20-Minute Dinner...

     Spring seedlings are issuing forth their delicious and copious bounties.  The end of Summer is fast approaching but while the mid-afternoon heat still swells, I find it necessary to invent recipes that take very little time cooking.

     For dinner a few nights ago, I broiled golden tomatoes, eggplant, garlic, mushrooms and various herbs to make an interesting topping for potatoes, rice, pasta, or quinoa.  Not quite a sauce, I'm sure there's some sort of fancy chef word for what this is.  I think I will probably just call it Broiled Veggies with Boiled Potatoes.

Broiled Veggies with Boiled Potatoes
Yield: 4 servings
1/2 pound ozette or similar, small potato
8oz Eggplant, sliced paper thin with a mandoline
1/4 C Flour
1/4 tsp Black pepper
1/2 tsp Salt
12 oz Tomatoes, sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 oz fresh Oyster Mushrooms, sliced thinly with a knife
2 oz Onion (1 med), sliced paper thin with a mandoline
4 cloves Garlic, pressed
1 tsp fresh Thyme leaves
1 drizzle Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 Tbs chopped fresh Basil 

Cut potatoes into bite size pieces and set to boiling in a pot on the stove.  In a ziplock bag or medium size bowl, add flour, pepper, and salt and stir to combine.  Add eggplant and toss until coated.  Line a baking sheet with parchment or foil and turn the broiler on.  Spread the eggplant out in a single layer and broil for 5 minutes.  Add onion to the baking sheet in a thin layer over the eggplant.  Broil for 3 minutes.  Then add a layer of mushrooms, crush garlic cloves on top, and broil for 2 minutes.  Next add tomato and thyme and broil for a final 5 minutes.  When the veggies are done broiling, the eggplant that wasn't covered with tomatoes will be a little crispy, the mushrooms will be soft, and the tomatoes will be slightly browned.  Remove from oven.  Check the potatoes for doneness.  When they are done, drizzle veggies lightly with olive oil and season.  Serve potatoes covered with veggies, sprinkle fresh basil immediately before serving.

Review:
We've had this twice now and even the boys love it!  You could add some lentils for a little protein and maybe a little feta cheese if you want.

Heritage Chicken, Organic Potatoes, Garlic Scapes, and Lemon Kale

     As you all know I have an ongoing love affair with my farmer's market.  I plan to do another post soon bragging about the new farmers who have joined the market since last time, but until then, I thought I'd share a meal we had tonight using all farmer's market food!  

     This is a heritage chicken, thus the longer leg and smaller breast.  With heritage birds which haven't been soaked in an anti-microbial water solution, it is important to cook them "low and slow."  Fortunately, the ones I have been buying are also smaller than the other birds I was finding, so they still take about an hour to bake even at 350°.

Roast Chicken
1 Small Heritage Chicken
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 350°.  Pat chicken dry and place in a small oven proof pan.  Season with salt and pepper.  Bake 30 minutes per pound until juices run clear, about an hour.

Roasted Potatoes and Garlic Scapes
4 medium sized baking potatoes, sliced in 1/4 inch slices
1 pound of garlic scapes, cut in 1 inch pieces*
Salt and Pepper
Olive oil

Place potatoes and scapes in a 9X13 inch roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil.  Salt and pepper to taste, then toss with a spoon to combine.  Cover with aluminum foil, bake at 350° for about 60 minutes or until scapes and potatoes are soft, removing foil about half way through.

*The bottom half of the scapes I got were pretty woody, so I had to cut them off.  The thinner the stalk, the more tender it will be, or at least it was in this case.  If you steam your scapes, this is less of an issue than when roasting them.

You can put the pan in at the same time as the chicken, though it may take a little longer for each dish to finish cooking.

Sauteed Kale with Lemon
1 lb Kale, stems removed and roughly chopped
1/3 lemon, juiced
Salt and Pepper
Olive oil

In a large pan, heat a dollop of olive oil then add kale, salt and pepper.  Cook for 5 minutes or so until kale is wilted but not browned.  Dress with the lemon juice.

Review:
     This is a nice, relatively quick meal.  Mostly prep work and shoving stuff in the oven.  My kind of cooking!  My boys loved the chicken and potatoes, but it was a little hard to sell them on the scapes and the kale.  More mature palates will enjoy them, rest assured. 

Avengers Assemble!

     Once upon a time there was a nerdy guy who wanted to join the armed services.  And no one would take him because he was a tiny little nerdy little guy.  Then he got hooked up with some super crazy secret military project and got massively hot and buff and hot and became Captain America!  And he still let his freak flag fly with that nerdy hat.  Wings?  Really?  That's what the movie said anyway.  My impression of him growing up was mostly, "Hey, that guy's name is Captain America.  He's not as cool as Superman, but not as scary as the Hulk.  I wonder if he dates Wonder Woman?"  Yeah, now I know that would be a pretty hardcore Romeo and Juliet type story being from separate publishers and all, but I think we can all agree how awesome that would be. 

     When I first envisioned this soup, I thought I'd make the white ring with sour cream.  However, one of my little nerdy guys has recently developed some stomach "things" and I've taken him off dairy of any kind for a while.  So I made a turnip and cauliflower puree for the ring.  It is fantastic, but if you'd like to save yourself some time and have a bit more of a dramatic look, I think sour cream is the way to go!

Captain America Red White and Blue Soup
5 C quartered Tomatoes (yield about 5 C tomato purée) (use peeled fresh or canned tomatoes)
4 C Turnips*
1/2 Cauliflower (about 3 Cups florets)
2 Cups sliced Leeks (white parts only)
2 cloves Garlic, chopped
Purple Potatoes
Bread or White Cheese (mozzarella, white cheddar, muenster, or maybe even Swiss)
butter or margarine
milk (or milk alternative)

RED
If you are using fresh tomatoes (6 or 7 pounds), the quickest way to peel them is to cut the core out, slice an X in the other end and broil them on a baking sheet with the X side up.  You can broil them quickly till the skin peels off or keep them in a little longer until they are almost cooked.  When the skin has started to pull back, take them out of the oven and allow them to cool enough to touch them.  Peel them and quarter them.  If you are using canned, I'd say two of those big 28 oz cans would probably get you pretty close.  Maybe buy an extra small can just to be sure...

BLUE
While you are broiling your tomatoes, set 1 pound of purple potatoes on to boil in their skins.  Boil until potatoes are tender to the center when pierced with a fork.  Drain and allow to cool until you can remove their skins.  Make mashed potatoes with a little milk and butter, salt and pepper, making substitutions as your diet requires.  You want the consistency to be smooth, but not gluey.  These got gluey on me pretty quickly, so watch out.  Set aside.

(BACK TO RED)
Place tomatoes in a large pot.  Drain canned tomatoes, or for homemade tomatoes, don't add the extra juice that has cooked out.  Heat tomatoes until boiling, salt and pepper as desired.  Put in a blender or use an immersion blender until it has reached a smooth consistency.   Set aside.

WHITE
To make the white circle, steam cauliflower and turnips together until tender about 15-30 minutes.  Cook the leeks in a frying pan with little olive oil until they have softened and browned slightly.  Reserve some of the steaming liquid when vegetables are done.  Place cauliflower, turnips, leeks, and garlic cloves into a pan and buzz with the immersion blender or give them a good spin in a blender or food processor.  Use the reserved steaming liquid to thin it up as necessary.  *If you're not a fan of the bitterness of turnips, you can use parsnips or even just the rest of the cauliflower head.

Cut cheese or bread into a star shape.  I actually used one of the glow-in-the-dark stars from the kid's bedroom ceiling as a template since I didn't have a cutter small enough!

ASSEMBLY
Pour  tomato soup into the bowl.  You can make the circles any order you want, but I made the blue one first to help find the center.  I used plastic baggies with the tips cut out as piping bags.  The thinner and more consistent you can make the purées the better this should work (all the more reason to use sour cream, really).  Pipe the blue circle, then pipe the white circle, making sure to leave an outer ring of red showing.  Place the star on the blue!

     When all is said and done and the initial "oohing and ahhing" is over with, you may want to add another dollop or two of the potatoes to this soup once you've tucked into it.  Additional crusty bread on the side is a nice touch, too!  I served sourdough.

Review:
The boys knew who this was right away, though my youngest apparently thinks his name is "Captain American."  They weren't terribly crazy about it.  Particularly my picky one, but once we added a little more potato, my eldest decided it was darn near edible.

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.

Summer Party Run Down...

Ok so, like, last time I was all, "I bought Angry Bird band-aids because I'm awesome," well this time I'm all, "I didn't need to use any band-aids because this time we sent a kid to the hospital."  Yeah.  We don't do anything half way around here.  Poor kid scraped her toe riding one of my kid's bikes and no amount of Neosporin and Angry Birds was going to do it.  Fortunately, she got all patched up and was able to come back to the party.  Lookit what we had!

~*~

Menu:

Puka Dogs (pure beef, and vegetarian hot dogs) slathered in aioli and mango chutney, on either Hawaiian Sweet Bread buns or gluten-free/grain-free buns.

Macaroni salad

Cucumber salad

Hawaiian Maui Chips

Fresh papaya, mango, and pineapple fruit bowl

Bananas

Haupia (coconut pudding)

Okinawan Sweet Potato pie with macadamia nut whipped "cream"

Gluten-Free Vegan brownies

Chocolate Cupcakes baked in ice cream cones

Tropical Juice

Spa Water

~*~

 

 For playtime (besides the bicycles of doom) we had bubbles,

bubbles,

 

more bubbles, 

  And marshmallow cannons!  A paper cup with the bottom cut out + a balloon tied, with the top cut off = one heck of a marshmallow shooter!  They actually come out pretty hard, so make sure not to shoot them at anybody or, as my son is demonstrating, yourself.

Now, back to the food!

 So my whole idea for this party was that everyone in the world needs to eat a Puka Dog.  Puka means "hole" in Hawaiian and somebody on Kauai invented the most delicious hot dog on the planet.  It involves poking a hole into some Hawaiian sweet bread, filling it with aioli, and mango chutney and shoving a hot dog in there.  I blogged about it last year but nobody really jumped on the wagon.  So I decided that if the interwebs aren't going to go nuts, at least all my friends should!

 The whole menu came from the idea for the dogs.  Not a formal luau, more of a backyard get together Hawaiian style.

Pineapple, mango, papaya and some limes for them 'cuz I'm all addicted now and stuff...

I found a new Hawaiian Sweet Bread recipe that makes quite a bit.  It is wonderful. 

You can see some of the labels I made.  Almost everyone we invited had a different food issue.  We had gluten free people, people who can't do grains, soy free people, some who are off dairy, and then of course, boring ol' vegetarians.  It was nuts.   This label says: "Hawaiian Sweetbread Buns: Contains gluten, eggs, and dairy, soy free.  Soon to contain 1 hot dog."

 The label for this cucumber salad said: "Grain free, soy free, gluten free, dairy free.  I swear if somebody's allergic to cucumbers I'm gunna hack something."  Fortunately, there was no hacking...

This recipe is pretty simple.  You can edit ratios based on your taste and the number of servings you need:

Cucumber Salad

3 Cucumbers, peeled, seeded and sliced to about 1/4 inch

1 Red onion, peeled and thinly sliced

2 Tbs Rice or cider vinegar

2 Tbs Olive oil

2 Tbs Dill

Salt and Pepper

Combine cucumber and onion in large bowl.  Whisk to combine vinegar, olive oil, dill, salt and pepper and pour dressing over cucumbers.  I made this up a few hours before the party and everything was still crispy, the next morning the colors had run in the onions and the cucumbers were softening, so I'd say make between 1 and 4 hours before serving, but not much longer than that.

Hawaiian style macaroni salad.  Apparently, the biggest secret is Best Foods mayo (aka Hellman's on the East coast)  I hate Best Foods like beyond, but this was pretty good salad.  This is another of those "non recipe" recipes:

Hawaiian Style Macaroni Salad

1 lb macaroni

4-5 carrots, peeled and shredded

1/2 medium onion, grated

2 C Best Foods mayo

Salt and Pepper

Cook the macaroni and drain it.  One website I found said macaroni is usually cooked pretty soft for this recipe.  When the macaroni cools, mix in the rest of the ingredients and refrigerate over night.  A couple of the recipes I referenced specifically said "NO RELISH!"  So there you go.  Easy peasy.

Gluten-Free, Grain-Free hot dog buns, another really easy recipe.  I found it on a blog called Nichole's Special Diet Creations.  Nothing in these except almond flour, yogurt, eggs, coconut oil, salt, and baking soda.  The hardest part of this recipe is bringing the eggs up to room temperature.  They're pretty tasty, too! 

These guys know what's good...  These were chocolate cupcakes baked in ice cream cones, topped with lime buttercream frosting.  There are lots of ways to get your ice cream cones to stand up in the oven, but I bought this nifty rack, which is a great way to serve them, too.  I just used my favorite chocolate cupcake recipe and fiddled around with the frosting until it tasted OK.

Here it is:

Lime Buttercream Frosting

1 stick butter, softened

4 Cups confectioner's sugar

Juice of 3 key limes

Drop, whole milk

Combine the butter and confectioner's sugar with a mixer until it resembles crumbs, add lime juice and mix again, add milk a few drops at a time until frosting comes together.  If you add too much, add a little more confectioner's sugar.  Seriously good stuff, though it gave my husband a sugar rush before he got finished with half his cone!

This is haupia.  Lemme just say something here, hominahominahomina, OK?  This stuff is fantastic.  I have had it before at luaus and it's kinda bland and rubbery.  This recipe is pure coconut happiness.  It's softer than I was expecting and I nearly ate the whole pan before it even cooled off.  I love warm pudding. mmmm... warm pudding.... glurgle...  This recipe comes from John Fischer on about.com.

Haupia

2 cups coconut milk 

1 cup whole milk

6 tablespoons sugar

5 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 tsp vanilla (optional)

Pour one cup of coconut milk into a saucepan. Combine sugar and cornstarch stirring into coconut milk. (Add vanilla if desired.  I added it.) Heat over low stirring consistently until thickened.  Add remainder of coconut milk and whole milk and continue to heat until thickened. Pour into 8 inch square pan and chill until firm. 

You may remember that we ate purple sweet potato pie on our last trip to HI.  This, my friends is purple sweet potato pie.  Purple sweet potatoes are sometimes called Okinawan sweet potatoes or purple yams.  I found these at a local Asian market.  The produce manager was quick to point out that he stocked only the gnarled "ugly" ones from Hawai'i and not the larger ones grown in CA, which he apparently viewed with no small amount of derision.  I don't know about the California ones, but these Hawaiian ones are awesome.  And yeah, that whipped cream?  That's vegan macadamia nut whipped "cream", because Cara Reed is also awesome...  And also, squeeze a little lime juice over it?  More awesome, though probably not authentic...

I found the pie filling recipe here.  Quick note: I didn't realize when I made this recipe it makes enough for 3 pies or around 2 deep dish pies.  So I've got another pie's worth of filling in my fridge right now.  I'm not complanin'.  I'm just sayin'.

Okinawan Sweet Potato Pie

Yield: 3 pies 

5 cups mashed potatoes

4 eggs

2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

1 cup softened butter
2 cans evaporated milk

3 unbaked pie crusts

Boil sweet potatoes until soft, peel and mash until no lumps.  Add remainder of ingredients, beat with beater until creamy. Pour into pie shell.  Cover edge of crust with foil strips making sure not to touch the filling.  Bake at 425° for 15 minutes; then, bake at 250° for 40-50 minutes.  Test the doneness by sticking in a toothpick.

Vegan, Gluten-free Brownies from my buddy Chinmayie over at Love Food Eat.  I have made these twice and they are fantastic!  They are especially good pared with the whipped "cream", too!

Of all the things I made for this party, the recipe that drove me the craziest was homemade POG.  POG is a Hawaiian drink that we can actually buy in the grocery stores here but it is chock full of high fructose corn syrup and other nasties.  POG stands for Passionfruit, Orange, and Guava.  Apparently it also stands for "extraordinarily hard to make from scratch if you live in the Pacific Northwest..."  This is how I wanted to make it:

pure passionfruit juice

freshly squeezed orange juice

pure guava juice  

Stir it up. Be complimented.

So apparently neither passionfruit nor guava is in season now so freshly squeezed was right out.  Then, I tried looking for boxed juices.  On the Thursday before the party I found the Ceres brand boxed juices which carry both passionfruit and guava with no preservatives or sugars but I couldn't find it in any local stores and I couldn't get it delivered in time.  Then I decided to try concentrates.  All of the passionfruit juice had some other juice added to it and all of the guava had high fructose corn syrup.  The straw that broke the camel's back though, was when I asked my husband to stop by a local store to pick up some fresh squeezed orange juice.  And the store.  Was closed.  For renovations.  I took this as a sign.  Only Hawaiians should make POG.  Unless you have a month of prep time.  And I didn't.  I threw my hands up in the air and mixed up a bunch of stuff I found.  (It's darn hard to mix juice with your hands in the air, btw...)

Not POG Tropical Juice

1/2 container Hawaii's Own concentrated guava nectar

1/4 container concentrated pineapple juice

1/4 jug Earthwise Passionfruit Aloe juice

juice 1/2 large orange

water

lemon slices

lime slices

water

Mix juices with enough water to dissolve and float lemon and lime slices on top.  Let sit for about an hour if you have the time.  This was a huge hit with the kids, but I'm a little disappointed that I couldn't do what I wanted originally...

 After we finished eating, my son decided to give a speech.  (He made the podium all by himself.)  Mostly it went, "Thank you all for coming.  I hope you have a great time!"

I think people did...

Vegetables for Breakfast...

     I've been noodling over the idea of vegetables for breakfast lately.  How many vegetables do you think about as breakfast food?  Potatoes of course.  Maybe onions, or spinach or asparagus.  Now what would you do if you didn't have any eggs?  Because that was the boat I was in on Father's Day...  My farmer's market is on Sunday.  I used the last egg on Saturday.  I had some duck eggs, but hubby doesn't like them a super lot.  I use them for baking, which they are awesome for.  So rich!  But anyway, I was down to a few veg and that was about it.

Let me further explain by showing you this:

Strawberry Cake with Blueberry Frosting and Strawberry Frosting Filling.  

Looks OK from the outside, right?

And this:

See how thick that frosting is?  Yeah...  My cake had some issues...

     Hubby's birthday was last week.  He loves strawberry cake.  I would rather lick my shoe than eat a boxed strawberry cake.  So I endeavored to make him one.  I picked a yellow cake recipe and subbed strawberries in syrup (homemade of course) for the milk.  Apparently milk is important because it totally sank in the middle.  But oh my gosh was it delicious!  I will be revising this ugly duckling for sure.  At any rate, following the collapsed (if delicious) Birthday cake fiasco, I was hoping to make him something that was delicious and beautiful for Father's Day.

So I made this:

Hello, Gorgeous...

Pastry on the bottom, vegetables in the middle, bacon, and homemade herbed ricotta on top.  I will never be sad we're out of eggs again.  This could be called a "tart," I suppose.  I'm just calling it "brekky."

This particular recipe took a long time to make.  If you make the dough a day ahead and use leftovers for the filling, everything will go much faster the day of.  As it was, I didn't have any leftovers suitable, plus, he was sleeping in, so I had time.

The vegetables I had were potatoes, sweet potatoes, asparagus, onion, garlic, and mushrooms.  And bacon.  A highly underrated vegetable. I made an oatmeal crust following Mark Bittman's recipe in his book How to Cook Everything Vegetarian (p.866). 

Father's Day Brekky
Oatmeal Crust:
1/2 C + 2Tbs white flour
1/4 C whole wheat flour
1/4 C oatmeal
8 Tbs cold unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
3 Tbs ice water, plus more if necessary

Filling:
1 medium sweet potato, peeled
1 medium white potato, peeled
1 medium onion
4 cloves garlic
2 pieces of bacon
4 button mushrooms
1 bundle of asparagus
olive oil (a drizzle here, a drizzle there...)

Herbed Homemade Ricotta Cheese:
1 C cream
2 C whole milk
1 1/2 T lemon juice
thyme

Make the ricotta.  I already had some in my fridge.  I used this recipe from Zestuous.  It would definitely help to make this the day before.  Even though the process is quick (about 35 minutes), it will add quite a bit of time to the process for this recipe if you make it the same day.  And can I just say here that this is the best ricotta cheese I've ever had in my entire life?  You will never want to use store-bought again.  Save the milk, too.  It's to die for.

Preheat oven to 400°.

Begin by making the crust:
Combine the four, salt, and sugar in a food processor and pulse once or twice.  Add the butter and turn on the machine; process until the butter and flour are blended and the mixture looks like cornmeal, about 10 seconds.

Put the mixture in a bowl and add 3 Tbs ice water; mix with your hands until you can form the dough into a ball, adding another tablespoon or two of the ice water if neccessary (if you overdo it and the mixture becomes sodden, add a little more more flour).  Form into a ball, wrap in plastic, and freeze for 10 minutes or refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.  (You can refrigerate for up to a couple of days or freeze for up to a couple of weeks.)

Next, make potatoes:
Thinly slice sweet and white potatoes, lightly toss in olive oil and salt, cover with aluminum foil, and put into preheated oven.  I put mine on two different sheets in case they took different times cooking.

Begin onions:
Thinly slice with a mandolin if possible, and caramelize over low heat (can take up to 1/2 hour).

While onions are caramelizing, chop bacon roughly, mince mushrooms, and thinly slice asparagus to about 1/2 inch.

 

At this point, put garlic on a little foil and drizzle with a splash of olive oil.  Wrap garlic and place on top rack of oven with potatoes.

Once onions have finished, remove to a medium sized bowl and fry bacon pieces until crispy, and put those in a small bowl.  Wash pan and sauté mushrooms in a tad bit of olive oil, put those in the medium bowl with the onions, then heat the asparagus until slightly softened and add to veggie bowl.

Check potatoes and garlic for doneness...  If potatoes are tender (don't worry if some have gotten a little crispy), remove to a cutting board and chop into small pieces.  Add to veggie bowl.  If garlic is tender, squish from skin and mash lightly.  Add to veggie bowl.  Lower oven to 350°.

Stir contents of veggie bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Use one heaping tsp of ricotta cheese per tart you plan to make and 1/2 tsp of thyme per every six tarts.  Combine ricotta and thyme.

Once dough has finished resting, roll it out and cut rounds to fill the cupcake tin cups (I found I needed to knead the dough a few times to encourage it to hold together, less than a minute, I'd say...).  I used a glass with a diameter of about 3 1/2 inches which ended up being nearly perfect for my standard size cupcake tins.

Fill the cups with veggies, top with bacon (or not) and add a dollop of the ricotta cheese mixture.  Bake at 350° for 30-45 minutes, until crust is done.  Let cool slightly in pan, then pop them out with a butter knife.  Serve with a little fruit.

Tadaaaaa!  I probably could have gotten a dozen of these puppies made if one of my kids hadn't sneezed on the second half of the dough.  So we ended up with six.  I really wanted those other six.

Tips:

This would be much easier if you had some leftovers to fill it with.  Cooked sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, left-over steamed veggies, maybe even leftover garbanzo beans or lentils...  Use whatever filling you like, these will be fabulous.

Review:

One kid wouldn't touch it.  The other kid had a couple of bites, but decided to save himself for the samples at the farmer's market.  Hubby and I wonder what's wrong with these kids sometimes because these were fantastic!  The homemade ricotta just makes it.  The pastry is perfect, the veggies are wonderful, and hubby says the bacon adds a nice "breakfasty" touch to the whole proceeding.  The sweet potatoes are a lovely way to have a little something sweet for breakfast without any added sugar.

PS, Happy First Day of Summer to those of you who live where Summer happens!  For us up here in the Pacific Northwest a big, Hey, Wazzup Juneuary?!  Maybe we'll break 60 today!

Vegetarian Heaven

Moussaka originated in the Mediterranean region and is one of those dishes that's made by lots of cultures in many different ways.  And almost always with meat.  I found this vegetarian version and made it once, years ago, when my eldest was still a hip hugger.  It takes a lot of work.  I mean a lot.  So I didn't make it again for years.  But the thing about all that work is it's totally worth it.  I could not believe how mind-blowingly good this was the first time I made it.  I was really excited to try it again when I didn't have a tot permanently attached to my extremities.  The day has finally arrived!  This recipe came from All Recipes, and was submitted by Anne Buchanan.  Depending on your skill in the kitchen (I'd say I'm probably slower than average) you're looking at around 1 1/2 to 2 hours prep-time here, so plan a good chunk of the day. 

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
1/2 (14.5 ounce) can 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 pinch nutmeg
1 egg
1/4 C Parmesan cheese

1. Sprinkle eggplant slices with salt and set aside for 30 minutes. Rinse and pat dry.
2. Preheat oven to 375° F (190° C).
3. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly brown eggplant and zucchini slices on both sides; drain. Adding more oil if necessary, brown potato slices; drain.
4. 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.
5. In a 9x13 inch casserole dish layer eggplant, zucchini, potatoes, onions and feta. Pour tomato mixture over vegetables; repeat layering, finishing with a layer of eggplant and zucchini.
6. Cover and bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan combine butter, flour and milk. Bring to a slow boil, whisking constantly until thick and smooth. Season with pepper and add nutmeg. Remove from heat, cool for 5 minutes, and stir in beaten egg.
8. Pour sauce over vegetables and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake, uncovered, for another 25 to 30 minutes. 

My substitutions/additions:
I have never bought a can of lentils in my life and probably never will.  They are so simple and quick to make from dried I always have some in my pantry.  Because this recipe takes so long anyway, having some lentils made up a day ahead of time is probably the best way to go on this.  If you happen to have some left over, more's the better. 

I also omitted the nutmeg.  I don't like it if it's not in some sort of spice cake at Christmastime.  Otherwise, it just tastes funny to me.  I'm not doing all this work to have it ruined by weirdo nutmeg!  =)  If you like nutmeg, I'm not offended, go for it! 

Review: 
Holy Grecian Gramma!  I could eat this every day.  I mean it.  If I could find some sweet little septuagenarian to come live with me and make me moussaka, I would love her and pet her and call her Georgeina.  As it stands though, since I don't see many Gramma stores opening up any time soon, I reckon I'll keep this recipe.

You're Invited...

I was going to invite one family over for the 4th.  Then I went all crazy and invited three more.  I have been posting some snooty fruity recipes lately.  Most of which reflect how we eat on a fairly regular basis.  Today, though, I'm going to post some honest-to-goodness-shut-yo'-mouth-awesome mostly Southern recipes that reflect our roots and make for one w00tastic spread. 

I plan on posting menus here from time to time.  I like to plan big meals out in advance and if I like it, I do it again. I've got a few.  For the Fourth, I decided to go All-American.  It didn't hurt that most of my guests were Southern (or at least knew a good slaw when they saw it.)  The best party food can be served hot, room temp, or cold, and made in advance.  So, without further ado, here it is, a giant photo/recipe dumpapalooza.  Recipes to make any outdoor party!

Our menu was as follows: Fried Chicken, hot dogs, Baked Beans, Coleslaw, Red-White-&-Blue Potato Salad, Lavender Lemonade,Pecan Pie, juice pouches, chips, watermelon, cherries, and plenty of water to keep everyone hydrated.

I had this recipe in the box, but it originally came from one of my cookbooks.  It's a sentimental favorite of mine for no other reason than it's full of recipes for 'possum and chitlins and (I'm not kidding) pig tails.  As well as a hundred or so recipes for various versions of deep fried love.  It's called The Treasury of White Trash Cooking.  It has not one, but two, (you heard me,honey), two fried chicken recipes!  This one is on page 181.

 

Countrified Fried Chicken

Cut 1 fryer into pieces.  Salt and pepper each piece.  Combine 3/4 C of flour, 2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp of pepper in a plastic bag.  Shake each one until they are coated will with the flour mixture.  You can fry chicken in a deep-fat fryer, covered for 5 minutes, then uncovered, until coating is golden brown.  Turn chicken occasionally.  You can also fry chicken in a skillet on your stove.  My grandma always fried her chicken in fried meat's grease and a pinch of garlic salt.

My substitutions/additions:

I cooked mine in an improvised frier.  A dutch oven with a bottle of oil poured in it.  Try to have about 3 inches of oil in your pan.  I could fit 4-6 pieces of chicken in at a time.  It took 10 minutes per batch.  I had my oven set to 350° to finish off any pieces that didn't quite get done.  For this, it wouldn't hurt to have had two thermometers, which I don't.  (One to read the oil temp and one to check the meat temp.)  Ah well, it didn't waste that much time.  Keep the oil between 310° and 375°.  A deep fryer is probably better at regulating the temperature, I had to keep fiddling with the heat, but it seemed to work and nobody got salmonella.

Review:

Nothing but thumbs up on this one!

Next up? Baked Beans.

I found this recipe at beanbible.com in 2003.  The website is still operating, but this recipe is no longer available.

Dr Pepper Baked Beans
 yield 6 servings

1 28 oz can pork and beans (or two regular-sized 14-oz cans)
1 onion, chopped fine
1 green pepper, chopped fine
1 tomato, chopped fine
1/2 c dark brown sugar
1/3 C Dr. Pepper
1/8 tsp ground cloves (I left these out)

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Drain liquid from the pork and beans.  Pour beans into a bean pot, if you have one, or a baking dish if you don't.  Gently mix in onion, green pepper, and tomato into the beans.
Combine sugar, Dr. Pepper, and cloves (if you use them) until sugar is dissolved.  Pour evenly over the bean mixture.  Bake, covered, for an hour.  Check on the beans; they might need a little more time than that.  but don't overcook them.

You could successfully substitute ginger ale for the Dr. Pepper for a different flavor.

My substitutions/additions:

I used Bush's Vegetarian baked beans and doubled the recipe.

Review:

One of these days I want to attempt this with my own white beans instead of canned, but this recipe is so easy and quick to put together using canned!  Oh, and it tastes awesome! 

Now, I have lived all over this beautiful country of ours.  And let me tell you something: they only make coleslaw right in the South.  And at KFC.  My Grandmother used to make coleslaw with just cabbage and vinegar and onions, sort of a fresh kraut.  I'd give anything if I could find that recipe.  This particular recipe is based on the KFC coleslaw.  I found it at topsecretrecipes.com.

Just Like KFC Coleslaw
(Serves 6-8)

8 C finely chopped cabbage
1/4 C carrot, shredded
2 T minced white onion
1/3 C sugar
1/2 t salt
1/8 t pepper
1/4 C milk
1/2 C mayo
1/4 C buttermilk
1 1/2 T white vinegar
2 1/2 T lemon juice

Cut cabbage and carrots into pieces about the size of rice and put into a large bowl.  Combine sugar, salt, pepper, milks, mayo, vinegar, and lemon.  Beat until smooth.  Pour over carrots, cabbage, and onion.  Mix well.  Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours. 

Notes:

• I use a  salad shooter with the shredder cone in to cut all the veggies for this. 
• This may serve 6-8 in the South, but it's much, much more than that in the rest of the world where people don't know what good is.
• Mixing this up the night before makes it a great recipe for picnics and it tastes better the second day.

Review:

This slaw is great on hotdogs (called a slaw dog in the South).  People think they don't like slaw but it's only because they've never had it made the right way!

What picnic is complete without potato salad?  Unlike my other recipes, this one was flat refused when I made this for a get-together in the South.  But what can I say?  I lived in California for 8 years.  Some of that granola rubbed off on me.  This one has a vinaigrette base instead of a mayo base.

Look at that.  Isn't that beautiful?  I love these red, white, and blue potato mixes that I see around the 4th.  I'm sure they're available all season long, but they just shout my name around the 4th.  The blue ones are a purple color inside and these particular reds were actually a little pink inside!  I got this recipe online years ago and made it for my church picnics so often, they started asking for it specifically.  I didn't write down the URL when I found this salad, so I've re-named it:

Pot Bless Potato Salad 

(serves 6)

14 red potatoes
3 T parsley
2 T dill
6 T green onion
4 T red onion

1/3 C red wine vinegar

3/4 C olive oil

2 t dijon mustard
1 clove garlic
black pepper

Boil potatoes until just cooked.  Meanwhile, chop herbs and onions.  Combine vinegar, oil, mustard, garlic and pepper in a small bowl and whisk.  When potatoes have boiled and cooled slightly, gently stir in herbs and onions.  Pour vinegarette over potato mixture and gently stir to combine.  Refrigerate at least 2 hours, but overnight is best.

Notes: 

I used Beaver brand hot dijon when I made it this year.  It gave it a surprising kick on the 4th and took it out of the range of the small kid zone.  I liked it.  By today (after two nights in the fridge) the kick was pretty well gone and the kids chowed. 

We washed all this nomminess down with lavender lemonade!  The dispenser says it all:

This was another recipe in my box that I have the original cookbook for.  Actually, in this case, it's a magazine.  Herb Companion June/July 2004, p 27

Lavender Lemonade

(Makes 8 servings)

6 C water
1 3/4 C sugar
3 T fresh lavender blossoms
2 1/2 C fresh lemon juice
8 fresh lavender sprigs

Bring water to boil in saucepan.  Add sugar, reduce heat and stir till dissolved.  Remove from heat and stir in lavender blossoms.  Cover and allow to steep for 30-60 minutes.  Strain lavender mixture into a serving pitcher and stir in lemon juice.  Cool and serve with crushed ice.  Garnish with lavender sprigs.

My substitutions/additions:

I didn't have enough blossoms as lavender isn't quite in season here yet, so I used some leaves to cook with and saved the blossoms for the pretty.  Make sure you use lavender that hasn't been sprayed with pesticides if you can.

I was expecting 22, so I wanted to make a little extra.  I used 8 c water, added an extra 1/2 C sugar, 1/2 C leaves, and just to make it extra lemony, as I was boiling the water, I floated halves of 5 lemons on top to release the oils from the peels.  Make sure to scrub your lemons well if you're going to do this.  Using organic is that much better.

Review:

Sweet Mother of Abraham Lincoln!  Make this.  Make this right now!

'Cuz then you get to drink it!

For dessert, I made Pecan Pie and used that cream cheese crust recipe I promised you a while ago...  So let's get to that crust, shall we?

This recipe came from the now defunct recipecard.com. Can I just say how glad I am I got this recipe before the site disappeared?

Cream Cheese Pie Crust

12 T unsalted butter, divided
1 2/3 C flour
1/4 tsp salt
4.5 oz cream cheese
2 T ice water

Divide butter in 1/2 and cut into small cubes.  Wrap each 1/2 separately and chill 30 min.  Process or sift flour and salt for a few seconds to combine.  Add 1/2 butter cubes and all the cream cheese and process (cut together) until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Add the rest of the butter and cut together until mixture resembles small peas.  Be careful not to over-process.  Add the water and pulse (stir w/ cold spoon) twice.  The dough will look dry, but should hold together when processed.  Pour crumbs into plastic bag and gently knead dough until it holds together and can form a ball.  DO NOT OVER KNEAD!  Remove dough and divide in 1/2. Wrap each 1/2 in plastic and flatten into a disk.  Refrigerate at least 2 hours.  Roll crust on cold surface w/ cold rolling pin.  Crust freezes well.  To freeze pie, don't bake first, put in freezer raw.

My substitutions/additions:

Because I'm a giant dork and totally forgot the first rule of pastry (always work cold) I softened the butter and cream cheese on the counter.  Not to be deterred, I forged ahead anyway.  I did refrigerate the butter after cutting it into cubes, but only for as long as it took me to measure and combine the flour and salt.  I don't have a food processor big enough to do a whole batch of dough, and I actually like to make pastry by hand, so I cut it together with a fork as quickly as I could.  I also forgot the ice water.  And I kneaded the dough on my counter instead of the baggie kneading thing.  The result was quite possibly the most tender, delicious crust I've ever made.  So there you go.  I don't suggest you try this method unless you're stupid, and/or a Pastry Rawkstar like me!  Oh, wait, maybe I'm the stupid one...  God helps the little children and the idiots.

Review:

Oh.  My.  Laws.  And then, you can use one of the crusts to make this:

Oh.  My.  Laws.  Again.

This little beauty also came from The Treasury of White Trash Cooking.  Page 253.

Nellie Gray's Pecan Pie

1 T butter
1 C brown sugar
3 eggs
1 C Karo syrup
1/4 t cinnamon
1 C pecans
pinch salt
1 unbaked pie shell

Cream butter and sugar.  Beat eggs lightly and throw in the rest of your ingredients.  Mix the ingredients well and pour them into an unbaked pie shell.  Bake at 450° for 10 minutes.  Then reduce heat to 350° and keep baking for another 35 minutes.

My substitutions/additions:

• I wanted the nuts to be whole, so I didn't chop them, and I used 1 1/2 C (one whole bag) if pecans.
• 1 tsp vanilla

Notes:

It really makes just enough to fill a packaged pie shell.  If you 're going to use my dough recipe, keep an eye on the crust during baking.  If it gets too brown, cover the pie with aluminum foil.  Also, when done, this pie will not be firm.  Don't worry if it's a little jiggly when you take it out of the oven.  It should be jiggly like firm jello, though, not jiggly like soup... Jiggly's a fun word.  hehehehe... ~jiggle~jiggle~...

Review:

I was afraid this would be too eggy the first time I made it, but it's fantastic!

And now, your reward for sticking with me through this marathon post.  A recipe I made up that didn't make it to the party.  Because we ate it.  Totally gone.  Not even a crumb.  You know how that pie recipe makes 2 crusts, right?  Well, I couldn't let that other crust go to waste, right?  No... of course not...

The first time I ever saw a rustic pie like this, I thought it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.  So simple.

Rustic Three Berry Pie

1 pt strawberries, hulled, whole
1 pt blueberries
1 pt cherries, pitted
4 Tbs sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 pie crust recipe

Mix berries with sugar and lemon zest.  Let rest and sweat while you're making and/or rolling out the dough.
Roll out the pie crust to about 1/4 inch thickness on a lightly floured surface.  Place dough on baking sheet.  Fill the crust with the filling and fold over the edges until they meet, pressing lightly to secure.  Bake at 375° for 20-30 minutes, checking the dough for doneness.

Serve with a sprinkle of sugar, drizzle of cream, or dollop of ice cream.

Review:

Mr. CotC said it was the best pie I ever made.  He loved the lemon zest.  The boys were too busy shoving it into their faces to say much of anything.

I'll take that as a compliment...

A super huge "Thank You!" to all our friends who came and were gracious enough to help out trucking all the food and dishes up and down the mountain and help with the washing up.  We're so glad you all came!  We had so much fun!  Let's do it again next year, 'K?