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.

Pie for Dinner!

Do you love complements and enjoy savory pie? I've got the perfect recipe! This is one of those dishes I can remember my mother making. I think I enjoyed it back then (I hope I told her so?), and I know my family and I enjoy it now!

from Recipes for a Small Planet by Ellen Buchman Ewald:

Complementary Pie

• 3/4 cup raw brown rice (or barley), cooked
• 1/2 cup dry beans, cooked (use large colorful beans like kidneys or black)
• 1 Tbs butter
• 2 cups sliced onions
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp crushed dried tarragon
• 1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce

While the beans are rice are cooking, saute the sliced onions in the butter until they are very soft and just begin to turn golden. Set them aside. 

Beat the milk into the eggs; stir in the grated cheese, salt, tarragon, and worcestershire sauce. 

Then fold in the sauteed onions, cooked beans, and cooked rice.

Turn the mixture into an oiled 10-inch pie plate. 

Bake at 325 F for 25 to 30 mins, until the custard has set and the edges are browned. Let stand for 10 mins before serving, then slice into wedges.

Variation--Complementary Pie with Crust: Prepare any whole wheat pie crust for a more elegant pie. Use a larger pie pan, press the crust in, pour in the custard, and bake as above.

Of course, much of the Small Planet premise (that ingredients must be combined in carefully-considered amounts so that the dishes contain "complete proteins") has since been largely debunked; it's not nearly so difficult to eat well as a vegetarian. But that in no way means that Ewald's recipes shouldn't be made and enjoyed. Reading through the cookbook is a pleasure (for me); it's interesting, even if its concern for amino acids is unnecessary, and the recipes themselves are well-described, delicious-sounding, and hearty. Plus, I appreciate her suggestions for sides, breads, and salads. Makes planning an entire meal simple. This cookbook is staying on my shelf, and this dish will continue to be a favorite for years to come.

An Eggcellent Baked Dish

Are you getting tired of my puns? Too bad! I have fun with them. Never stopping!!

For my daughter's birthday party a few weeks ago I experimented on our guests and tried out several new recipes (including the cake itself) but only one was from a cookbook and can thus be mentioned here. It was super easy (especially since I had someone else prepare the cauliflower and onions for me the night before) and delicious. You should make this for your next brunch. Yes, you.

Cauliflower Cheese Puff
from Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Cafe 

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cups onions, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 5 cups cauliflower florets
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 5 ounces garlic and herb goat cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Lightly spray a 9"x13" pan with nonstick spray, then add the butter.
3. Place the pan in the preheated oven for a minute; let the butter coat the bottom.
4. Set aside.
5. Heat a skillet on medium. Add the olive oil.
6. Add the onions, saute` for 5 minutes, then stir in the salt and the cauliflower.
7. Saute` over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the cauliflower is just tender.
8. Transfer this mixture to the prepared pan.
9. While the cauliflower is cooking, combine the eggs, milk, flour, and cheese in a blender.
10. Whip into a smooth batter and pour it over the cauliflower mixture in the pan.
11. Bake in the center of the oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until puffed and golden.
12. Serve hot or warm, cut into squares.

Baked Turnip Surprise

I picked-up an amazing cookbook at a garage sale early this fall:

The "Best-of-All" Cook Book

compiled and edited by Florence Brobeck

published 1960

At first it seemed like a boring, cheater cookbook. Ms. Brobeck has simply gathered recipes from never-before-heard-from, totally random cookbooks that had themselves been complied by someone. I mean, recipes from Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book by the Foods Editors of Better Homes and Gardens? Or the cookbook Who Says We Can't Cook! by Members of the Women's National Press Club? Or how about The A.B.C. of Spice Cookery and How To Use Spices, both by the American Spice Trade Association? I mean... really. How good could this cookbook actually be?

The answer:  Amazingly, wonderfully good.

I've rarely enjoyed reading a cookbook as much as I enjoyed reading The "Best-of-All" (and I've read a lot of cookbooks. What I lack in the desire to cook I totally make up for in lazy couch sitting and the paging through recipes).

The variety of dishes is vast (which is as you'd expect it, since Brobeck has sampled recipes from over one hundred different cookbooks) and thus incredibly interesting. And even the recipes promoting the original compilers' product (Fun with Coffee from the Pan-American Coffee Bureau, anyone?) first just made me giggle because I was reminded of Anne of Green Gables' romantic short story (about baking power, wasn't it?) and secondly it ended-up striking me as crazy-obvious that of course the group that promotes an ingredient is going to know a lot about said ingredient and it follows that one might want to listen to the experts when they share their ideas.

So, what exciting recipe did I try from the super-exciting cookbook? Baked Turnips! Of course.

But by this time (a long-winded post, I know. Get on with it, woman!) you're wondering what the surprise is, right?

Well, I was slicing up turnips yesterday for the recipe when, as it would turn out, it dawned on me that my "turnips" were actually beets.

Wouldn't you say these are turnips? 

Now, I cannot totally confirm this. I've looked through the CSA website and I've Googled turnips and beets and also tried rutabagas and even double-checked daikon radishes, but I have yet to see a picture of the root vegetables that I found myself cooking last night. (BTW, have you ever researched the different types of beets, turnips and rutabagas? Millions of different kinds. Or at least ten. I've lived such a sheltered life.) In the end, I must admit I have no idea what I actually brought home from the CSA.

But then look! Crazy insides!

It's so confusing.

Maybe this meal should be call Baked Turnip Confusion.

Well, no matter what name you slap on it, the dish was delightful. May I introduce:

Baked Turnips? Beets? Rutabagas? 

Anonymous Root Vegetable 

(with White & Purple & Green Outsides 
and Red & White Insides)

originally from 

The Gentle Art of Cookery 

by Mrs. C. F. Leyel and Miss Olga Hartley

6 small white turnips [or whatever]

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese [I used Swiss*]

Ground nutmeg

Salt & pepper

Cayenne

1 cup milk or thin white sauce

3 Tbls bread crumbs

1 Tbls butter

Start oven at moderate (350 degrees F). Butter 1 1/2-quart baking dish. Scrub turnips [or whatever], rinse, drain, and pare. Slice thinly into greased dish in alternate layers with cheese; season each layer of turnips [or whatever] lightly with nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Add little cayenne to top layer, pour milk or white sauce over contents of dish, sprinkle top with crumbs, dot with butter. Bake in moderate oven 35 minutes, or until turnips [or whatever] are done. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

*As a rule, I hate Swiss cheese. But yesterday my fridge was full of it (weird story) and figured I'd like it better cooked in a dish, flavors mingling, than by itself on crackers where it's nasty dry bitter taste is overpowering and chokes out your will to live. And I was right! Baked with whatever-they-were, the Swiss cheese tasted great. 

Beet Casserole

If you were just thinking: I wonder what other delightful beet dishes Well-Cookbooked has tried lately? than this post is sure to please! (And even if you weren't thinking that, I think this is a recipe you can still enjoy.)

Technically I didn't so much cook this recipe as I did pick it out of a book and tell my husband to make it. But I did the cookbook perusal and the shopping for ingredients, so I'm including it and counting it toward my 5-recipes-from-each-book goal.

Russian Beet Casserole

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Steam until soft: 

3 1/2 peeled and chopped beets (about 6 med sized)

1 3/4 chopped onion

Mix with:

2 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar

Scant 1 cup plain yogurt

1/8 tsp each salt & pepper

Bake 10 mins. The cheese seems to disappear if overcooked.

Serve over rice, noodles or toast.

My favorite beet recipe so far! I was surprised, actually, because while I'd picked the recipe because it'd use up a good portion of beets, I wasn't really expecting to like it. But I did--it was scrumptious! The beets were al dente (though cooked enough to be sweet, since raw beets can be bitter) and the onion was a savoury touch, but then the sharp cheddar was, well, cheesy and the yogurt was slightly sour... All together it was complex and delicious. I would definitely make this recipe again.

Having this dish turn out so well makes me look forward to trying out other recipes from the cookbook. This came from Simply Vegetarian! [yes, complete with exclamation point]. My copy is the revised edition from 1989 with Nancy Mair and Susan Rinzler.