Recipe, interrupted

Recipe: Fig and Tomato Salad

Is it me or does this year’s fig season just keep going and going? I’m not complaining. As long as the figs keep coming, I’m happy to let them find their way into my meals and snacks. I’ve been eating them on their own (biting into a ripe fig is an indulgence every time), with cheese (fresh goat, mild blues, Parmigiano Reggiano), grilled and tossed with caramelized onions. But it didn’t occur to me until this week to toss them with late season tomatoes. It’s a combination that works beautifully. The sweetness of the fig highlights the sugar in the tomato and the tomato’s acidity extends the fig’s range. A splash of balsamic vinegar bridges the two together. All the ingredients in this quick salad are simply tossed together. You don’t really even need a recipe, just a general sense of the proportions. Feel free to scale this recipe up or down depending on how many people you are feeding.

Be sure to have some crusty bread to soak up the juices. When I ate this salad I wished I had some Pecorino Toscano, which would make a perfect accompaniment for a light lunch.

 

Serves 4

Preparation time: 10 minutes
 

3 medium fresh tomatoes, seeded and cut into chunks

6 ripe figs, quartered, with stems trimmed off

3 tablespoons roughly chopped parsley

Kosher salt (I use a little more than ¼ teaspoon), freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

About 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

 

1. In a mixing bowl, toss together all ingredients except olive oil. Drizzle olive oil in, tablespoon by tablespoon until the dressing tastes balanced.
   
2. Serve immediately or allow to rest for up to an hour to let the flavors to mingle.

 

 

 

Recipe: Chanterelle and Cauliflower Sauté

Fresh chanterelles are such a rare treat. Even when they’re in season, they can be quite expensive. So I stretched them out in this recipe with the ubiquitous and economical cauliflower. This pairing doesn’t just bring down the cost per pound, however. The mild earthy flavors of both ingredients blend into a mellow autumn dish. The chanterelles are meaty and tender and develop a nice crisp when cooked at a high heat. And cauliflower somehow manages to taste earthy and clean at the same time. Together, they taste to me like the culinary equivalent of a cozy blanket on a cool front porch

 

Serves 4 as a side dish

Preparation time: 15 minutes

 

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil (or other neutral high-heat cooking oil)

About ½ pound fresh chanterelle mushrooms, wiped clean and tips of stems trimmed

Kosher salt, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper

1 small head of cauliflower, trimmed into florets and cooked, but still firm

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 shallot, minced

2 tablespoons minced flat-leaf parsley

lemon juice

 

1. Preheat a large skillet over high heat. Add grapeseed oil. When oil is hot, add mushrooms, tossing them to coat evenly with oil. Turn after a few minutes, when they have browned lightly on one side. When they are nicely browned, after several more minutes, sprinkle in a pinch of salt and toss in cauliflower. Add a few twists of pepper. Stir occasionally until cauliflower is browned on some of its surfaces.
    
2. Reduce heat to medium-low. Create space in the skillet by pushing the mushrooms and cauliflower off to the side. Melt butter in the open space of the skillet and stir the shallot into it. Cook until shallot is softened.
    
3. Remove skillet from heat. Add parsley and stir all ingredients together, adjusting flavor with lemon juice and additional salt if necessary. Serve hot.

Recipe: Black Beans and Mini Roasted Sweet Peppers

More and more, I’m cooking with less meat and more beans, tofu, and whole grains. I’ve been motivated partly out of a desire to reduce my family’s carbon footprint and partly to eat more healthfully. But mostly, I’m subscribing to the Old Miller Lite “Tastes Great, Less Filling” philosophy. To me, there’s no point in eating a meat-heavy meal when a colorful, hearty vegetarian dish can satisfy me without leaving me overly stuffed and remorseful. I haven’t lost my taste for meat – I’ll still occasionally crave and happily eat a duck breast or a bison burger. But these days, I generally let vegetables take center stage and give meat a supporting role. A small amount of bacon or chicken broth can go a long way.

Here’s one example of something that can be easily and inexpensively prepared for an entirely vegetarian weekday dinner. The mini peppers come from a local, organic farm. Outside of their season, I typically don’t buy peppers. Conventionally grown ones tend to be very high in pesticides and organic peppers are often packed in plastic and shipped from far away. If you can get organic peppers, use them. If they’re the big ones (not these cute miniature ones), roast two and seed and dice them before stirring them into the beans. If pepper season has passed you by, don’t fret, try using mini pattypan squash instead.

 

Makes 4 servings

1 hour, plus soaking time

 

1 ½ cups dried black beans, soaked overnight, drained and rinsed (If you prefer, you can use 3 cups canned black beans, skip the soaking and start at step 2. I often use canned beans, but in this case I like to cook my own – the texture of canned black beans tends towards the mushy.)

1 pint miniature sweet peppers

3-4 tablespoons olive oil

Kosher salt to taste

2 tablespoons minced garlic, plus 4-5 whole cloves smashed in their skins

1 medium onion, diced

1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano

¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 ½ teaspoons fresh lime juice

2-3 cups cooked brown rice

Optional: sour cream or strained yogurt (such as Greek style)

1. If using dried beans: Bring beans and enough water to cover them by about ½ inch to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until tender but still holding its shape. Cooking time can vary greatly, but usually takes about 45 minutes. Remove from heat, add a generous pinch of salt, cover again, and set aside.
    
2. Preheat oven to 500°F.  Toss the peppers and whole garlic cloves with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt. Spread on a baking sheet and roast in the upper third of the oven for about 10-15 minutes (shaking pan partway through to get more even roasting), until softened and browned in spots. Cover with a casserole pan or aluminum foil to steam for about 5 minutes. Most of the garlic will be charred; toss them out. If there are any soft cloves left, peel their skins off and add the cloves to the beans.
   
    
3. While peppers are cooking, heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil in a wide, shallow saucepan or saucier over medium heat. Add onions and a pinch of salt. Stir occasionally and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add oregano and chopped garlic. Stir and cook an additional 3 minutes, until garlic is softened.
    
4. With a slotted spoon remove the beans from their cooking liquid (reserving liquid), and stir into onion mixture. Salt to taste. Reduce heat to low, and cook for 5 to 10 minutes to let the flavors mingle, adding cooking liquid as necessary to moisten. Remove from heat, stir in cilantro and lime juice. Add salt to taste if necessary. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil if desired. Serve over brown rice and garnish with sour cream or yogurt if desired. 

 

Recipe: Cauliflower And Almonds with Parsley-Anchovy Dressing

This is a bagna cauda-inspired salad. It has the anchovies and garlic of the classic Italian warm dipping sauce for veggies. But the dressing is served at room temperature and is brightened up by a whole lot of parsley, borrowing a little from another Italian favorite: pesto. 

I love it on raw cauliflower, but you could also use blanched and chilled cauliflower if you prefer it cooked. 

Serves 4-6

Preparation time: 15 minutes

 

For the dressing:

1 large clove garlic, roughly chopped

¼ cup packed flat-leaf parsley

3 anchovy fillets

1 teaspoon lemon juice

¼ teaspoon Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

For the salad:

1 small to medium head cauliflower, cut into small florets or sliced thinly with a mandoline 

2 tablespoon chopped oil-cured black olives

¼ cup roughly chopped toasted almonds

 

1. With an immersion blender, food processor, or blender, combine garlic, parsley, anchovies, lemon juice, salt, pepper and vinegar until well-blended and finely chopped. With the motor running, gradually drizzle in olive oil and blend until the dressing is smooth and emulsified.
   
   
   
   
2. Pile cauliflower onto a serving dish. Drizzle dressing over cauliflower. Garnish with a sprinkling of olives and almonds and serve.

 

Recipe: Walnut Cake

I’ve made this cake often – it's a simple cake, perfect for an afternoon tea. And it dresses up nicely with whipped cream and a fruit sauce or preserves. The recipe is adapted from an old William-Sonoma cookbook called “The Best of Taste.” One especially nice thing about this cake is that it stays moist for days. In fact, it seems to even improve on the second day.

This past weekend, I thought, how nice would a quiet family afternoon tea be. The cake was already made; I had put it in the freezer a couple weeks ago when a friend was going to come over and then had to cancel. And I still had some of the raspberry sauce from our Labor Day berry picking trip so the preparation would be easy.

In the end, it was a lovely tea. But initially, my kids grumbled loudly when they heard there were walnuts in the cake. Kids have a way of maintaining a perfect mental inventory of anything sweet in the house. Mine knew there was one piece of my mother’s apple pie left in the fridge and they started fighting over would get to eat that instead the sure-to-be awful cake. Losing hope for my picture-perfect afternoon, I barked at them to sit down and try the cake, if they didn’t like it, they could split the pie. Thankfully, they liked the cake and things quieted down. After the cake was gone, my younger daughter licked the sauce off her plate – I wish I had gotten a photo of that.  And, still, they somehow managed to broker their way to the pie. In my gratitude for the momentary peace, I let my guard down. For them, it was a day when they had their cake and ate pie, too.

Serves 8 to 10

Preparation time: 1 hour
 

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

½ cup granulated sugar

6 large eggs, separated

½ cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

few gratings of whole nutmeg

½ pound (about 2 ¼ cups) walnuts halves and pieces, finely ground with 1 tablespoon sugar

Pinch salt

2 tablespoons confectioners sugar

¾ cup heavy cream, whipped and lightly sweetened with 1 teaspoon sugar and flavored with ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup fruit preserves (such as apricot) or sauce, such as the raspberry sauce

 

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter the sides and bottom of a 10-inch springform pan and line the bottom of it with a circle of baking parchment.
    
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until lightened. Beat in egg yolks one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl to ensure the mixture is blended evenly.
    
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, spices, and walnut mixture. Fold into egg mixture.
    
4. In a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites and salt into stiff peaks. Gently stir ¼ of the whites into the batter, then fold in the rest.
    
5. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until the top of the cake is lightly browned, the edges of the cake are just beginning to separate from the pan and the cake springs back when touched in the middle, about 25-30 minutes. Let cake cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then unmold onto a wire rack to cool further.
    
6. Sift confectioners sugar over cake.
    
7. Serve warm or at room temperature, with a dollop of whipped cream over each slice and preserves or sauce served around it. This cake can be prepared a day in advance, cooled completely, and wrapped in plastic and refrigerated. Or you can freeze for several weeks. Allow the cake to return to room temperature before serving. This cake stays moist for several days.
   

Spaghetti Ice Cream

When I made the raspberry sauce from our family’s recent berry-picking expedition, I immediately thought of a childhood favorite: spaghetti ice. This was (and probably still is) a popular kind of sundae that I had eaten in Germany. Vanilla ice cream is passed through a press with little holes in it so that it comes out as soft-serve ‘spaghetti.’ Then it’s topped with raspberry sauce and grated white chocolate for the parmesan.

I tried to replicate this at home using a well-chilled potato ricer to shape the ice cream. It didn’t look quite as convincing as the ones from the ice cream parlors of my childhood but the skeptical looks on my kids’ faces vanished as soon as the spoons hit their lips.     

 

Recipe: Raspberry Sauce

We went raspberry picking over Labor Day weekend at Thompson-Finch Farm in the Hudson Valley. It had taken a little bit of searching to find a u-pick place that doesn’t spray their berries. But when we found it, we showed up bright and early so that we could get some good picking in before we had to wrap up our vacation and head back home to Brooklyn.

As I reached out for that first berry I was feeling especially thankful that it was free of pesticides and said to my 5-year-old, “I think fresh raspberries straight from the bush are my favorite food.”

In response, she sweetly asked, “Why are fresh raspberries straight from the bush your favorite food?” (Have I been pushing the idea of speaking in complete sentences too hard?)

“Because they are so sweet and delicate and still warm from the sun. And they are fun to pick and pop in my mouth,” I answered with a raspberry-tinged grin.

They were fun to pick. We kept picking and picking, and by the time we got back home, after several hours in the car, popping berries in our mouths like they were popcorn, we still managed to bring a small bucketful up to our kitchen. By this point, I could hardly look at them. I considered the possibility that it was my full belly pleading, ‘no more!’ But I had to admit, they really did look a little worse for the wear. During the drive, with the bucket being passed around, accidently kicked, and jostled over bumpy roads, these very ripe raspberries had gotten a little bruised. They were still quite plump, but the deeply red juice was starting to seep out and stain the bottom of the bucket.

Something had to be done with them soon. They were going to go downhill fast. And so was I. I was tired from the long day and was not interested in doing anything complicated. The raspberries went straight into the saucepan (I don’t like to wash raspberries, another reason for picking organic) with some sugar and simmered gently for about 15 minutes. After straining the thick liquid, I had a deeply crimson sauce that was rich with the flavor of the sun-soaked berries.

In the days that followed, I poured the sauce over ice-cream, pancakes, and cake. I also sneaked a spoonful of it every now and then, just to hold on to that feeling of soaking up the summer sun.
 

Preparation time: 25 minutes

Makes about 1 cup
 

1 pound fresh raspberries (or, if you are longing for that summer flavor in the middle of winter, frozen raspberries work nicely, too)

½ cup sugar (or more if you prefer a sweeter, less tangy sauce)
 

1. Bring raspberries and sugar to a simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low and continue to simmer until raspberries have broken down into a thick sauce, about 15 minutes.
   
   
   
   
   Using a fine mesh strainer or chinois placed over a bowl, strain the seeds out of the sauce. Encourage the liquid to pass through with a plunging motion of a pestle, wooden spoon, or small ladle. Try to squeeze as much liquid out of the pulpy mess; the final pressings will add thickness to the sauce.
   
   
   
2. Serve warm, cold, or at room temperature over ice cream, cake, pancakes or waffles. It also can be drizzled into mixed drinks and smoothies.

 

Recipe: Late Summer Tomato & Corn Stew

Summer must be coming to a close, because the thought of a bowl of hot soup has once again become appealing to me. I’m not ready to throw on a parka and snow boots quite yet, though. I still want more of the flavors of summer. This soup makes use of farm-stand ingredients like ripe tomatoes, fresh corn, and thyme. If it already is parka and snow boot time when you set out to prepare this, you can use boxed or canned tomatoes and frozen corn.

I also used Irish bacon here, but Canadian bacon or pancetta are excellent substitutes. For a vegetarian version, I’d use a teaspoon of smoked sweet paprika and a handful of chopped green olives.

 

Makes 6 servings

Preparation time: 40 minutes

 

2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling on at the end

1 medium onion, diced

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

8 ounces Irish bacon, diced (about 1 ¼ cups)

2 teaspoons fresh minced thyme

8 cups seeded and diced ripe tomatoes

1 cup fresh corn blanched and cut from the cob 

Aged Cheddar cheese, as garnish (My favorite is Cabot Clothbound Cheddar which is not just sharp, but also balanced with the taste of caramel and nuts.) 

 

1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan or a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions and a good pinch of salt and a few twists of pepper, stirring occasionally until softened, about 5 minutes.
    
2. Stir in bacon and thyme and cook until heated through, an additional 2-3 minutes.
   
   
3. Add tomatoes. Continue to cook over medium heat until the tomatoes release their liquid and begin to simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer gently until liquid has intensified in color and soup is very fragrant, about 20 minutes. Stir in corn and cook another few minutes.
   Tomatoes just stirred in
   
    
   Tomatoes simmering
   
   
   With the corn
    
4. Add salt to taste if necessary (it may not be – the bacon can be quite salty). Ladle soup into soup bowls. Drizzle each portion with additional olive oil, garnish with crumbled or thinly sliced cheese, and serve hot, ideally with some crusty sourdough bread. 

Technique: How to Seed a Tomato

Here's how to get the pulp and seeds out of a tomato easily when all you want is the sweet tomato flesh.

1. If you also want to skin the tomatoes (for a more smoother texture and none of those floating bits of tomato skin in your sauce or soup) do a real tomato concassé. I usually skip this step since I tend to make more rustic, home-style dishes. Score a cross-hatch into the bottom of the tomato and blanch it for 30 seconds or so in boiling water, just long enough to make the skin easier to peel but not long enough to cook the tomato. Then, you’d plunge the tomato into ice water to quickly cool it.
    
2. Core out the base of the stem.
   
3. Cut the tomato in half, cross-wise. (If you are doing plum tomatoes, cut them lengthwise.)
    
4. Squeeze the seeds and pulp out, scooping them out with your fingers to make sure you get them all.
   
5. Dice or crush them according to your recipe.
   

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookies with Whole Wheat Flour & Wheat Germ

There’s something very gratifying about sharing chocolate chip cookies.

The first recipe I ever posted on my blog was one for chocolate chip cookies. I’ve baked up at least a couple thousand of those cookies and shared them with family, friends, colleagues, friends of friends, and fundraising events. Sometimes I’d leave out the sea salt, sometimes I’d change the type of chocolate, but there has really been no reason to alter the recipe. It’s a tried and true hit as it is.

But more and more I’ve been appreciating the flavor and texture of whole grains in baked goods. I like to bake with King Arthur’s white whole wheat flour. It’s much lighter in texture, color and flavor than traditional whole wheat flour but retains a pleasant hint of whole grain nuttiness.

So when I got ready to visit my favorite pregnant lady and her happy little two-year-old, I tinkered with the original recipe a little. I had it in my mind already to make these cookies with the white whole wheat flour and wheat germ and this seemed like the perfect occasion. Wheat germ is rich in folic acid, especially important in the diets of moms-to-be. And the whole grains are better for all of us.

I actually like these cookies a little more than the original. They have just a slightly deeper golden color and a more complex flavor that hints at honey and nuts. Right out of the oven, you can detect the flaky texture of the wheat germ. It’s not unpleasant, but slightly perceptible. Still, I fed them to my kids and their friends the other day when the cookies were almost hot (they couldn’t wait) and I heard nothing but mmm’s and quiet munching. As the cookies cool, they stay moist and bendable, and the wheat germ texture is undetectable.

I don’t mean to masquerade these chocolate chip cookies around as health food. They are still loaded with a good bit of fat and sugar and I do use all-purpose flour in here too. But, if you are going to indulge in a treat (and when you are 8 months pregnant, how can you not?), an indulgence that is fortified with flavor and nutritional value seems like a no-brainer.

 

Yields 3 ½ dozen cookies

 

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup white whole wheat flour

½ cup wheat germ

½ teaspoon table salt

1 ¾ teaspoons baking powder

1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda

2 ½ sticks (10 ounces) unsalted butter, softened slightly at room temperature but not mushy

1 2/3 cups lightly packed light brown sugar (the flavor of this organic brand, Wholesome Sweeteners, makes a difference)

1 cup granulated sugar (I like using raw sugar)

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

20 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips (my current favorite is Ghiradelli 60% chips)

 

1. Whisk together flours, wheat germ, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
    
2. In a separate mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars together until lightened, 3-5 minutes.
    
3. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
    
4. Stir in flour mixture just until combined.
    
5. Gently mix in chocolate chips.
    
6. Wrap dough in wax paper or plastic and refrigerate at least 3 hours, up to 36 hours.
    
7. Preheat convection oven to 325F. If convection is not available, preheat conventional oven to 350F.
    
8. The dough will be very hard. You can use a tablespoon to chisel off chunks of it and roll the dough into 1 ½ inch balls. Place them on an ungreased baking sheet lined with a silicone linger or parchment paper.
    
9. Bake until golden around the edges, dry on the outside, but slightly moist looking in the crevices, about 12 minutes or so. Depending on your oven, you may need to rotate the baking sheet after the first 8 minutes.
    
10. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool further.