Macaroni and cheese

This is good comfort food. I made this recipe for macaroni and cheese, which has a nice panko crust. I thought it might be too crust heavy, but it turned out not to be. The tang of the mustard and pepper flakes was perfect. We used an assortment of cheeses we had to use up, about 2 cups cheddar, 1½ cup gouda, and some parmesan which went into the topping. The sauce seemed watery before baking, but ended up perfect.

Sambal in the Style of Java

For Khyati, who liked this when we had it on Saturday night, and wanted the recipe (right after I said I wouldn't post it...). This is from Salsas, Sambals, Chutneys & Chowchows by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby--but Khyati and John might know Schlesinger by reputation, as owner of the East Coast Grill in Inman Square.

Sambal in the Style of Java

2 cups shredded green cabbage
1 cup peeled, shredded carrots
1/2 cup bean sprouts
1/2 cup peanuts, toasted

Dressing
1 T. minced, fresh ginger
1 T. minced red or green chile pepper
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. shrimp paste
2 T. coriander seeds, cracked
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup peanut oil
salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Combine main ingredients in large bowl. Combine dressing ingredients; process until very well blended. Pour over vegetables and mix well.

Notes on my copy of the recipe, which I always follow:
Alice and Craig say: use more chiles, less molasses. Jamie says: put peanuts on last, on top, after mixing in dressing. All three of us say: needs more stuff for the amount of sauce made.

On another note, the reason that we didn't have egregiously more dressing than stuff last Saturday, Khyati? Because I forgot the oil. And it was yummy anyway. Hmmm.

Lemongrass chicken over lemongrass coconut rice

The chicken I think of as a recipe from my friend Ryan, because we got so stuck on it that it seemed like we were making it almost weekly for a while. But in reality it's a recipe from Steven Raichlen, off of the website Star Chefs, which we modified just a tiny bit.

Lemongrass Chicken

• 1 1/4 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 1/2 Tbs. honey
• 1 Tbs. fish sauce
• 2 to 3 stalks fresh lemongrass (at least 2 tablespoons minced)
• 1 1/2 Tbs. canola oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
  
• 1 Tbs. soy sauce
• 3 Tbs. chopped fresh cilantro

Wash and dry the chicken and trim off any fat. Cut the chicken breast across the grain on the diagonal into 1/8-inch strips. Cut these strips into 2-inch pieces. Combine the chicken, honey, and fish sauce in a bowl and stir to mix. Let marinate for 5 to 10 minutes. Trim the green leaves and root end off the lemongrass stalk and strip off the outside leaves. Mince the core finely.

Just before serving, heat a wok (preferably nonstick) over high heat and swirl in the oil. Add the garlic and lemongrass and stir-fry until fragrant but not brown, about 15 seconds. Add the chicken and stir-fry until the pieces turn white, about 1 minute. Move the chicken to the sides of the wok and add the onion to the center. Stir-fry until the onion loses its rawness, about 1 minute. Mix the chicken back in the center of the wok, add the soy sauce, continue stir-frying until the chicken is cooked, 2 to 3 minutes. Correct the seasoning, adding honey or fish sauce to taste. The dish should be a little sweet and salty. Sprinkle the chicken with the cilantro and serve at once.


We ate the chicken with lemongrass-scented coconut rice--yes, redundant, but good. We had the rice left over from dinner a couple of nights ago. It's from a new cookbook by James Oseland, Cradle of Flavor, about which we're pretty excited. We also had Sambal in the Style of Java, from Salsas, Sambals, Chutneys & Chowchows by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby both nights, but I won't reproduce that here.

Lemongrass-Scented Coconut Rice

2 cups jasmine rice
3 thick stalks lemongrass, tied into a knot
1-1/2 cups water
1 cup coconut milk
1 tsp. kosher salt

Place the rice in a 2 quart saucepan and rinse four times with cold water. Add the lemongrass, cooking water, coconut milk and salt to the rinsed rice. Stir well to combine, making sure the lemongrass stalks are as fully submerged in the rice as possible. Place the pot over high heat and bring the liquid to a boil, stirring with a large spoon to prevent scorching or burning. Allow the rice to boil for 15 seconds, still stirring, then reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting and cover tightly with a lid. Continue cooking for 15 minutes. Without removing lid, remove the pot from the heat and allow to continue to steam for ten additional minutes, away from the heat. Discard lemongrass, gently fold and fluff rice, and serve.

Oseland includes optional daun salam leaves in cooking, and fried shallots for topping, but we just make it simply. This time we tried it in the rice cooker; it was a small bit browned on the bottom, but not burnt, and worked well.

Pasta with white beans, pesto, and sun dried tomatoes

We spent too much time gardening Sunday and then needed a quick dinner. So here's a spring thaw pasta to celebrate the bounties of last summer....quick, easy, yummy, and using things we made from our farm share produce and then froze last summer: oven dried grape tomatoes and pesto. We had this with the rest of Kelsey's no-knead bread, version 2, about which he'll maybe blog if he becomes satisfied with the result.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup chopped drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup pesto
1 15-ounce can cannellini (white kidney beans), rinsed, drained

8 ounces gemelli pasta

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 1 ounce)

salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic; sauté 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, wine and pesto; simmer over medium heat until reduced slightly, about 5 minutes. Add cannellini and stir until heated through.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup cooking water.

Add pasta and cheese to sauce; toss to coat. Mix in enough reserved pasta water, 1/4 cup at a time, to moisten. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

From Epicurious.

Lentil's with Berebere Spice

A good use for the spice mix given below...

1 pound lentils
6 cups water or vegetable broth

6 cups mild green chiles roasted, peeled, seeded and chopped,
OR 1 bell pepper chopped + 14-oz can chopped green chiles

2 red onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic minced, or more
2 tablespoons Berbere Spice Mix
Freshly ground black pepper

1. Bring lentils and broth to boil and simmer 10 minutes.

2. Add chiles, onion, garlic, and Berebere spices. Cook covered for another 30 minutes, until most of liquid is absorbed.

3. Serve with ground black pepper to taste.

For a vegetarian meal, these lentils are good with a dollop of yogurt, brown rice and sliced tomatoes.

Berbere Spice mix & Lentil recipies

On of my new favorites, discovered by Zorana after we had something like it in a restaurant in LA. This spice mix seems very adaptable -- I would like to use it in a chicken dish soon, but I will have to invent that first. The lentil recipe is very good which follows this is a good way to use this. From www.cyber-kitchen.com

There is something with this same name in West Africa, but it is very different and also very good.... I shall try to track it down later.

Berbere Spice Mix

• 2 teaspoons cumin seed, or powder
• 1 teaspoon cardamom seeds (shell off husks), or powder
• 1/2 teaspoon whole allspice (or ground)
• 1 teaspoon fenugreek seed (or powder)
• 1 teaspoon coriander seed (or powder)
• 8 whole cloves, or ground
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns, or freshly ground
• 5 teaspoons red pepper flakes or crumbled dried red peppers
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh gingeroot (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons sweet paprika (can use hot)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Toast all the seeds and whole cloves in a small frying pan for 2 minutes, stirring constantly (open window or turn on the stove vent--it can smoke). Grind the spices in a spice grinder. If you are using pre-ground spices, ignore and go on to the next step.

2. Mix all remaining ingredients. Place in a tightly covered container and refrigerate. This mixture can used with many combinations of legumes, rice or vegetables.

Gorgonzola Sauce

Gorgonzola Sauce

4 oz gorgonzola or other blue cheese (relatively mild flavor)
8 fl oz cream.
1 oz butter
salt and peper. (taste for salt first, blue cheese can be salty)

Heat cream and butter. Melt in cheese. Taste, and then flavor.

Enough for two people, best with curly pasta. Feel your arteries harden...
Very good, very cheap, and very very flexible...

For example, you can use canned smoked oysters and some grated hard cheese instead of the blue cheese, for another very good version. Or chopped lox.

No-knead Bread, Take 2

I made a second attempt at no-knead bread. It turns out that Mark Bittman revisited his article as well with a few suggestions, as well as many comments on the web (e.g. here and here). I made a number of changes, including usiing 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour, double the yeast, a bit more salt, miller's bran instead of flour for dusting, and just a little less water. It was much improved.

No-knead bread

[One thing I like about the new version of blogger is that it lets you backdate the post time, to when I actually cooked something. I am posting this 11 days later]

I got around to trying the recipe for no-knead bread that appeared in the New York Times a while back. I've never been much of a bread baker, but this recipe appealed to me with its simplicity, so I tried it. The dough was almost a batter, very sticky.

The "dough"rose overnight, and was bubbly the next afternoon, when I tried to work it, but it was pretty gooey. All you need to do is fold it into thirds and let it rest before a final rising, but I wasn't very successful getting it to fold without sticking. Then I sat it on a heavily floured towel, and it rose a little, before baking it at 350 in a Le Crueset cast-iron casserole dish.

The crust was great, but it hadn't risen very much. If this had been an attempt at foccacia I might have been more pleased with the result. It also made a huge mess of the towel it was sitting on for the final rise, which may not be salvageable. I will try a few thing differently next time.

Blueberry Pancakes

We are pretty frustratingly bad at pancakes, and a week or so ago we saw a blueberry pancake recipe in Rob and Iris' Cook's Illustrated magazine that looked good. We mentioned it to them and they recommended the Giant Sunday Pancakes recipe from Epicurious. I made them this morning with blueberries, and they turned out pretty well. I thought they were a little too sweet, though, and might try halving the sugar next time. Now just to get the temperature in the pan right....

Osso Buco

This is good. Lamb shanks are expensive, and it takes a long time to simmer, but it's not that much work. The recipe below is a combination of one from The Silver Spoon and one from Mark Bittman. Serve with risotto. The only thing I might do different is use fresh thyme instead of dry, and cook it even longer than the suggested 90 minutes.

Osso Buco

2 tbl. olive oil
2 tbl. butter
4 center-cut slices veal shank, at least 2 lbs.
all-purpose flour, for dusting
5 tbl. dry white wine
¾ cup beef stock
1 cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped celery
½ cup chopped carrot
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 bay leaves
½ tsp. dried thyme

For the gremolata:
1 clove garlic, crushed
zest of ½ lemon, grated
2 tbl. chopped fresh parsley leaves

Preheat oven to 325º F. Melt 1 tbl. of butter in an ovenproof pan with 1 tbl. of oil. Dust the lamb shanks with with flour, salt and pepper and brown over high heat, turning frequently. Remove the lamb to a warm plate and add the remaining butter and oil to the pan. Turn down the heat slightly, and add the onion, stirring for a couple minutes until they start to soften. Add the carrot and celery, cook for a few more minutes, then add the wine and spices and cook until nearly evaporated. Add the stock, bring to a boil, then return the lamb to the pan. Cover and put in a 325º F oven. Cook for at least 90 minutes, turning the lamb ever 30 minutes or so.
When the meat is very tender and falls off the bone, remove it to a warm platter, and place the pot with sauce over high heat on the stove. Cook until thickened, mix together the ingredients for the gremolata and add to the sauce, cooking a few minutes more. Serve the sauce over the lamb.

Serves 4.

Tray-baked Salmon with Olives, Green Beans, and Tomatoes

Susan and John gave us Jamie Oliver's The Naked Chef cookbook for Christmas, and I asked her a while back for specific recipe recommendations. A few days ago she left a message on our machine telling us that they'd just made and devoured this; naturally, we tried it. I skipped the anchovies, feeling that I may just have eaten my lifetime fill of them in Malaysia, but sprinkled capers on the veggies in place of them. No doubt Susan, not to mention Jamie Oliver, would be horrified, but it was excellent. We don't roast veggies like this nearly as often as we should--we tend to get stuck in a rut of roasting root-type veggies only.

From The Naked Chef cookbook, page 97.

Tray-baked salmon with olives, green beans, anchovies, and tomatoes

7 oz. green beans, trimmed
20 small cherry tomatoes
1-2 good handfuls of black olives, pitted
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
four 8oz. thick salmon fillet steaks, with or without skin but definitely pinboned
2 lemons
1 handful of fresh basil
12 anchovy fillets, rinsed

Blanch the green beans until tender in boiling salted water, and drain. Put in a bowl with the cherry tomatoes and the olives. Toss in the olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper.
Give the salmon fillets a quick wash under the tap and pat dry with paper towels. Squeeze the juice of 1/2 a lemon over the fillets, on both sides, then season both sides with salt and pepper and drizzle a little olive oil over the top. Preheat the oven and a roasting tray to 475 degrees. Put your 4 fillets of salmon at one end of the roasting tray. Toss the basil into the green beans, olives and tomatoes and place this mixture at the other end of the tray. Lay the anchovies over the green beans. Roast for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and serve with lemon quarters.

Smeteneh Kuchen

I've made this very rich coffee cake a couple times now, from a recipe on Epicurious: Ashkenazic Sour Cream Coffee Cake (Smeteneh Kuchen). It's very good, if you're willing to put 1½ sticks of butter in a single dish. I can't imagine wanting to put the optional glaze on top. It sounds good, but pouring another cup of sugar on top of the streusel would take this over the top, I think.

Upscale hotdish

We ran into the public library and grabbed about 20 books just before closing Saturday (architectural house styles, home renovation, and interior design--the latter to help us with ideas for colors, etc.), then wanted to go straight to the grocery store to shop. Of course, we hadn't planned meals for the following days, so on the way out to the libary Kels grabbed a huge stack of saved NYT magazine food pages, and then checked out that Bittman book The Best Recipes in the World (the jury is decidedly still out) from the library. We sat in Whole Foods drinking coffee and trying to decide what to make, and I came across this comfort food casserole that we hadn't tried, from Julia Reed in the New York Times Magazine on 10.26.03. It's not amazing, but as casseroles go, it's no banana goulash either.

Spinach and Artichoke Casserole
1 T. butter for greasing baking dish, 1/2 cup butter, melted for casserole, plus 1 T., melted, for topping
2 (10 oz.) packages frozen chopped spinach
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
1/2 cup coarse Ritz cracker crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a shallow 2 qt. casserole.
2. Cook the spinach according to package directions, drain well, and place in a mixing bowl. Add 1/2 cup of melted butter, the cream cheese and lemon juice and blend well with a fork.
3. Scatter the artichoke quarters evenly over the bottom of the greased casserole dish. Cover with the spinach mixture and smooth the top.
4. Cover the top with the Ritz crumbs, drizzle with 1 T. melted butter, and bake on the middle rack until bubbly in the center and lightly browned on top, about 25 minutes. Cool about 5 minutes and serve.

We didn't have any lemons (oops), so I put in a splash of apple cider vinegar. We also didn't have Ritz crackers so I used panko. Otherwise made according to the recipe, and served with some sausages.

Banana Goulash

One of the best recipes in the world? We made this last week, and though it wasn't terrible, but it was a bit odd. It seemed funnier to us every time we reheated the leftovers. I'm not sure we'll make it again.

Plantain and Meat Casserole (Caribbean)

2 tbl. olive oil
2 lb. ground beef
salt and pepper to taste
1 large onion, roughly chopped
1 red or green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped
1 tbl. minced garlic
1 tbl. paprika
1 tbl. ground cumin
2 tsp. dried oregano
2 cups chopped tomatoes (canned are fine)
1 recipe Platanos Maduros (3-4 fried ripe plantains, sliced lengthwise)
2 eggs, lightly beaten, optional


1. Preheat the oven to 350º F. Put the oil in a large skillet and turn the heat to medium-high. A minute later, ass the mean and some salt and pepper and cook, stirring to break up lumps, until it loses its color, just a couple of minutes. Remove with a a slotted spoon and add the onion and bell pepper. Cook, stirring occassionally, until quite soft, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, paprika, cumin, oregano, and tomatoes and some more salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is saucy, 15 to 20 minutes.

3. Return the beef to the sauce and cook for another 5 minutes; taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary. Use about a third of the sauce to make a thin layer at the bottom of an 8 or 9 inch square casserole dish. Top with a layer of plantains, then more sauce, then the remaining plantains, then the remaining sauce. Pour the eggs over all if you like. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until heated through.

Mark Bittman, The Best Recipes in the World

Borscht with Meat

This borscht recipe was decent. It was fairly easy, with a food processor for the vegetables. I didn't use the white beans, and added 1/4 cup of vinegar at the end for a little tanginess. It still could use a little something.

Borscht with Meat (Russia)

MAKES	4 SERVINGS
TIME	1½ HOURS, LARGELY UNATTENDED

An unusual and unexpected variation on the traditional beef-and-vegetable stew, differing largely in its inclusion of beets, which deliver their distinctive sweetness and color. In fact it’s close to the vegetarian version of borscht, especially if you add the optional sour cream.

If you use chuck or brisket here, the cooking time will be longer but the stew will taste better; if you’re in a hurry, use tenderloin—you’ll save time but lose flavor.

	2 thick slices bacon, chopped 1 pound boneless beef, preferably from the chuck or brisket, cut into 1-inch cubes 2 onions, chopped 1 head of cabbage, preferably Savoy, cored and shredded 3 beets, peeled and roughly chopped 3 carrots, chopped 3 tomatoes, chopped 6 cups beef, chicken, or vegetable stock, preferably homemade, or water 2 cups cooked or canned white beans, like navy or Great Northern 1 cup sour cream, optional Salt and black pepper to taste
1.	Put the bacon in a large saucepan or flameproof casserole and turn the heat to medium. When it begins to render its fat, turn the heat up a bit and add the beef. Brown quickly, just 1 or 2 minutes per side. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften, 3 to 5 minutes.
2.	Stir in the cabbage and cook, stirring occasionally, until wilted, about 5 minutes. Add the beets, carrots, tomatoes, and stock. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for at least 40 minutes or until the meat and carrots are tender. (You can prepare the borscht up to this point and let sit for a few hours or cover and refrigerate for up to a day before reheating and proceeding.)
3.	Stir in the beans and sour cream if you’re using it and heat through, stirring. Taste and add salt and pepper as necessary, then serve with crusty bread.

This is an example recipe on the Random House website for The Best Recipes in the World, by Mark Bittman.

Chicken and Chickpea Tagine with Vanilla

We picked up a copy of Mark Bittman's The Best Recipes in the World from the public library, based on liking a simple paella recipe I tried last week. Our first one from the book was a tagine last night. We left out the vanilla bean, but I'd like to try it next time. It was good.

This was in the NY Times in 2004.

CHICKEN AND CHICKPEA TAGINE
Time: 1 to 1 1/2 hours

2 tablespoons corn or canola oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt
Pinch nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Pinch cayenne
1 1/2 to 2 cups chopped tomatoes (canned are fine; drain excess liquid)
4 cups chickpeas (canned are fine; drain and rinse first)
1/2 cup raisins or chopped pitted dates
1/2 vanilla bean
8 chicken thighs, or 4 leg-thigh pieces, cut in two
Chopped cilantro or parsley leaves.

1. Put oil and butter in a large skillet or casserole, which can be covered later, and turn heat to medium high. When butter melts, add onion, and cook, stirring occasionally, until it softens, 5 to 10 minutes. Add garlic, a large pinch of salt and spices. Cook, stirring, for about 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, chickpeas, raisins and vanilla, and bring to a boil. (If mixture is very dry, add about 1/2 cup water.) Taste, and add salt as necessary.

2. Sprinkle chicken pieces with salt, and nestle them into sauce. Cover, and 5 minutes later adjust heat so mixture simmers steadily. Cook until chicken is very tender, 45 minutes to an hour. Taste, and adjust seasoning. Then garnish, and serve.

Yield: 4 servings.