Good Real Food

Go here for the New York Times recipe:

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My favorite soup for a cold Minnesota afternoon.

• 3 cups split peas
• 7-8 cups water
• 2-4 strips of bacon
• 4-6 peeled and sliced carrots
• 2 stocks minced celery
• 3 cloves garlic
• one large onion minced
• 2 medium potatos peeled and sliced
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• (I also added the mushroom reduction sauce from last night’s dinner to the pot which gave it some nice depth. This was a saute mixture of chopped dried wild mushrooms soaked in boiling water, the stock made from soaking the mushrooms, a bunch of regular mushrooms chopped, some dry sherry, and a tbsp of unsalted butter.)

1. Cook the peas with the bay leaves and salt in the water for about 45 minutes.
2. Slice the bacon and saute to render the fat for about 5 minutes.
3. Saute the onions, carrots, potato, celery, onion, and garlic with the bacon for ten minutes adding a bit of water to steam then add to the peas.
4. Cook for another 20 mintes, add the thyme, some salt and black pepper and serve.

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As I wrote earlier, the NY Times recipe for Bucatini alla Lipari sounded good in theory and was amazing in practice:

definitely suggest trying the recipe yourself if you like nuts, cheese, mint and pasta.

A note on the pasta - Bucatini is somewhat like spaghetti, but is hollow. Though I usually don’t feel this way, I think in this case, the type of pasta makes a difference. Also, make sure that your al dente is actually al dente - there should be some definite bite to the pasta in my opinion. Finally, if you can’t find bucatini on your market’s shelf, look for perciatelli, which is the same thing.

Best thing about this dish? It is fast - 30-40 minutes depending on how well you work in the kitchen. Maybe a bit more clean-up with two pans plus food processor, but not so bad for what you get. Though I should note that my wife wasn’t crazy about the color of the sauce - suspect that some of that is the nuts you use, some of that is the amount of tomato sauce, and some of it lighting. . . to my mind, that’s an excuse to dim the lights and light the candles.

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I’m still not getting the oven spring that I want, but I think things are headed in the right direction. I’ve got a meeting to go to this morning, so I had to cut the proofing to only an hour. I suspect that deprived the loaf of some of its spring. So, with that bit of new knowledge, we’ll see how the next loaf turns out.

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I received my cast iron dutch oven last week, and had an opportunity to bake in it last night.

The results were not what I’d hoped - not nearly the oven spring I’d expected, but I suspect that part of that was that I played a bit with the original recipe and gave it an extra long initial rise, and probably a somewhat too long proofing period given the long initial rise.  I think my yeasties just ran out of gas.

Still, the bread tastes great, nice crust, good crumb, etc.  I really am starting to believe that this bread is pretty much fool proof.

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food has been catch as catch can around here the last few days since the little one has been sick and “the mama” is out of town.

She seems to be on the mend but hasn’t been eating much. From what I understand, dhal water is often given to sick kids in India, so I’m thinking about that, but I’m also considering making this tomato rasam which I originally came across over at Vegan Lunch Box.

Do you have favorite quick-to-fix recipes for sick kids?  please share via the comments

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My husband has been asking for sweets. I don’t really know how to make sweets. This is step one in my journey. One of the reasons I am not a great baker is bacause I substutute all the time when I don’t have an ingredient called for in a recipe. Case in point: this walnut, sour cream, maple syrup filling is supposed to be pecan, corn syrup, and 35% B.F. cream

Does not look half bad eh?

Adapted from the recipe for Caramel Pecan Tart in The Chez Piggy Cookbook:

Crust:

• 1/3 cup + 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 5 tbsp sugar
• 2 large or three small egg yolks (I used the left over egg whites to make a quick egg white, ham and parmesan fritatta for my husband before he had to rush out the door for a music gig this MLK day morning).

Filling:

• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup local MN maple syrup
• 2 cups walnuts, pounded and toasted lightly in a pan
• 3 tbsp light sour cream

1) Preheat oven to 375F. Line the botttom of a 9 inch pie pan with parchment paper (I used tin foil and it was fine except it was hard to slide out onto a plate at the end and no one wants to end up eating bits of tin foil.)

2) Using a pastry cutter, two knives, or your fingers,cut butter into flour and suger to form pea-size chunks. Add egg yolks and mix until pastry starts to cling together. Press into the bottom and sides of the prepared pan. Press crust with a fork, and bake for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

3) To make filling, combine brown sugar, butter and maple syrup in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn off heat and mix in walnuts and sour cream.

4) Pour filling into pie crust and bake at 375 for 12 minutes. let cool before cutting.

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This is one of my favorite vegetarian/vegan party dishes. Folks keep asking me for the recipe, so here it is!

• 1 1/2 cups basmati rice, washed in a few changes of water and soaked for 30 minutes
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 3 tbs vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup chopped almonds (unsalted, unroasted)
• 1/2 cup shelled pistachios
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 1/2 cup raw unsalted peanuts or cashews
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1 large or two small onions, chopped
• 1 tbsp peeled finely chopped fresh ginger
• 2 cloves finely chopped garlic
• 8-10 green cardamom pods, pounded lightly to break the skin
• One-to-two cinnamon sticks
• 2 tsp black peppercorns
• veggie options, choose as many as you want: cauliflower or broccoli florets, diced red bell pepper, frozen peas, or small pieces of squash.
• salt to taste

1. Heat oil in large saucepan over high heat and cook the nuts, stiring, until they are lightly golden. Remove to paper towels and drain. Add the raisins and cook until they puff up then remove to the paper towels with the nuts.

2. In the same oil over moderate heat, cook, stiring the onion, garlic, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, and peppercorns until onion is golden.

3. Stir in vegetables and cook for a few minutes then add the rice and water. Stir and bring to a boil, then bring down to a simmer and cover until the rice is done (10-15 minutes). Just before serving, stir in the nuts and raisins and salt to taste.

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It has always been sort of a family tradition to sleep in a bit on a Saturday and wake up to pancakes. It is a special treat, takes a bit more time in the morning, but making them always puts me in a great mood. I have played with variations on this recipe wanting to get away from ho hum, all white flour or heavy leaden pancakes and reach some ballance of healthy amd light, filling and yummy. I have been inspired by the wonderful cooks at Hollyhock http://www.hollyhock.ca/cms/page1590.cfm

• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup unbleached white flour
• 1/4 cup corn meal
• 1/4 cup wheat germ or ground flax seed flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 egg whites
• 1 1/4 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt
• 2 egg yolks beaten
• 3-4 tbsp melted butter or sunflour oil
• 1 tbs lemon, lime, or orange zest
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

1. In a large bowl, sift together all dry ingredients

2. crack the two eggs, whites in one bowl, yolks in with the dry ingredients.

3. beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.

4. Mix the remailing wet ingredients in with the dry, then fold in the egg whites.  Cook in a medium-hot lightly oiled skillet keeping pankakes warm on a plate in a warm oven as you go. Serve with local maple syrup, fruit and yogurt.

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breakfast scones:

up next: crackers!  and later, a soup, another batch of bread, and maybe some black bean butter.

verbiage and recipes to follow.

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