same cookbook. The borscht has become "my" recipe---the one I feel comfortable making in huge batches and freezing because I know my family will eat it happily all fall and winter, the one I feel good enough about to share with friends, the one I know well enough that I've even begun going "off recipe" and tossing in ingredients that aren't called for (my last batch I substituted a can of spaghetti sauce for some of the broth/water--and it was yummy!).  I've never really had my own recipe before, and the fact that it's a beet recipe is kind of amusing, I suppose, but honestly it's just so good I don't care.

As I've mentioned before, some of my cookbooks are, frankly, terrible. They may look snazzy, but their recipes are bloated fluff. Or they might be so poorly written or photographed that it's laughable to imagine anyone feeling inspired by them. I will be hard pressed to meet my five recipe goal from some of those. But Laurel's Kitchen? It's a gem. Filled to the brim with delectable, wholesome-sounding dishes from ingredients you can easily find (or grow!), simple ideas on how to add nutrition to your plate, and whimsical art throughout. I love this cookbook and I'm keeping and cooking from it forever, even if they make a new new version.

Cranberry Squash

From The New Laurel's Kitchen, a delish squash recipe perfect for this holiday season. Try it, you'll like it!

Cranberry Squash  from Laurel's Kitchen

1 1/2 lbs raw winter squash, unpeeled, cut in serving size chunks
1/2 cup raw fresh cranberries
1 small apple, chopped in 3/4" pieces
1/4 cup chopped raisins

juice and grated peel of small orange
1 1/2 Tbls honey
1 Tbls melted butter
dash salt

Arrange pieces of squash in one layer in a baking dish with a cover (or use aluminum foil). Scatter cranberries, chopped apple, and raisins over and around the squash. If you use acorn, butternut, or other small squash, you can halve them, mix all the other ingredients together, and pile the mixture into the cavities. Otherwise, mix orange juice, grated peel, honey butter (if desired) and salt together and pour over squash. 

Cover baking dish and bake until squash is tender--25 to 45 minutes, depending upon the variety.

Makes 4 servings.

My initial debut of this recipe was part of a much much larger meal so we probably made this work for 8 servings, but it's a seriously lovely dish for any squash lover (the cranberries and apples and raisins are the perfect complement!). This will grace our table again, guaranteed.

Cranberry Pie, Part 1: Crust(s)

If Americans agree on anything it's that it's not Thanksgiving without pie. But I wanted to go beyond pumpkin this year, and after finding a recipe for cranberry pie I knew that it was what I was meant to make. I could have picked-up a pre-made pie shell, but I decided to be old fashioned (and thrifty) and make my own piecrust. Looking in The New Laurel's Kitchen I came across two easy-enough-sounding recipes. I couldn't decide between them, but since the cranberry recipe called for a two-crust pie of 9", I just made both and used one for the dish and one for the lattice (two taste-tests in one pie!).

uncooked crust

Recipe one:

Whole Wheat Piecrust    from The New Laurel's Kitchen 

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ (or 1/4 cup flour)
3/4 tsp salt
10 Tbls butter, chilled

4 to 6 Tbls cold water

Stir together flour, wheat germ, and salt. Grate the cold butter on a coarse grater or cut into small pieces, tossing it with the flour as you go. Use a pastry cutter or two knives to combine the flour and butter until it is the consistency of rolled oats. Sprinkle with the water, using just enough to hold the dough together. 

Using cupped fingers, form the dough quickly and gently. As soon as it will hold together, make it into a ball.  

Press the dough out into a thick disk. Roll to size on a lightly floured surface, or between sheets of waxed paper, or on a pastry cloth. Gently roll the dough over the rolling pin and onto the pie plate, easing it loosely into the plate. (...)  

Gently press the dough into the plate so there are no air pockets. Cut off the excess with a sharp knife, but make the rim double thick to keep it from burning. (...) 

If you are making a  pie with a top crust or lattice, preheat the oven to 400 F. Fill the bottom shell and put the top crust or lattice in place, baking according to the directions in the recipe you are using. 

Makes one 10" bottom crust or crust and lattice for one 8" pie.

And recipe two:

Lighter Whole Wheat Piecrust    from The New Laurel's Kitchen

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbls oil [I used coconut]
1/4 cup water

Stir dry ingredients together. Mix in oil and enough of the water to make the dough form a ball. Roll flat between sheets of waxed paper and lift into pan. Make decorative edge. Bake at 400 F for 10 minutes, or until slightly browned and crisp. Makes one 9" shell.

Our vote:  we enjoyed both! The crust was a little thick and brittle for my preference, but I chalk that up to chef's error (I realize pie crusts are an art). But the taste was good, both bottom and lattice. The "lighter" version was easier to make (spooning oil is so much easier than grating butter!) so if I were to try making it again I'd try that recipe first.

Gingerbread Destiny

It's a rare afternoon when I find myself flipping casually through a cookbook, randomly stop on a recipe, think it sounds good, and realize I have all its ingredients on hand. (It's that last one that usually trips me up.) So when I ran across Laurel's recipe for gingerbread and realized I could make it without a trip to the store, and my daughters were both napping, well,  I took it as a sign.

Imagination time!
Imagine this mildly disappointing picture of gingerbread is actually delicious-looking.

Gingerbread   from The New Laurel's Kitchen

1/3 cup soft or melted butter
1 cup dark molasses (or 2/3 cup blackstrap & 1/3 cup honey) [I used the combo]
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk or orange juice [I "made" buttermilk by adding vinegar to whole milk]

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp powdered ginger
1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup raisins
(1 Tbls orange zest) (optional) [I left this out]
(1/2 tsp dry mustard) (optional) [I used this. I figured, weird, but why not?]

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Mix butter and molasses. Beat in egg and add buttermilk or orange juice.
Sift together the dry ingredients and combine everything together.
Turn into a greased 9"x 9" square pan. Bake 40 mins.

Results of stars aligning:  We LOVED this! Soooo good. It had absolute perfect texture (think: that perfect mid-point between cake and brownie). The flavor was rich and could have been too much but for the brilliant sweet bursts of raisiny fabulousness that caught your tastebuds by surprise with each bite. Honestly, really, really good. 

Only one small point of contention:  I wouldn't actually call this Gingerbread. I'd call it Molasses Cake. And maybe it's just because I've never had "real" gingerbread prior to baking this? But I didn't taste the ginger, I tasted molasses. And raisins. Totally delicious, but not very gingery. Or bread-like. 

So there you have it. Followed my destiny and made an amazing ginger/molasses bread/cake. Awesome. You should make it too. Go check your shelves. 

I Cooked Borscht!!!

That's right, I actually got myself into the kitchen and cooked something from one of my cookbooks! I think it was the scent of woodburning stoves permeating the neighborhood this morning; just seemed like a day when one should be in the kitchen, making something warm and nourishing.

I chose to make borscht, since we have a garden full of beets and onions and received even more beets and onion--not to mention tons of raw garlic--in our CSA this weekend.

What I like about this recipe is that it uses the entire beet--root with peel and leaves and stems--not just a peeled root. Waste not, want not!

From The New Laurel's Kitchen

Whole Beet Borscht

• 1 small onion [I used two]
• 1 clove garlic [I used three!]
• 2 tsp oil [I used extra virgin olive oil]
• 2 Tbls flour
• 5 cups stock or water [I used some of the frozen stock we still have saved from this spring]
• 1 bunch beets and their greens (3 large or 6 small) [I tossed in a few extra]
• 1 potato
• 1 carrot
• 1 stalk celery
• 1/2 small cabbage
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp honey
• 2 Tbls tomato past or 2 fresh tomatoes, chopped [I used the fresh option, since I had them on hand]

Chop onion and saute with garlic clove in oil. Mash garlic clove when onion is translucent and browning. Stir in flour and cook gently for a minute. Add stock or water and bring to a boil.

Meantime, trim roots of beets, saving the good leaves and stems. Grate beets, potato, and carrot, or slice them thin. Slice celery thin. Add these and simmer 10 minutes while you shred the cabbage and chop the beet leaves and stems small. Add these and bay leaf, salt, pepper, honey and tomato to the vegetable mixture. Simmer until all vegetables are tender. Remove bay leaf.

Makes 10 cups.

Mmmm. Nothing quite like beets. You either love 'em or you hate 'em. You've probably already figured-out which side of that fence my family and I are on...

Carrot Soup

I found a 5lb bag of organic carrots on sale for $3 last week and snatched that deal right up. My husband tells me I'm crazy, but I swear I will cook wonderful things with those roots before they spoil. I swear it!

My first creation is from Laurel Robertson's The New Laurel's Kitchen

Carrot Soup
Makes 8 cups

• 5 medium-large carrots
• 2 small potatoes (or 1 large)
• 1 bunch leeks (or 1 large onion)
• 2 tablespoons butter or oil
• 1 teaspoon dry tarragon leaves or 1 tablespoon fresh tarragon
• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups vegetable stock or water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• pinch black pepper
• 1/2 cup dry white wine

Cut carrots in 1" chunks, quarter the potatoes, and place both in a 2-quart sauce pan. Add just enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, until vegetables are tender. Remove and discard potato peels.

Meanwhile, wash leeks thoroughly and chop them coarsley. If they are very muddy, chop them first and rinse well in a sieve after chopping. Saute in butter along with the tarragon. Use blender or food processor to puree the vegetables in batches, adding the milk, stock, and salt. Return soup to pot; add pepper and wine, and reheat.

My concern/confusion about this recipe:
I covered the carrots and potatoes and cooked them. But then, though it says to discard the potatoes peels, it doesn't actually tell you to drain the water. I was faced with a dilemma. Toss the carrot/potato water and then add new milk and stock and heat or keep the water and add the milk and stock to it OR keep the water, add the milk and don't add any additional stock because that would be too liquidy.

I chose door number three. I kept the water in which I'd boiled the roots, added everything to that pot, and then used an immersion blender to blenderize the carrots and potatoes and onions. And it worked really well! I'm not sure my soup turned out just as it was intended to, but I (and my husband and my daughter) were happy with the results. Mmmm, carrots.

P.S.  Is it ridiculous that I don't take pictures of anything I cook for this blog? I just keep forgetting...

Gingered Squash

No silly puns for this recipe. Just tasty goodness from [The New] Laurel's Kitchen by Laurel Robertson, Caroly Flinders, and Brian Ruppenthal.

Sandy's Gingered Squash

3 cups hot, cooked, mashed winter squash
1 1/2 tsp butter
pinch salt
2 Tbls finely minced fresh ginger
juice of 1 lemon
2 Tbls honey

Mix all ingredients, adjusting the amount of lemon and honey as required for balance. (It will depend on how sweet your squash is).

Makes about 3 cups, or 4 to 6 servings.

Photo care of Spork and Knife

This was an extremely simple recipe to make. However, I regret to say that I made it quickly one afternoon because I had a squash that wasn't going to last much longer and as it turned out that evening my family and I ended up going out to eat at a restaurant with my in-laws. And then we ate things at home on future nights that the sweet squash wouldn't complement. And then it was Christmas. And then it was New Year's. And now the squash really really needs to be tossed from the fridge, even though it was "Food-Saver-ed."

So no family reactions to this recipe because they didn't, in fact, eat any of it. But I did (several spoonfulls) and it was lovely.

I will certainly make this dish again. On a night when we are not going out to a restaurant. ;-)