Sunday Dinner: Stuffed Zucchini and Lemon Pasta

Oh look what I found: A post from six months ago that I never published. I remember this dish. It was good.

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I am trying to use up odds and ends that are cluttering my fridge in anticipation of filling it with all sorts of lovely fall foods like soups, pumpkin pies and the cold-weather crops like radishes, turnips and kale that I have sowed in my garden. Today: what to do with a leftover shallot-pine nut breadcrumb mixture and one large zucchini? Not to mention the heavenly meyer lemons that my parents schlepped up when they visited this last week? How about some italian-tinged stuffed zucchini with a simple lemon pasta?

I scooped out the zucchini halves (lengthwise) and sauteed the scooped out flesh with some marinara sauce and some garlic and italian seasoning. Boiled the scooped out halves for one minute, then put them in a baking dish with a little marinara in the bottom, put the cooked flesh back in and topped with the breadcrumb mixture*.

With really good ingredients, like homegrown meyer lemons, it's best to keep it simple. I heated the juice and zest of half a lemon with a little butter and black pepper and a tablespoon or so of the pasta water. Mix in the pasta and top with parmesan.




*Breadcrumbs: Start with the pine nuts and roast them in a cast-iron skillet on the stovetop or on a cookie sheet in the oven. Then saute finely chopped shallots and parsley in a touch of olive oil. Mix panko breadcrumbs, shredded parmesan cheese, the shallots and pine nuts with a dash of salt and pepper and lemon zest in a bowl. I also sauteed the chopped mushroom stems with the shallots. For amounts, basically use the proportions that you'd like to eat. It's flexible.

Biscotti

One of my favorite gifts this holiday season was Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food from my sister. Though I grew up just a few blocks from Chez Panisse, I've never eaten there because it is tres expensive and fancy, but it seems like everyone in Berkeley worships Alice Waters anyway. Anyway. After mastering oatmeal cookies (Freeze them for 1/2 an hour before you bake for the perfect chewyness factor!) I've been looking for a little more of a baking challenge: On my list is bread (like the kind made with yeast. Whoa!), custard tart, paleo/low-carb pumpkin pie, and biscotti. All are covered in my new favorite cookbook except for the low-carb pumpkin pie because... well it's normal food. Today's project is biscotti!

Cherry-Pistachio Biscotti

(adapted from Anise-Almond Biscotti in The Art of Simple Food)

• 2 1/4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/4 cup shelled, coarsely chopped pistachios
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped dried cherries
• Optional: some melted semi-sweet chocolate (about a handful of chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together the flour, baking powder and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, sugar and zest and beat until the mixture forms a ribbon. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until just incorporated. Gently fold in nuts and cherries.

Form the dough into two 3-inch wide loaves and place on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet about 3 inches apart. Bake for 25 minutes, until lightly golden. Remove loaves from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 300 degrees. Slice the loaves into 1/2 inch thick cookies and bake on cookie sheets cut side down for ten minutes on each side, until golden brown. Drizzle with chocolate if desired.

Of course, you can shake it up as far as the nuts, fruits and spices go. The original recipe calls for 3/4 teaspoon aniseed instead of nutmeg and almonds rather than pistachios and cherries. It also suggests raisins and walnuts, candied citrus peel, and/or fennel seeds or coriander.

So much cooking!

I have been doing a lot of cooking lately, and sadly not a lot of photo-taking before stuffing it all in all in my mouth. Here's a run down:

First there was Thanksgiving. I make "my" stuffing every year, which is actually inspired by a stuffing my dad makes, and I don't know from whence that was inspired. It is composed of wild rice, long grain rice, mushrooms, chestnuts, dried cranberries, onions and celery. Gluten free! Not that anyone cares.... I will post a recipe at some point. Maybe next Thanksgiving. I also tried making my own pie crust this year, using the good ol' Crisco recipe (but I used Smart Balance shortening instead). It was a little dry, and once baked had a kind of sandy texture. I'm told by pie maker-extraordinaires that that has to do with the fat I used so I'll be trying butter next time. Filled with my trusty pumpkin pie filling.

Then there was a delicata squash lying around. With a more delicate taste and skin, it worked as a great replacement for butternut squash in a winter minestra. And it has my favorite ingredient: Kale!

Finally just this weekend, I attended the bridal shower of a friend. The host requested that we bring a homemade dish and print out the recipe for the bride - nice idea. I made two recipes that were new to me but pretty simple: smoked salmon dip and mini crab cakes. My notes are this: an electric mixer with a paddle fixture would have been great, but I used my [cheap] trusty food processor and it worked fine. For the crab cakes, I used canned crab and of course they would have tasted better with fresh dungeness or, if you're on the east coast, blue crab. I ended up adding bread crumbs to the crab mixture in addition to the buttered crumbs, and for those buttered crumbs I used about half the butter that the recipe calls for. I used a mini muffin tin and baked them for 30 min rather than 20, with the last 2 min under the broiler. I'll also say this: use low fat or non-fat sour cream if you must but DO NOT use reduced fat cream cheese. It has a distinct 'lite' taste that will contaminate everything. Just don't. Everything turned out great and I got a lot of compliments!

My Favorite Thing to Cook (and Eat!)

My friend was on Reddit.com and ran across a guy who says his wife doesn't like steak or seafood and asked me "who would marry someone who doesn't like good food?". Good question, though there are plenty of people who don't eat seafood and meat (*ahem* vegetarians *ahem*) and some people might say that there is no good vegetarian food but I would disagree strongly.

Here's an awesome vegetarian recipe that I make at least once a month, and if my future spouse doesn't like broccoli or kale well... there will be problems.

Garlicy Roasted Broccolini and Kale

One bunch of broccolini (aka rapini or broccoli rabe) tough ends cut off, cut in half crosswise
One bunch of kale (I prefer lacinato, an heirloom variety) tough stems removed, cut in roughly one inch squares
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 clove garlic, crushed and minced (1 teaspoon garlic powder works in a pinch but is generally recognized as kitchen blasphemy)
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
juice and zest of 1/2 a lemon (optional, I use amazing meyer lemons that my parents send up from their garden)
1 tablespoon chopped capers (optional)
1 teaspoon champagne vinegar (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss all ingredients in a bowl to coat, spread onto a foil-lined baking sheet and roast for about ten minutes or until kale is tender and rapini florets begin to singe. Devour.

I ran across a dish like this in a neighborhood whiskey bar which will remain unnamed and tried it - not to be vain, but I think I do a better job (i.e. theirs was too oily and over-salted). Broccoli is notoriously hard to pair with wine though, so why not try a little whiskey instead? ;)

Cannelini beans < 3 chard

It's been quite a while since I posted. Maybe I was getting over the fact that for 23 years - TWENTY THREE - I didn't know that white beans go with chard like chocolate goes with peanuts. Oooor perhaps I was just really busy with a defective cat and research and getting my life back to normal after the holidays.

ANYWAY, did I mention that chard goes with white beans (AKA white kidney beans AKA cannelini beans) really well? The first hint of it was a recipe I found the The Vegetarian Cook's Bible but now I'm noticing that they're all over the place like that annoying couple still in the honeymoon phase.

This is my version of the original recipe.

Garlicy White Beans and Chard Pasta

Several cloves of garlic, depending on your taste
4 oz Oil packed sun-dried tomatoes (half a jar)
1 can white kidney beans (or about 1 1/2 cups cooked if you like to make your own beans)
1 bunch chard
your preferred pasta - I like whole wheat spaghetti
salt, pepper and parmesan cheese to taste

Mince the garlic, chop the sun-dried tomatoes, wash and coarsely tear the chard, discarding any tough stems. Start water for the pasta and cook the pasta when you get a rolling boil. Sautee the garlic and tomatoes in the oil from the tomatoes, or olive oil. After about 5 minutes, add the beans. Beans from the can can get a little mushy. I think the ideal way would be to rinse and drain them really well and then fry them in the cooking oil to get them a little crispy on the outside... about another five or seven minutes depending on how hot your pan is. Add a few tablespoons of the pasta water to the pan and add the chard. Cook, covered, until the chard is tender. Add the cooked pasta and stir to combine over heat. Dish yourself up some and add salt, pepper and grated parmesan cheese to your heart's desire.

File Under: Tonight I Earned My Jew Card

Every year at Hannukah my family picks a night to have a latke feast. It usually involves the traditional potato pancakes, zucchini and carrot fritters, homemade applesauce and sometimes a fish dish. I suppose if we weren't a mostly vegetarian household, there might be brisket involved some years. For many years now, I have been the chief laborer when it comes to the latkes - peeling the potatoes, shredding them, chopping the onion, squeezing out the liquid and frying them up - overseen by my dad. We use a recipe from a traditional, well-known, authoritative Jewish cookbook which name escapes me right now. They never turn out quite right though - my theory is that we make them a little too big and thick, so that the edges and outside are a little burnt and the insides are not quite done.

Well tonight I have solved the mystery. I have created the most perfect latkes I have ever had a hand in. They golden and crunchy on the outside, chewy but not underdone on the inside. I know, I know, Hannukah isn't for another two months but I had russet potatoes and scallions and a looming farm box delivery so I needed to clear out my fridge. I could make baked potatoes, but don't potato pancakes just sound better? Of course they do.

Potato Latkes*
3 large russet potatoes, peeled
1 large carrot
4 or 5 scallions
1 egg + 1 egg white
3 tablespoons flour or matzo meal
1/2 teaspoon each freshly ground black pepper and salt
Oil for frying
Applesauce and/or sour cream for serving

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees and line a large plate or baking sheet with paper towels. Using the shredding attachment on a food processor, or a box grater if you are old school, grate the potatoes and carrots, in a colander over the sink, squeeze out as much liquid as possible with your hands. Slice the scallions finely. Beat the egg and extra white in a large bowl with the salt and pepper. Add in the potato, carrot and scallion, sprinkling flour over as you combine. Get the oil going in a deep pan on the stove. NOTE: I can't imagine doing this on an electric range. If you do, pay really close attention to the oil temperature because you can't adjust the heat as quickly. Grab about two tablespoons of the potato mixture, squeeze the liquid out again and pat into a pancake shape fairly thin - mine were about the size of my palm and three fit in the pan without crowding. Place in the hot oil and fry away, a few minutes on each side so that the edges are brown but not burned and the middle is golden. When they're done, put them on the plate you lined with paper towels and put in the oven. Serve with applesauce and/or sour cream.

*Adapted from a Good Housekeeping recipe
I didn't have an onion, but I would have added about half of one if I had but the recipe still made about 14 latkes. I also discovered, as I splashed oil on my favorite sweatshirt, that I need to add "apron with witty and/or sassy expression" to my Hannukah wish list. Tragedy of all tragedies, I had no sour cream but I did make some quick and easy applesauce:

Applesauce
Three or four sweet apples (I used galas), peeled, cored and cut into bite size pieces
A glug or two (maybe 1/4 cup) dry marsala
Two tablespoons water
Two pinches/dashes cinnamon
A dash/pinch each of ground allspice, ground ginger, and ground nutmeg (ground cloves would probably be awesome, too)
A tablespoon of butter

Toss everything in a pot and set to medium heat. After the apples have softened up a bit, break them up with a potato masher and lower the heat to very low. Let cook for however long it takes you to finish the rest of the meal (add a little more water if it starts to dry out, but shouldn't be necessary if you keep it covered). NOTE: this only makes enough for one or two people, depending on how much they like applesauce.

A Universal Crowd-Pleaser

In honor of it being Fall and the season of running from one potluck or holiday party to the next, I want to share a recipe that never fails me. It's extremely easy to make, and always gets compliments. It's a Syrian red pepper dip called muhammara. The only challenge with this is finding pomegranate molasses, which is more of a syrup than molasses. Some recipes recommend substituting lemon juice if you can't find it, but there is really no substitute for it's sweet-sour candy-like taste. I have not found it at traditional grocery stores, including PCC and Whole Foods, but it is easy to get at Middle Eastern markets. I called Goodies in Lake City to see if they carried it and the owner answered "Of course! We have three brands!"

Muhammara

One jar roasted red peppers (or roast two of your own, make sure to remove the skin)
2/3 cup fine bread crumbs (I use panko)
1/3 cup walnuts, lightly toasted
2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper

Toss everything in the food processor and blend until the consistency of chunky hummus. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with sliced baguette or pita chips.

There are many versions of this recipe and most add in something extra: lemon juice, cumin, red pepper flakes, chopped onion, garlic, and of course they play around with proportions as should you. But this is the base, and it's fine the way it is.

Perfecting Twice-Baked Potatoes

What's better than a baked potato? A twice-baked potato, for sure.

I've been in a cooking funk lately. There are probably lots of reasons why, but thankfully nothing makes me want to cook like comfort food. Tonight I am working towards a better twice-baked potato, a recipe that makes frequent appearances in the Brown household. Before, I would bake them the first time, hollow them out and then mash everything up with a fork. But the potatoes didn't always cook all the way through the first time - if they did, the skins would fall apart and there would be no good receptacle for the filling. But those under-cooked chunks wouldn't mash very well, and then the skins wouldn't hold everything because it would be lumpy. Argh, maddening right?

Tonight, I busted out the food processor. Brilliant! All the chunks got smoothed out and the filling fit much better in the skins. A vast improvement - but a word of warning: like when you mess with any starch, don't over-process it or it becomes gummy.

The measurements are approximate and really, you can put whatever you want in these. Pesto and mozzarella? Green chiles and pepper jack? Go for it. But remember - if you add too much stuff, you won't be able to fit all the filling back into the skins. I suppose you could bake it in a ramekin or casserole dish and eat it like fancy mashed potatoes though.

Twice-Baked Potatoes

2 russet potatoes
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1 cup frozen spinach, thawed and drained
bacon salt (vegan!) or bacon bits
shredded cheddar cheese to sprinkle on top
... whatever else your heart desires....

Put some holes in the potatoes with a fork and bake until mostly done. Let cool, and slice in half lengthwise. Scoop out the potato, leaving a little in the skin for structural integrity. Blend the removed potato with the sour cream, cottage cheese, spinach and bacon salt in a food processor, being careful not to over-process. Spoon the filling back into the skins, top with cheddar cheese and bake until cheese on top is melted and bubbling, and filling is heated through.

Insomnia Brownies

I promise I'll get to some non-dessert food soon. This week I just haven't been up for cooking - stressing out about an upcoming conference, looming academic student employee's union strike, putting together travel plans for my sister's graduation... well, there's a lot going on. And for that reason, I've only felt like baking at 11pm on Friday nights. Last week I saw this recipe in Sunset and actually drove to the 24hr grocery store around 10pm to get ingredients.
And it was totally worth it. Sunset calls them "you deserve it" brownies, probably because there's a ton of butter and Nutella in them. They're rich, moist and decadent.... definitely a crowd pleaser.

Sunset Magazine's Chocolate Hazelnut Brownies

And for once, I wouldn't change a thing. I followed the recipe exactly and they came out perfectly. Hooray!

PS: My friend Marissa is doing a give-away on her vegetarian, healthy food blog Pumpkin and Pomegranate. If you're tired of my dessert binge, you should check out her ultra healthy posts!

I'm on a dessert roll

So let's talk about clafoutis. It's classic, it's french and it involves berries. How could that not be a good idea? Leave it to Food & Wine to inspire me to make this:




I've been informed that cherries are actually traditional in clafoutis, but raspberries work great. I added a teaspoon of vanilla extract to this recipe but next time... cherry season is coming and I'm thinking a little sweetened almond paste added to the batter will complement them very nicely. Were I to make this version again, I would probably add a little more sugar since it was a bit tart for my taste, and whisk the batter longer to get the consistency to be more airy.
Enjoy!

Raspberry Clafoutis
from Food & Wine magazine

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
pinch of salt
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon ( I used a Meyer from my parents' tree... so wonderful)
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 pint raspberries
Powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter a 9-in gratin dish (I just used a pie dish). Whisk together the flour, sugar and salt, then add in the eggs, butter and lemon zest whisking as you go. When the mixture is smooth, add the milk and whisk until "light and very smooth". Pour the batter into your buttered dish of choice and top with raspberries. Bake about 30 minutes until the clafoutis is set and golden. Let cool, dust with powdered sugar and dig in.

Success: Crisp!

I've had some trouble over the years perfecting my crisps and crumbles. A few weeks ago I saw a recipe in Sunset for yet another flavor of the noble crisp: Pear ginger. Ooooh, it looked good. I really wanted to eat it. But to eat it, I had to make it and this time I followed the recipe almost word for word. I would not fail the crisp. Since I followed the recipe very closely, I'll just point you to it instead of reproducing it:

Sunset's Pear Ginger Crisp

The main points for success are:

* Use rolled oats! Not instant oats, not steel cut oats. Rolled!

* Toast the streusel topping in the oven before spreading it over the fruit.

* Carmelize the sugar (as if you were making candy- and it will actually harden when you add the pears, but you can melt it again) before cooking the fruit.

* Involves lots of pots, bowls, dishes and pans. A drag to clean up, but worth it to produce each component separately.

Small adjustments I made: I didn't have enough pears, so I added some blueberries to the mix. Mmm! I also used dry cooking sherry instead of marsala, which I didn't have and it tasted fine. I bet a juicy red wine would work, too. I had excess cooking liquid which I reserved and put over leftover crisp before reheating.

Change I would make: the candied ginger I used was really sticky and hard to mince. It ended up sticking together in a ball and someone ended up with a huge bite of ginger when it was all done. Next time I will probably use a mixture of powdered and grated fresh ginger instead, in both the topping and the fruit, and maybe add some nutmeg.

Pumpkin Goods

I had some fun with pumpkin a few months ago. While others carved up pumpkins for jack-'o'-lanterns, I carved one up and roasted it, pureed and froze it. It was then ready to use in pumpkin pie - I made the filling from scratch but bought a crust - pie crust is one challenge I'm not up to yet. I took the finished project to Thanksgiving dinner with my class/officemates, and though I couldn't taste much of a difference, some of my classmates said it tasted a lot better than canned filling.

True Pumpkin Pie Filling
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger*
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
3 cups pumpkin puree
1 1/2 can (12 oz each) evaporated milk (I used sweetened, but you probably want to use unsweetened so that you can have more control over the sugar level... the recipe doesn't differentiate)

Mix all of the ingredients well in a blender or food processor. Pour into a pie shell (this makes enough for two pies) and bake at 425 degrees for the first 15 minutes, then turn the heat down 350 degrees. Continue to bake for another 45 to 60 minutes.
To get pureed pumpkin:
Get a smallish pie pumpkin and chop it in half. Scrape out the seeds and pulp with a big spoon (you can wash and save the seeds for roasting). Put each half flesh down in a large baking dish filled with an inch or two of water and cover with foil. Roast for... a while. I don't remember the exact time but it was between 45 to 60 minutes - until you can pierce the skin and underlying flesh easily with a sharp knife. Take the pumpkin out of the oven, uncover and let cool. Scrape the flesh off of the skin (sometimes the skin will just peel off if done well enough). Puree the pumpkin in a food processor, portion and freeze in an airtight container or use right away. Voila!

I used this website as a guide - it's web decor is a little simplistic, but it looks like baking, not html , is their strong point and I don't have a problem with that.

* I like using fresh ginger, which is really easy to get in a fine texture if you peel and then freeze the whole root, and use the fine side of a box grater or microplane to shave off what you need.

Soup Season

I had a major over-abundance of spinach this week, which isn't my very favorite leafy green (that honor goes to kale) - what to do? Twice-baked potatoes took out one bunch, and for the next I tried a new recipe from Sunset magazine ("the guide to living in the West"). It's a potato, leek and spinach soup which they describe as "good old vichyssoise, but with spinach and without cream." Sounds suspect, I know. But it actually turned out really well - my boyfriend went back for seconds :)



Spinach, Leek and Potato Soup (From Sunset)

1 lb spinach, 1 lb leeks, 1 large Yukon Gold potato
4 cups veggie or chicken broth
Butter, salt, pepper

Trim the stems off the spinach and rinse well. Clean the leeks by slicing and placing in a bowl of cold water so that any dirt falls off. Peel and chop the potato. Cook the leeks in butter until soft, about five minutes. Add the broth and potato, bring to a boil and then simmer until potato is tender, another 10 to 15 minutes. Add the spinach and cook one more minute or until wilted. Puree in a blender or food processor in batches, reheating and thinning with broth as needed. Season with salt and pepper and serve with croutons.

Spicy, Savory, Sweet and Tangy... Perfect

IMG_0911
Originally uploaded by TinyBonnie

Betcha didn't think I was talking about cabbage, didja? Well, perhaps if you are German you did. It was yet another night where I was craving my mom's cooking and luckily she and my dad had just visited me, bearing the coveted cabbage recipe. Hurrah!

German Braised Cabbage

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 onion, diced
1-2 lbs red cabbage
2 apples, peeled and chopped
3 tablespoons red wine or apple cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 cup red wine

Melt the butter in a large pot, add the sugar and cook while stirring for two minutes. Add the onion and cook until soft and golden. Stir in the cabbage, apples, liquids and spices. Cook over low heat, covered, for at least half an hour, checking on the liquid. Add water (or more wine and vinegar) if needed.

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So that's the original recipe. After making and tasting it, I would use only one or one and a half apple and I would grate it instead of chop it. Also, instead of using nutmeg, as the recipe calls for, or cinnamon, which is what I had on hand, I'm going to try a bit of ground cloves next time I make this recipe. Tasty!

On the plate also is a summer squash and potato torte from The Smitten Kitchen... it was... meh. The bottom didn't brown right. Oh well, it was fine, I mean - it's hard to ruin squash and potatos, after all.

Cupcakes Are For Sharing

This is a post I've been meaning to write for some time. I've never been a great baker, but when I finally got sick of boxed cake mixes I turned to this recipe. My mom passed it on to me and now I'll pass it on to you: Black Bottom Cupcakes (aka Black and White cupcakes, aka Tuxedo cupcakes). These cupcakes are perfection, because they are the ultimate crowd pleaser:
* They are simple and easy to make
* Substitutions are easy
* They look fancy and taste delicious
* The ingredients are common and inexpensive
* They don't have a mound of pure sugar frosting on top, but are still rich
* If you make them without the topping, you have wonderful, VEGAN chocolate cupcakes!




BLACK BOTTOM CUPCAKES

Chocolate Base:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (See note)

Cream Cheese topping:

1 8-oz block (1 package) of cream cheese (DO NOT use "lite" - it will taste nasty)
1 large egg
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. For the topping: combine the room-temperature cream cheese, egg, sugar and salt in a bowl and beat until smooth (I like to use a food processor). For the cupcakes: sift together the dry ingredients, and then add in the wet ingredients and beat until just combined. Mix in the chocolate chips.

Line a muffin pan or two with paper cups (the recipe I have says it should make about 24 cupcakes, but I've never gotten more than 18 out of it). Fill the cups about 1/3 full with the chocolate base (don't overfill - these babies puff up). Top with two tablespoons of the cream cheese mixture. Bake for 15-18 minutes, rotate the pans and bake for another 15-18 min or until the topping is just starting to get golden (or the toothpick test if you're not doing topping). Let cool and enjoy! Do not freeze - this will mess up the cream cheese.

Note: If you're making these vegan, be really careful when you buy chocolate chips - I have a really hard time finding chips that don't have dairy products in them at normal grocery stores. I recommend looking for vegan chocolate chips at Trader Joe's.

The Food Post is Back!

I've been experimenting with some recipes lately, mostly because sometimes I look in my fridge and think "well what am I going to do with that??" This week, I was wondering what I was going to do with blue cheese, arugula and a sweet walla walla onion. The answer: Quiche.
Blue Cheese, Arugula and Carmelized Onion Quiche

1 3-oz package cream cheese, room temp
1/3 cup half and half or whole milk
3 eggs
a few handfuls arugula, well washed (the original recipe calls for 10 oz frozen spinach)
1/2 a medium, sweet onion (I used a walla walla, but a red onion would work too)
1/2 cup blue cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 pre-made pie crust

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. The original recipe calls for you to beat the cream cheese, but I actually didn't have any cream cheese so I just moved on and added an extra egg and a little extra milk. Mix in the eggs and milk, and add in everything else except the onion. Depending on the crust you have, you might want to pre-bake it for five minutes. Cook the onions with a little olive oil until brown, then add to the egg mixture (it might actually be good to wilt the arugula with the onions, next time I'm going to try this and add more greens). Pour it all into the crust and bake for about 25 minutes. Tasty!

*****

I was also struck by a huge chocolate craving last week. I almost started eating chocolate chips out of the bag, but I'm more creative than that. I decided that I would make brownies... but I didn't exactly have all the ingredients to complete any one recipe, so I ended up with a frankenstein recipe that was the union of two versions of "one-bowl brownies" from the back of the Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate box. They turned out to be very interesting - I didn't have enough butter, so the top of the brownies had a fluffy, chewy, almost cake-like texture, and the chocolate chips sunk to the bottom making a kind of upside-down brownie cake - so definitely not for you if you are more of a fudge-style brownies fan.

Bonnie's Strange Brownies

4 squares Baker's sweet German chocolate (or unsweetened and up the sugar)
3 Tablespoons butter (maybe a little more or less? I'll have to experiment with this)
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
whatever goodies you want to put in (I did 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips and 1/2 cup walnuts)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt the baking chocolate and butter in the microwave and mix together. Stir in the eggs, sugar and vanilla (one of the recipes I borrowed from called for two cups of sugar, but the baking chocolate I had was already sweetened, so I only did one) and stir more! Mix in the flour and your chosen tidbits.I wanted my brownies super-chocolately so I added in 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder as well, but I'm not sure if it made much of a difference. Pour into a greased baking pan and bake for roughly 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Original recipes:
Baker's Chocolate Brownies
Smitten Kitchen's Spinach Quiche

Yummy Food

I know this is starting to resemble a food blog, but bear with me, folks. Someone actually asked me for this recipe and forgot to give it to her, and it's amazingly simple and healthy and tasty. And I can't take credit for it - it's from the people who deliver my produce, New Roots Organics.

Sauteed Kale

1 apple (New Roots suggests a Granny Smith, but any yellow one will do too)
1/2 Large yellow or sweet onion, or a leek, diced
Olive Oil
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1 lb kale, stems and ribs removed, leaves coarsely chopped
a few tablespoons water

peel, core and chop the apple. Heat the oil in a large pot or pan, and cook the onion until translucent. Add the apple and curry powder and cook until the apple is almost tender. Add the kale and water and cook covered, stirring occasionally until kale is tender and liquid is evaporated, about 5 minutes.

And while I'm at it, I made another awesome soup this week:


Potato, Leek and Corn Chowder

Butter
1 Leek, sliced, white and light green parts only
1 celery heart, chopped
2 or 3 yellow potatoes, diced
1 cup veggie stock
2 cups whole milk or cream
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 cup frozen corn

Heat the butter in a large pot and cook the leeks and celery until slightly tender. Add the potatoes, veggie stock and thyme (and some of the milk if you need more liquid) and simmer until the potatoes are tender. Add the milk and corn and cook until warm. Season with salt and pepper.

It's Time For Winter Comfort Food

I get veggies delivered to me every other week - I like the company because all the produce is organic, seasonal, and mostly local. This can lead to some head-scratching sometimes, though, when I end up with something like acorn squash, as I did this week. What am I supposed to do with that? Well, I'll tell you: Make soup. It's really simple and easy to tweak:

Acorn Squash and Carrot Soup
1 acorn squash
olive oil
1/2 large yellow or sweet onion, diced
3 or 4 medium carrots (I only had 3, I think it could have used more), chopped
1 1/2 cups of veggie stock
1 cup whole milk or less than a cup of half & half or whipping cream
Dill
Hot sauce

Cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds, put flesh down on a foil-lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 for half an hour. While the squash is baking, cook the onions with the olive oil in a 5qt pot until translucent, add the carrots, dill and veggie stock (and some salt and pepper if you want) and cook until the carrots are soft. Scoop the cooked squash out of the shell - if it's not quite done, cook it with the carrots for five or ten minutes, then blend with milk in a food processor in batches or with an immersion blender, or whatever else you like to use. Heat it up again, toss in some hot sauce and serve.
You can totally play around with the recipe: I made a similar butternut squash soup last week but with coconut milk and curry paste instead of cream and dill. I also see thyme and white pepper recommended along with or instead of dill in a lot of recipes.