Throwing a Little Something Together...

     I've got friends who have an obsessive desire to follow recipes exactly.  I used to be this person.  It's what you do when you're first learning how to cook.  But I think it makes you afraid a little.  Afraid you might mess something up.  You know what?  You almost never do and a lot of times what you come up with is better than what the Internet says, especially one of those recipes from TV, blerg.  AND most of the time the recipe has got one or twelve things you don't have sitting in your fridge at the moment.  So let's talk about what is in your fridge.  At any moment I have every ingredient necessary for a good soup, Italian anything, stir-fry, and hummus.  Always have the ingredients for hummus.  All you need for hummus is any bean variety, oil, garlic, and salt.  All you need for soup is a can or two of tomatoes and a variety of vegetables, and sometimes you can pull it off without the tomatoes!  Italian needs tomatoes, basil and garlic.  Mushrooms are good, other herbs, or onions, but really all you need are tomatoes, basil, and garlic.  Let's get to that stir-fry now.

I started on this because I had some peanut sauce from the Farmer's Market calling my name all week.  I also had purple cauliflower, red cabbage, carrots, a squash from my garden, oyster mushrooms, a white bell pepper, half an onion, and some garlic.  Sounds like stir-fry to me.  Does it matter what color your vegetables are?  Nope.  Do you need all those vegetables to make a stir-fry?  Nope, though it does help to feed a larger group to have a variety if you only have small quantities of each like I had.  Do you have to have fancy soba noodles like I did?  Not even.  I wasn't even thinking of noodles when I realized I had the makings for stir-fry.  I was going to do rice first, but realized I hadn't left enough time to pull it off, so noodles it was!  What I'm trying to say here is relax.  Take a deep breath.  It's just one dinner.  You can do it.  If all else fails, there's always peanut butter or grilled cheese, or whatever sandwich combination your family is allowed to eat in this day of allergens and intolerances.

The biggest thing to remember when doing a stir-fry for a family is not to cook everything in the same pan unless you have a huge pan.  I like my stir-fry veggies warmed and nearly raw, cooking everything in the same pan tends to steam everything and take forever so you're left with a long cook time and mushy veg.

Refrigerator Clean-Out Stir Fry
Serves 4

3 large carrots, sliced
1/2 large onion, sliced
2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 medium cabbage, sliced
1 large or 2 small yellow squash, sliced
1/2 lb oyster mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup cauliflower florets
1 bell pepper, sliced
2 green onions, sliced
1 Tbs sesame seeds
1 bunch of soba noodles, boiled and drained
1 tsp high heat oil
1 Tbs peanut sauce, soy sauce, or tamari sauce

On medium/high heat, cook onions first in a small amount of oil until they have softened slightly, then set them aside, then carrots cooked until slightly soft and set aside, continue cooking vegetables one at a time until all are cooked, excluding the green onions and sesame seeds, mushrooms and garlic can go in together.  Mix all the veggies together.  Plate noodles and top with cooked veggies, finish with the sauce of your choice.

Now, go to your fridge and start experimenting!!  Here's a few more ideas to get you started:
Chicken, pork, or tofu, eggplant, peas, bok choi, broccoli, any color of bell pepper, zucchini, green beans, water chestnuts, baby corn, bamboo shoots.

Lazy Days...

OK, so I didn't post last week.  I got locked out of my e-mail account and it took 4 solid days of waiting and phoning to get back in which didn't leave much time for online awesomeness.  Oh, and, minor detail, I was also diagnosed with pneumonia.

Needless to say, I wasn't in the mood for much last week.  But before all the muck hit the fan, I had made it to the farmer's market and picked up some eggplant.  I've been wanting to make this for you guys since last year!  You know how I love moussaka, but it takes soooo long to make.  Last year I invented Lazy Mama's Moussaka but it was with the last of the eggplant of the season, so I had to wait to share with you guys!

The first time I made this, I asked my youngest to tell his Dad dinner was ready.  He said, "What is it?"  I said, "Lazy Mama's Moussaka."  He ran downstairs excitedly and said, "Dad!  We're having LADIES SUPASTA!!"  I don't know what he thought "ladies supasta" was, but he loved Lazy Mama's Moussaka!

At any rate, Lazy Mama's Moussaka was perfect for my energy level/attitude last week.  This method uses the same ingredients as my regular moussaka, but you skip the salting the eggplant step (totally unnecessary), and the sautéing the veggies step.  The resulting dinner has far less fat, but is every bit as flavorful as the original.

Lazy Mama's Moussaka

1 eggplant, thinly sliced
1 T olive oil
1 large zucchini, thinly sliced
2 potatoes, thinly sliced
1 onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 T white vinegar
1 (14.5 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, chopped
7 oz cooked lentils, drained, juice reserved
1 t dried oregano
2 T chopped fresh parsley
1 C crumbled feta
1 1/2 T butter
2 T flour
1 1/4 C milk
black pepper to taste
1 egg
1/4 C Parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper

1. If you don't have lentils in the fridge, go ahead and cook some lentils.  You can used canned in a pinch if you have some.
2. Preheat oven to 375° F (190° C).
3. Sauté onion and garlic until lightly browned. Pour in vinegar and reduce. Stir in tomatoes, lentils, 1/2 the juice from lentils, oregano and parsley. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 15 minutes.
4. In a 9x13 inch casserole dish layer eggplant, zucchini, potatoes, onions and feta, sprinkle with a little salt. Pour tomato mixture over vegetables; repeat layering, finishing with a layer of vegetables, sprinkled with salt.
5. Cover and bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan combine butter, flour and milk. Bring to a slow boil, whisking constantly until thick and smooth. Season with pepper. Remove from heat, cool for 5 minutes, and stir in beaten egg.
7. Pour sauce over vegetables and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake, uncovered, for another 25 to 30 minutes. 

Notes:

• This particular moussaka was made with yellow squash as they were out of zucchini at the store.  There was virtually no difference.
• If you wanted to get really lazy about it, you could substitute all the ingredients in step 3 with jarred tomato sauce.
• I used my handy dandy mandoline slicer to slice the squash, eggplant, and potato.  Huge time savings!
• Though this takes less time than the other recipe, it still does take a fair amount of time in the kitchen.  I do think I shaved off at least an hour of prep time!

Review
My eldest son had an irrational fear of eggplant.  It's borderline phobic, really.  He loves this.  'Nuf said.

Simple Fall Soup

Thanksgiving is just a week away!  ACK!  This little soup is very quick and would make a nice starter or an easy tummy soother for the day after.

2 cups cubed butternut squash
1 large sweet potato
2 medium potatoes
1/4 onion
2 cloves garlic
salt & pepper
fresh thyme or rosemary, optional

Peel and cube veggies.  Boil in about 4 cups of water for 30 minutes or until veggies are soft.  Puree and add additional water as necessary until soup reaches desired consistency.

Review:  
A very quick and filling soup that serves 4.  You could easily double everything for a larger group.


I hope you've enjoyed my Thanksgiving posts!  It'll be back to normal programming next week.  But coming up in December I've got some seriously awesome cookies!

Thanksgiving... It's coming...

     This time of year, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, it's the time of year most of us Americans snuggle down, bury ourselves in tradition, and hibernate until Spring.  Carving pumpkins, eating candy, carving turkeys, eating pie, carving hams, eating cookies... (Lots of knives and sweets involved, I just realized...)  This is what these few months are all about.

     For me, there are few meals that can compare to the Thanksgiving meal.  It's the only meal of the year that I eat stuffing, much to my husband's disappointment.  It's the only meal of the year that involves cranberries.  Mmmm... cranberries...  And third, it's the only meal of the year that involves cranberries, stuffing, and mashed potatoes all together on one fork.  My fork.  Happiness.

     But I'll tell you something that is not traditional in my house.  I don't like pumpkin pie.  Like, at all.  I do not like it with a fox.  I do not like it in a box.  I do not like it cold or hot.  I do not like it, I do NOT!  I may be deported for this.  But before you get all totally annoyed and offended, I do like to use pumpkin in other dishes.  Like this one:

Pumpkin Sage Cornbread.  Oooooh yeah... I got the idea for this a few years ago out of a magazine that is currently floating around somewhere in my house.  I made it two years ago, and promptly lost the darn thing.  I looked for it all year last year and again this year and still can't find it, so I just gave up and made it up.  And you know what?  I like my version better!  Hah!  Take that random disappearing magazine!  One secret to this cornbread is the type of pumpkin you use.

This is a Long Island Cheese Pumpkin.  I had never seen one until this year and bought it as a decoration for our party because it was so beautiful.  When I was developing the cornbread recipe, the first time I tried to use a sugar-type pie pumpkin.  The result was a little underwhelming.  I couldn't taste the pumpkin!  But this little stunner packs a ton of flavor into her beautiful exterior.

Look at all those flavor pockets!  =)  It's super easy to cut and cleans like a dream, too.

So, the first thing you need to do to make this cornbread is to roast the pumpkin.  Select a good, medium sized pumpkin, about the size of a soccer ball.  This recipe only uses about half, but not to worry, I've got big plans for the rest of it!

 

Slice the pumpkin along the rib lines and arrange on baking sheets (Mine took up two sheets).  Roast, uncovered for 30 minutes at 425° or until a knife pierces the flesh easily all the way through.  Allow to cool, and remove skins.

Peel enough to make 1 C of pumpkin puree. 5-6 ribs.

Then make it!

Pumpkin Sage Cornbread

3/4 C Bob's Red Mill cornmeal
1/4 C Bob's Red Mill corn grits
1 C all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 C pumpkin puree
1/4 C vegetable oil
1/4 c pumpkin chunks
1 Tbs finely chopped fresh sage

Combine all ingredients except pumpkin chunks and sage and stir well.  Add pumpkin and sage and stir in gently.  I bake mine in a cast iron pan that's been pre-heated in the oven.  You can use a regular greased metal or glass pan, too.  Bake at 425° until the top is slightly browned and a cake tester comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes.

Review:
Sage?  Yes.  Pumpkin?  Yes!  Really steeenkin' yummy?  Yeeeees!  For Thanksgiving, make this the day of, it's beautiful warm with a little butter.

Now, if you want, you can serve this just as it is at Thanksgiving.  It is very, very, very, very good.  But if you want to get all crazy and homemade this year, you can do what I'm doing.  It's going in to Pumpkin Sage Cornbread Stuffing.  You heard me.

To convert your beautiful, delicious, cornbread into stuffing, make this two days ahead.  Allow it to cool completely.  Then:

Pumpkin and Sage Cornbread Stuffing

1 Tbs butter
2 Stalks celery, sliced
1 Onion, chopped
1 Clove garlic, chopped
1 C Walnuts
4 Stems fresh thyme, soft stems chopped, leaves removed off tough stems
1 Cornbread, crumbled, allowed to dry overnight
1 C Mushroom stock
Salt and Pepper

Saute celery, onion, and garlic in butter until vegetables are soft.  At the very end, toss in the walnuts and the thyme and stir until thyme is wilted.  Combine the crumbled cornbread with the onion mixture, then add mushroom stock and salt and pepper to taste.  Place in a casserole and bake at 350° for 20-30 minutes. 

See that funny little tool in the background there?  It's an antique food chopper.  And it worked like a charm for making the crumbles.  If you don't have one, you can just crumble it with your fingers...

Review:
This is a great one to make the night before.  It stores in the fridge beautifully and is a dream to reheat.  (A few minutes at 350° until it's warm throughout).

This is just the beginning, folks.  I can't wait to show you all that we'll be having this year!

This recipe will be featured on November's YBR Roundup!

It's a Thai! (Curry Soup, that is...)

This soup is fantastic.  I made it a few weeks ago and am just now getting to type it up.  I got the recipe in my favorite grocery store from my favorite grocery store chef who was giving out samples.  It was apparently created by the Central Market Culinary Resource Center.  Hoity Toi!  Those of you who read last week's post know my feelings about cilantro.  But I have to say... *sigh* this recipe needs it.  I tried to leave it out and it just wasn't as good.   Don't get all excited.  I still don't like it.  It just had to be in this soup.  Also, big surprise to regulars is I actually did use the World Foods curry sauce because it's vegetarian and it's hard to find vegetarian Thai curry sauces.

Thai Red Curry Squash Soup

1 Tbs olive oil
1 C chopped onion
1 large apple, peeled and diced (jonagold, braeburn or similar variety)
1 4 lb squash (butternut, kabocha, blue kari, or hubbard) seeded, peeled, and cut in 1-inch chunks
3 C chicken broth
1 C World Foods Thai Red Curry Sauce or your favorite red curry sauce
1/2 C coconut milk
3 T chopped cilantro
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a 6-quart stock pot over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes; add the apple and cook for another 5 minutes.  Add the squash and broth.  Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and then cover and cook for about 20 minutes or until the squash is tender and falling apart. 
Use a potato masher if you like some texture, or a hand blender if you want the soup smooth.
Once the desired texture is reached, add the red curry sauce, coconut milk, cilantro, and salt and pepper to taste.
Add shrimp or croutons if desired.

My substitutions/additions:

• I probably used a fuji apple because that's mostly what we buy...
• I used veggie broth.
• The chef and I both agreed it needed a dairy element.  I said yogurt, he said maybe yogurt or sour cream.  I used yogurt.  I was right...  =)

Review:

Awesome.  Even the boys liked it.  Boy 1 actually keeps asking for it weeks later!  Keepin' it!

*Update:
Ever since I posted this, I have had a really hard time finding the World Foods brand red curry sauce.  I discovered that Trader Joe's brand of red curry sauce is also vegetarian and tried some tonight.  It worked great!  Slightly less spicy, but still super yummy.  I garnished it with crème fraiche tonight, on a lark, and it was very nice indeed!

Squash Casserole

Our CSA gave us three huge acorn squash this past week, and I figured I'd better use one up.  The recipe I found in my box uses yellow summer squash, so the acorn was pretty neutral substitution.  Not sure where this one came from, probably that mystical source for all things edible: the Internet...

Squash Casserole

4 C sliced yellow squash
1/2 C onion
1/2 C crushed crackers
1 C shredded cheese
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 C milk
1/4 C butter, melted
1 t salt
ground pepper
2 T butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Cook squash and onion in a skillet with water (about 5 minutes) till squash is tender.  Drain.  Mix crackers and cheese in a medium bowl.  Stir half of the cracker/cheese mixture into squash.  Mix eggs and milk in a small bowl.  Add to squash.  Stir in butter, salt and pepper.  Spread into 9X13 inch pan.  Sprinkle with cracker mixture, and dot with 2T butter.  Bake 25 minutes or until brown.

Yield: 4-6 servings
Serving suggestions: I served ours with peas, but it would have been good with green beans, a salad, carrots, corn, or as a side with chicken or turkey.

My substitutions/additions:
Subbed 4 C cooked* acorn squash, cubed and peeled (1 whole squash depending on its size).
I omitted the 2 T butter on top.  There's plenty of fat in this without guilding that lily.
It fit easily into a regular casserole dish.

Tips:

 
*I pre-cooked the squash in the microwave for 8 minutes.  To cook winter squash in the microwave, halve it, clean it out and cook it cut side down in a little water.  It's OK if it's a little underdone, the rest of it will cook in the oven.  You can do this with butternut squash too, but it might take a little longer...

I use my grandmother's grapefruit spoon to scrape the seeds out of winter squash.  It seems to get rid of the grody strings a little faster than a regular spoon.

Review:
5-year-old's initial reaction: "It looks gross.  No, I mean it looks really gross."  The 2-year-old wouldn't touch it at first. They both later conceded its yumminess.  Me and the Mister both liked it, too.  A good, quick meal to make with stuff I usually have hanging around, though it would have been quicker to make with yellow squash since I wouldn't have had all the extra squash prep.  It's a keeper!