Cooking + Baking

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Squash and Potato Pancakes

November 10, 2009 in Cooking + Baking by Colleen | 2 comments

Hi friends – happy Tuesday afternoon to you! I’m just beginning to see – now I’m on my way. It doesn’t matter to me, chasing the clouds away… Okay, sorry, any other fans of that Moody Blues song? I think I nearly overdid it in high school, but right now, it is a-ok.

I love squash, well, winter squash, definitely not spaghetti or zucchini. Though I will eat zucchini if it is in the spicy bread of summer or sliced impossibly thin and deep fried, so it isn’t actually zucchini anymore. Otherwise it is just icky. So often, in summer, I am drawn to a roasted vegetable salad or sandwich only to be disappointed by the fact that it contains zucchini. I don’t care to ingest slime with my supper, thankyouverymuch. That goes for eggplant, too, save the smoky goodness of baba ganouj. That I could eat all day. I really think I could.

Anyway, to winter squash – the kuri, kabocha, acorn, sugar pumpkin, delicata, hubbard, I love them all. The only problem is my imagination. Despite all the pretty packaging, they get a little redundant when I’m making the same few dishes over and over again. So here is a little something different and mighty good. When I told the hubster what I was making and his response was just ho-hum, let me tell you that it went off the charts once he tasted them, more like inhaled. Yep. I don’t think he’ll mind these coming up in the rotation in the near future, no sirree.

The pancake part is adapted from the Big Book of Vegetarian, the sauce is my own idea, the veritable cherry on top.

Squash and Potato Pancakes

2 cups grated russet potatoes (good and starchy to hold it all together)

2 cups grated winter squash (I used kuri, but delicata, butternut, kabocha, or acorn would work well, too)

1/2 cup grated onion

2 teaspoons salt

1 egg

3 tablespoons whole wheat flour

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon dried sage or 1 tablespoon fresh chopped leaves

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

oil for the pan

Sauce

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon curry powder

generous pinch of salt (I used my favorite alder smoked sea salt)

If you have a food processor, I definitely recommend grating the potato, squash, and onion with it, otherwise your hand is going to ache. The voice of experience is speaking here. Place grated potato, squash, and onion in a colander. Sprinkle with salt and toss to combine. Allow to sit for about fifteen minutes, squeezing out as much of the moisture as you can. In a medium bowl, beat the egg with the sage, pepper, and nutmeg. Gradually add the flour, so there are no lumps. Add the potato mixture. It will be kind of dry. If you’d like a more moist pancake, add some milk, but as is, it will be firm, crispy, and yummy good.

Heat a griddle or skillet and oil it generously. Spoon the desired amount of batter and flatten as best you can, so it cooks evenly. I made mine about 3″ across and got ten of them. Flip over once browned to cook the other side. It’s a pancake. You know what to do. Unless you have a giant griddle, or are making tiny pancakes (great for appetizers!), place pancakes in a 200 degree oven to keep warm. While everything is sizzling or staying cozy in the oven, place the maple syrup, salt, curry powder, and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the butter is melted and well combined with the other ingredients. Drizzle over the pancakes and eat right away. You won’t regret it!

You could also serve these with Greek yogurt or sour cream. Oh golly, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. Enjoy!

Tags: Cooking and Baking, Recipes

Stuffed Peppers

November 3, 2009 in Cooking + Baking by Colleen | 2 comments

Happy Tuesday, one and all! I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. We had great weather for the Halloween festivities, and the kids came out, so cute in their full regalia. This year seemed to be the one for lots of make-up: ethereal, sparkly, and shimmery for butterflies, trees, and cats, a whole litter of them! However, our most memorable costume came in the form of an ATM. This little cutie pie was all business, too. I put the candy in the slot, and he said in his most digital, Stephen Hawking-esque voice, “Thank you for your deposit,” all while slipping out a receipt. The best. In the most unusual category, we had several adult trick or treaters. Let me clarify by saying that these were not parents of children happy to take candy when offered, either. They were out with the kids, plastic pumpkins and costumes, fully into the party. The oldest had a head of grey hair and was probably fifty-sixty years old. It takes all kinds!

Now for something delicious, though this picture isn’t exactly the best sell. Stuffed Peppers. I hated these as a kid, but now I realize it was probably due to the fact that they were made with green peppers. I loathe green bell peppers. They ruin whatever they touch – salad, pizza, a Philly sandwich. Yuckety, yuck, yuck. Since it was my first time, I only made two, just in case it wasn’t about the color of the pepper, so you can easily adapt it for more. We gobbled them up so quickly that I wish I had taken a chance on four. Alas, no delicious left-overs today, next time. As well, this is a really simple and quick to come together recipe, especially if you have leftover rice.

Stuffed Peppers

2 bell peppers, pick your favorite color

2 cups prepared brown rice (or white, if you prefer)

1/2 cup garbanzo beans (not dried)

1 pasilla pepper (the dried and very wrinkly kind found in the Mexican aisle)

1 large clove garlic, peeled

salt and pepper, to taste

Dressing:

1 tablespoon sesame tahini

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

salt, pepper, and smoked paprika, to taste

water

Preheat your oven to 350. Slice off the tops of your peppers, as close to the top as you can, so you have lots of room for stuffing, but still have an intact “hat.” Carefully remove the seeds and the white ribs of the pepper. Set aside.

In a food processor or blender, pulse the pasilla pepper and garlic until very fine. Add the garbanzo beans, pulse just until chunky. You don’t want a puree. Combine this mixture with the rice in a separate bowl. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

Fill peppers with the rice and bean mixture. You may need to compact it to get it all in. Put the “hat” back on the pepper. Place in a baking dish – I used a bread pan to keep them from falling over. Depending on how many you’re making, you could use the same, an 8″ square pan, or large muffin tins. Bake for about 50 minutes, until heated through.

While the peppers bake, make the dressing. Combine everything but the water in a bowl, whisking until combined. It will be pretty thick. Slowly add the water until it is thin enough to pour.

Take off the hats, drizzle with dressing, and serve.

Variations:

Beans? Use your favorite bean – pinto, black, cannelini…

Meat or Mushrooms? Use prepared chorizo, Italian sausage, or sauteed mushrooms in place of the beans. Or use an equal amount of rice, beans, and sausage/mushrooms.

Cheese? Dice a mild cheddar or jack cheese fine and mix it with the rice, etc

Poblanos? Stuff poblano peppers instead of bell.

Jalapenos? Dice some jalapeno and mix in with the rice to up the heat.

No matter what, enjoy!

Tags: Cooking and Baking, Recipes

Bread, Soup, Eighties

October 21, 2009 in Cooking + Baking, Exploring by Colleen | 4 comments

It was a big weekend in our neck of the woods, much activity and entirely fun filled. Friday, I made soup, a variation of my draped in velvet recipe, with a swirl of olive oil on top, as well as bread. I don’t bake bread often, but every time I do, it makes me very happy. It smells so good, filling up the house with yeasty goodness, and the kneading is such a satisfying and meditative task. Push, fold, turn, push, fold turn… Maybe you’d like to make some, too. Here’s the recipe, adapted from Better Homes and Gardens 75th Anniversary Cookbook. Gosh do I love this collection of recipes. Such good basics!

Multigrain Bread

2 – 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons yeast

3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon water

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup whole wheat flour

1/3 cup wheat germ

1/3 cup rolled oats

1 tablespoon flax seeds

In a medium mixing bowl, combine 1 cup flour and the yeast; set aside. In a medium saucepan, combine water, sugar, butter, and salt, stirring until it reaches 120 degrees and butter almost melts. Add water mixture to flour mixture. Beat with a wooden spoon for about 3 minutes. It will be very creamy. Stir in the whole wheat flour, wheat germ, rolled oats, and flax seed.

Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough of the remaining all purpose flour to make a moderately stiff dough. It should be smooth and elastic, not sticky. Shape dough into a ball, place in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled in size (1 – 1 1/2 hours).

Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Grease an 8″ loaf pan. Shape the dough into a loaf to fit the pan. Place in pan and allow to rise again, until doubled (30-45 minutes).

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 35-40 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when lightly tapped. Immediately remove bread from pan and cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

We also went to an Eighties party fundraiser for the school that nearly all of my friends’ children attend. It was fun. I replicated, nearly to the letter, an outfit I wore in high school (though my hair did not stay big and fluffy – such is life without hairspray), and then I dressed up the hubster like some of the boys I had major crushes on way back when. He was even amenable to eyeliner, which was very cool of him. Besides, it looked good, being so handsome and all.

Here are more photos, but since my friends are generally blog shy, I’m not going to tell you who they are, just that they mean the world to me!

Don’t forget to dance!

Tags: Cooking and Baking, Friendship

October Sky

October 7, 2009 in Cooking + Baking, Decorating, Eating, Exploring, Gardening + Nature, Practicing, Shopping by Colleen | 5 comments

So, I’ve got quite the hodgepodge for you today. First off, isn’t this a gorgeous sky? It was like the heavens couldn’t make up their mind, sweet, soft, and ethereal pink or menacing grey. A bit like me, sometimes I just can’t decide.

Take, for instance, my sugar addiction. One moment I am not at all interested in eating one more bite of it, and I get a little haughty, feeling, “Oh, I’ve really licked it this time!” Then, I drive by Pix, pull over the car and eat half of a St. Honore before I am dumbstruck by what is happening. Shoot! As for this very moment, I am feeling, more than anything else, like I need to let the obsession go. I am a pretty healthy person, all things considered, knocking on wood, etcetera, etcetera. Why fret about it? My cravings ebb and flow, like a river or the sea, just let it be.

Speaking of being and the flow of the sea, today my yoga practice involved a new, and rather exciting video (at least to me – it’s been out for a while) Shiva Rea: Yoga Trance Dance. I’m pretty sure I have mentioned that I LOVE to dance, in a crazy, unscripted, primal, and occasionally, um, nutty, kind of way, really taking the rhythms to another plane, both physically and mentally (quite unlike my graceful ballerina friend Mara). Thankfully, this DVD fully embraces these qualities, really engaging the practitioner in a dynamic and energizing flow, riding the waves of grace, energy, and movement. I highly recommend it.

Now, a bit more of the sea, in a shopping and decorating note. How about this painting gracing our bedroom? There used to be a poster of an old map of Paris, but we had grown tired of it, and then I got, in a semi-paranoid state, to thinking that if the big earthquake comes while we are in bed and knocks it off the wall, we’re goners. So, the other day at the Goodwill Bins, I found this. It is an original oil painting by H. Walker. I know nothing of this person, but bless his or her heart, the sea is right, and I got a bargain that will not kill me, my precious spouse, or cats, all for $20, including the frame. Not bad, not bad at all my precious peeps. Now if I could center the bed under the painting, my anal-retentive self would be super happy. One thing at a time…

Finally, the last of the summer tomatoes. We’ve had quite the season around here – I canned nine pints, made a big batch of Spicy Tomato Chutney (Zowie – I posted this recipe one year ago TODAY!), and eaten and eaten to my heart’s content. These are the Sungold cherry variety from our rather prolific vines. I sliced them, sprayed them with olive oil (using our refillable pump – love this gadget), followed by a sprinkle of salt, and two hours at 200 degrees in the oven. With my instructions, because I didn’t want to stop watching the news and get off the couch (sometimes I refuse to budge), the hubster made this pasta dish. Easy, delicious. Why don’t you try it? This serves two and is yummy!

Pasta (we used brown rice fettuccine, as we avoid wheat when we can)

1 handful pine nuts

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

3-4 fresh sage leaves, sliced fine, as in a chiffonade

1 handful raisins

1 large handful of sun or oven dried tomatoes

salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes, to taste

While your pasta is cooking, toast the pine nuts in a dry skillet until light brown, shaking the pan to evenly brown. Set aside. Add butter and olive oil to pan, bring to a slow bubble, add the sage and raisins, cooking until the raisins puff a little, add the tomatoes and gently stir, just until warmed through. Once your pasta is finished, toss everything together. Season with salt, fresh ground pepper, and red pepper flakes.

If you have some green tomatoes left in the garden, fry them up! We sliced ours to about 1/4″, dipped them in Ener-G egg replacer (regular egg will do), dredged them in brown rice flour (more crunch, but wheat will do), corn meal, salt, and pepper, and fried in enough sunflower oil to cover the bottom of the skillet. Fry until golden on each side and voila, yummy (I can’t find the photo, sorry).

What a day! Enjoy yours.

Tags: Cooking and Baking, Decorating

Draped in Velvet

September 29, 2009 in Cooking + Baking, Eating, Feeling by Colleen | 4 comments

I got stung by a wasp on Sunday afternoon. The hubster and I were gardening, and I felt what I thought was a sequoia needle stabbing into me. When I looked down to move my foot out of the way of said needle, I saw the wasp bouncing off my ankle, like a little basketball, over and over. I yelped, both at the realization and because it really hurt. I thought I came out of it relatively unscathed until yesterday afternoon, when my foot swelled up like a little balloon, nearly twenty-four hours after being stung. To be honest, I think I brought this on myself, as the inflammation only occurred after a rather vigorous scratching. My goodness friends, it itches! So here I am, swollen footed, gimpy, writing about soup and fish, delicious velvety soup and fish. George Costanza would eat it with pride.

Velvety Squash Soup

1 winter squash, about 2 1/2 pounds (I used a kabocha – it looks like a dark green pumpkin)

olive oil

salt

1 medium onion, diced

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons curry powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 – 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth

1 cup coconut milk

cayenne pepper (to taste, optional)

Cut the squash into large chunks. If you have a hard time getting your blade through the hard flesh, try gently tapping the knife with a hammer. I wish I could give proper credit for this discovery, because it works wonders! Place on a baking pan and drizzle the pieces with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes to one hour, until soft. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

In a medium soup pot, saute the onion with the butter and salt until the onion is soft. Add three cups of broth and the curry powder and simmer over low heat. Once the squash is cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh and add to the onion curry broth. Using an immersion blender, blend the mixture until smooth. (If you don’t have an immersion blender, use a regular one, adding the squash in batches. Use very little broth as you blend, or you will have a hot mess splattered everywhere. This is the voice of experience talking and why I have the immersion variety. Put it back in the pan as you go.) Add the coconut milk and correct the seasoning and thickness of the soup. It may need more broth, salt, or curry. If you’d like it spicier, add the optional cayenne now. Eat now or continue to simmer over low heat while you prepare the fish.

Floating Fish

2 fillets of firm white fish (neutral flavored cod or halibut are best)

curry powder

salt

Place fish on a baking pan and sprinkle with curry and salt. Place under the broiler for about 3-5 minutes, depending on thickness. Remove from oven, gently turn over, and season the second side. Broil until the flesh is opaque, another 3-5 minutes.

Ladle soup into serving bowls and gently float the fillet on top. It looks so pretty and tastes even better.

Enjoy!