Consolidating

I've decided to combine my three blogs (yes, crazy, I know) into one. I'm going to start using labels in order to make browsing easier on my blog.

Tres Salsas

A couple of weeks ago I had a bunch of ladies from church over to make some salsas. It was so much fun to chat, chop, and dip together! It made me want to do it more often. Maybe next time we can do brunch, or something like that.

Here's what we did:

Tres Salsas

One of the things I love most about salsas is you can easily alter them to make it perfect for your tastes, i.e., more lime juice, less jalepeno; whatever you love.

Mango Salsa was from allrecipes.com. We only added jalepenos to some of it and I thought both versions tasted wonderful. Here's the link. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mango-Salsa/Detail.aspx

Salsa Verde from Williams-Sonoma Savoring Mexico, was posted here.

And the Pico de Gaillo is just from my head, so all measurements are approximate. I taste as I go never adding all the onion or jalepenos unless it needs it.

1 lb tomatoes (I use Romas), diced
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1-2 jalepenos, finely chopped
1-2 limes, juiced
salt to taste

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

I seriously LOVE these pancakes! I found the recipe in a brand new cookbook I picked up at Salvation Army, for like $1, a few years ago. It comes from the Food & Wine: Annual Cookbook 2003.

1 cup part-skim ricotta
2 large eggs
2 large egg whites
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons mild honey, such as clover, sage or star thistle

In a blender, mix the ricotta with the eggs, egg whites, flour, oil, grated lemon zest, salt and 2 teaspoons of the honey until smooth.

Meanwhile, heat a nonstick griddle over moderately low heat. Working in batches if necessary, pour 2 rounded tablespoons of the batter onto the griddle for each pancake, allowing enough room for them to spread slightly. Cook the pancakes until the bottoms are golden, the tops are slightly set and small bubbles appear on the surface, 2-3 minutes. Flip the pancakes over and cook until golden, about 1 minute longer. Transfer the pancakes to individual plates, drizzle with the remaining honey and serve at once.

Carrot Soup with Cilantro Ribbons

This has become one of my all time favorite soups. I often make it for friends when they come over for lunch because it is easy but tastes good and looks fun.

It is from a book called A Good Day for Soup by Jeannette Ferrary and Louise Fiszer.

Soup
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 teaspoon curry powder, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
2 tablespoons flour
5 cups chicken stock
1 lb carrots
4 tablespoons heavy cream
salt and pepper

In a medium saucepan, heat oil. Add onion and celery and cook until soft. Stir in curry, coriander, and flour and cook another minute. Add stock, bring to a boil and add carrots. Simmer, partly covered, 15 minutes. In a blender puree the mixture with cream. Taste for salt and pepper.

Ribbons
2 eggs
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Ina a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, flour, milk, salt, and pepper. Stir in cilantro. In an 8-inch skillet, preferably nonstick, heat oil. Pour in egg mixture, tilting pan back and forth. Cook until batter is set. Turn over to cook other side for 1 minute. Slide onto cutting board and let cool. Cut into thin strips. Divide ribbons among 6 bowls, ladle soup over them and serve.

A couple of things I've learned with this recipe is the more I whisk the ribbon batter the more air it gets into and then they will float in the soup. Also, I don't think the ribbon to soup ratio is good. I usually double the amount of ribbons for the whole batch of soup.

Very good!

Salsa Verde

tomatillo husks

Last night I made chicken fajitas--nothing special. But to kick it up a notch I attempted to make some Salsa Verde. I got the recipe from the Williams-Sonoma book Savoring Mexico. Since the salsa was only going to be fantastic when it was super fresh I halved the recipe for just the two of us. But in halving it I got a bit reckless and started tossing in my extra chopped goods without measuring or tasting as I went. The salsa was absolutely fresh and fantastic--with one exception--it burned the #%@! out of my mouth! I put too much of the serrano chiles in. It tasted so good, it brought tears to my eyes. My advice: go light on the chiles.

Here's the recipe in it's entirety:

1 lb tomatillos, husked and rinsed
3 tablespoons roughly chopped white onion
3 serrano chiles, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the tomatillos with water to cover and bring to a gentle boil. Cook, uncovered, until soft but not soggy. 8-10 minutes. Drain and transfer to a blender or food processor. Add the onion, chiles, garlic, and salt and process until a rather smooth puree forms that still has some rough texture.

Pour into a bowl, stir in the cilantro, and serve. (We chilled ours a bit in the freezer.)

Mushroom Risotto Cakes

The mushroom risotto recipe from the previous post made enough to feed a family of 10. But since we are only a small family of three and Brian rarely eats leftovers I had no idea what to do with all that yummy goodness left in the fridge. Really, it was way too much for me to consume. I gave half the leftovers to our good friends who seem to always enjoy our food and then I made the rest into risotto cakes.

These actually were not all that great. They seemed to need some sort of sauce. The crunchy, fried outside made me think, ketchup. But that wasn't it, of course.

3 cups chilled mushroom risotto
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups coarse fresh bread crumbs (from about 4 slices firm white sandwich bread)
6 tablespoons olive oil

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. 3Form chilled risotto into 8 (3/4-inch-thick) patties using wet hands. Put flour, eggs, and bread crumbs in 3 separate shallow bowls. Coat 1 cake with flour, tapping off excess, then egg (letting excess drip off), and then bread crumbs. Transfer to wax paper. Repeat with remaining cakes.

Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a 12-inch heavy nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté 4 cakes, turning over once, until browned, 5 to 6 minutes total. Transfer with a slotted spatula to a paper-towel-lined baking pan and keep warm in oven. Heat remaining 3 tablespoons oil and sauté remaining 4 cakes in same manner.

Mushroom Risotto

A trip to Costco is a rare adventure for us. 1-We don't have a car. 2-We just don't have the space to store the goods; say, 100 rolls of toilet paper. But we made a trip a couple months ago (rented a zipcar) and I've had a big container of dried mushrooms waiting to be opened. Since I have been working really hard at using what we have in the cupboards rather than buying more and more I finally broke open the bin and made a delicious batch of risotto. The recipe is from epicurious.com and I substituted the reconstituted mixed mushrooms for the fresh ones the recipe calls for. I think it made the flavor even more pungent and rich. Also, I did not add the additional butter at the end and it tasted great.


1 oz (28 g) dried porcini (1 cup)
3 3/4 cups hot water
5 1/4 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1 small onion, finely chopped (1 cup)
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3/4 lb fresh cremini mushrooms, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 lb Arborio rice (2 1/3 cups)
2/3 cup dry white wine
1 oz finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1/2 cup)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Soak porcini in 1 1/2 cups hot water in a bowl until softened, about 20 minutes. Lift porcini out, squeezing liquid back into bowl. Rinse to remove any grit and coarsely chop. Pour soaking liquid through a sieve lined with a coffee filter or a dampened paper towel into a 3- to 4-quart saucepan, then add broth, soy sauce, and remaining 21/4 cups water to pan and bring to a simmer.

Meanwhile, heat oil with 1 tablespoon butter in a 4- to 5-quart heavy pot over moderately high heat until foam subsides, then sauté onion, stirring, until just softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and fresh mushrooms and sauté, stirring, until mushrooms are browned and any liquid they give off is evaporated, about 8 minutes. Stir in porcini and cook, stirring, 1 minute, then add rice and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add wine and cook, stirring, until absorbed, about 1 minute.

Stir 1 cup simmering broth into rice and cook, stirring constantly and keeping at a strong simmer, until absorbed. Continue cooking and adding broth, about 1 cup at a time, stirring frequently and letting each addition be absorbed before adding next, until rice is tender and creamy looking but still al dente, 18 to 20 minutes. Thin with some of remaining broth if necessary. (You will have about 1 cup left over.) Remove from heat. Stir in cheese, salt, pepper, and remaining 5 tablespoons butter until butter is melted.

Stir parsley into remaining risotto and serve immediately.

Health Nut Blueberry Muffins

I LOVE blueberries. Growing up I didn't think much of them. All that we had in California were tiny, tasteless balls that were super expensive. Then Brian took me blueberry picking in Glastonbury, Connecticut--his hometown--a few weeks before we were married. WOW! It was absolutely amazing. Heavenly, really. Not only was the experience wonderful but the blueberries...WOW!...were fantastic. Handfuls of huge berries full of sweet, fragrant juice would fall off the bush as I went to grab just one. Brian took a some videos of us picking the summer I was pregnant with Isabella and very few of the berries actually went into the bucket. They were so tasty. I'm dreaming of a warm, humid summer with bunches of blueberries.

These muffins are good and pretty healthy. I think next time I'll cut back a bit (1/4 cup) on the sugar. I found the recipe on Allrecipes.com. Also next time I will only put in 1 cup of blueberries as suggested. Since I love blueberries I dumped a bunch in, but then the muffins were too moist. The berries I used were picked last summer and frozen.

3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup oat bran
1/4 cup quick cooking oats
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 banana, mashed
1 cup buttermilk (I didn't have any, so I just put 1 teaspoon lemon juice in 1 cup of milk)
1 egg
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tin.

In a large bowl, stir together all the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl combine the wet ingredients. Pour the wet into the dry and mix until just blended. Then gently fold the blueberries and walnuts into the mixture.

Bake for 15-18 minute or until the tops of the muffins spring back when lightly touched. (It took my muffins almost twice as long to cook. Probably because I used large, frozen blueberries.)

Fried Flounder Fillet

One of the easiest, most delicious fish dishes I can make. I learned it from Marilyn, Brian's mom. Fresh, fresh fish is ALWAYS the key! I like to get my fish from Fairway or from the fish mongers at the Greenmarket in Union Square. One time I bought some fish from a place in Chelsea Markets and it was gross; so now I stick to my trusted sources.


Basically all you do is salt the flounder fillet (lemon sole is a similar fish and can be used instead) on both sides dredge it in flour and toss it into some hot grapeseed oil. Marilyn taught me that the reason she used grapeseed oil is because it has a higher smoking point. I fry each side for about 2-3 minutes and it is usually good. As soon as I take it out if the pan and place it on the plate I drizzle it with lemon juice. It is OH! So good! Isabella was even loving it last night.

Peas, Beans & Rice

That's as plain as it gets! And that's what I made this morning for our lunch this afternoon. Every once in a while when we get into a more healthy mode we eat "peas, beans & rice". It's exactly how it sounds plus ground beef; but that's just too cumbersome to repeat. Peas, beans, rice & ground beef, anyone? A wonderful thing about this dish is that it's so healthy it makes me not want to go back for seconds. :)

I do my best to make the dish as flavorful as possible. Today I guess I tried a little too hard because it tastes super salty to me, which means Brian will probably love it.

Another thing that's fun is to wrap it up in a tortilla (I love Trader Joe's Handmade whole wheat tortillas.) and add some salsa.

I realize I need to take more photos of our food, but I've already put it in a plastic container to take to Brian for lunch. Not so pretty.

So, how to make this delicious, nutritious treat?

These amounts will feed us lunch for a few days:

1/2 lb lean ground beef
1/2 brown rice
2 cups worth of mixed canned beans--whatever you have in the pantry
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed

I cook the brown rice according to directions. Brown the beef in the skillet, drain juices and put the beans in to warm up. Add rice and peas.

I always season the ground beef and beans with Chef Paul Prudhomme's Meat Magic. It's pretty good stuff. For the beans today I had red kidney beans and pinto beans. I usually add garbanzo beans too since they have so much protein, but I didn't have any.

Happy, healthy eating!

Carrot Soup with Cilantro Ribbons

Heather was cleaning out their stash of cookbooks a few years back and gave a bunch of them to us. I think all of the books have now been passed onto other kitchens except one, A Good Day for Soup, by Jeannett Ferrary and Louise Fiszer. So far we have only made a few of the recipes, but I have loved everyone. I've never been a big soup fan. I think I grew up with soup being too hot, too healthy and too bland. With time, and living in a cold climate, my opinion of soup is gradually changing.

Two nights ago Isabella and I finished the Sweet & Savory Sausage Sauce (see previous post) but Brian was coming home late from work and the gym--hungry, as usual. Carrot Soup with Cilantro Ribbons became Brian's 9pm dinner and the next day's lunch with my good friend, Angela.

It is a great, simple recipe that tastes fantastic. The only difficulty I have had with it is trying to puree it. The first time I made it I tried to put it in the Cuisinart, but it came flowing out of the center whole. So now I do it in the blender, but I sometimes have to do two batches (depending on how generous I get with the veggies), which means more dishes. And every extra dish used counts since we don't have a dishwasher--and I really, really don't like doing dishes.

I like this soup, Brian likes this soup and Angela said she really enjoyed it yesterday. Isabella wouldn't even try it. If I held her down and smeared some into her mouth I bet she'd be begging for more with her mouth wide open. But I decided to spare Angela the abusive feeding show. :)

Oh! Another thing about this recipe...I always run out of cilantro ribbons before I'm done with the soup. Maybe I'm using more ribbons per serving than what they are thinking or I'm not slicing them small enough. But I would suggest doubling the cilantro ribbon part of the recipe. They are really good and are fantastic in the soup.

Soup:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion
1 stalk celery
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
2 tablespoons flour
5 cups chicken stock
1 lb carrots, sliced
4 tablespoons heavy cream
salt & pepper

In a medium saucepan, heat oil. Add onion and celery and cook until soft. Stir in curry, coriander, and flour and cook another minute. Add stock, bring to a boil and add carrots. Simmer, partly covered, 15 minutes. Ina blender or food processor, puree the mixture with cream. Taste for salt and pepper.

Ribbons: (I suggest doubling this.)

2 eggs
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil

Ina medium bowl, whisk together eggs, flour, milk, salt and pepper. Stir in cilantro. In an 8-inch skillet, preferably nonstick, heat oil. Pour in egg mixture, tilting pan back and forth. Cook until batter is set. Turn over to cook other side for 1 minute. Slide onto cutting board and let cool. Cut into thin strips and set aside.

To assemble: divide ribbons about 6 bowls, ladle soup over them and serve.

Sweet & Savory Sausage Sauce

This has been a favorite recipe for a few years. I had forgotten about it and I think it has been since before I was pregnant that I made it last--over two years ago.

It comes from one of our favorite cookbooks, The Figs Table, by Todd English and Sally Sampson. The sauce is cram-packed full of flavor that is so delicious! And, my favorite part, it tastes just as good as leftovers. Brian agrees--and he generally hates leftovers.

I have been unsuccessful in finding garlic sausage so I use sweet Italian sausage and add a couple more cloves of garlic. I think this sauce is fantastic over shells or rotini--you need a pasta that will capture the chunks.

Here's the recipe from the book:

1lb garlic sausage, taken out of casing and crumbled
3-4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
1 Spanish onion, chopped
1 cup white wine
3 cups chicken broth
2 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
two 28 oz cans whole plum tomatoes, drained and hand crushed

Place a large skillet or stockpot over medium -high heat and, when it is hot, add the sausage. When the fat begins to render, add the garlic and 1 teaspoon each rosemary and thyme and cook until lightly toasted, about 2 minutes. Discard any excess fat. Add the onion, lower the heat to low, and cook until it it almost caramelized, about 15-20 min.

Add the wine to deglaze the pan. Add the broth, and cook until reduced to a thick syrup, about 5-8 minutes. (I find this takes quite a bit longer, like 15-20 minutes. Maybe my heat isn't high enough?) Add the anchovies and tomatoes and the remaining 1 teaspoon each of rosemary and thyme, and cook until the flavors meld together, about 20-30 minutes.

Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate up to 3 days.