Tag: Try New Things

Challah

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I have a really cheesy joke that I’m going to refrain from saying involving a crappy Gwen Stefani song.  I’m sure you can guess what it is.

Instead, I’ll just tell you about this creation.

I’m not really a bread baker.  I don’t really have the patience to wait for dough to rise numerous times.  But yesterday seemed to be that day.  Challah won me over.   I want to try bread making again.

Challah

from Cooking Bread

1/2 cup warm water
1 egg
1 egg yolk (reserve white for egg wash)
1 tbsp oil
1 1/2 tbsp honey
2 1/4 cup bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp yeast
tbsp of milk + egg white for egg wash

Combine water, eggs oil and honey.  Once they’re all whisked well together, add 1 cup of flour, yeast and salt and beat together.  Let it sit for 15 minutes.  After it has sat for 15 minutes, add the rest of the flour, 1/4 cup at a time.  Once you’ve mixed it as much as possible.  Turn it onto a surface and finish incorporating the flour.  Knead for 10 minutes until dough is soft and elastic.

Put dough in a greased bowl.  Place in a warm spot for about an hour to an hour and a half (I turn the oven on for 2 minutes just to warm it up, then put the dough in there).    Once the dough has risen, divide into 3 equal sized pieces.  Roll into long pieces and braid.  (For step by step photos click here).  Once braided, allow to rise another hour or so.

Brush with egg wash and bake at 400F for 15 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350F and bake for another 15 minutes.

I was a little concerned before making this.  The braiding part seemed particularly intimidating but it was surprisingly easy.  I would definitely say it’s worth a try.

Not to mention fresh challah with dijon mustard, asiago, sliced artichoke hearts and spinach is a wonderful combination.

4th of July is this weekend!  Any plans?

Turnip and Kohlrabi Slaw

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It really is just way too hot to cook.  This morning I had oatmeal.  Big mistake.  I was sweatin’ like a ____ in _____.

So there’s no way I’m turning on the stove, much less the oven, but my vegetables still need to get eaten.

My goal is to not let any vegetables from my CSA share go to waste.  Can I do it?

Last week, I got these guys:

I won’t lie.  I was a little concerned when I put them in my bag at the farmer’s market.  First, I had never touched a kohlrabi.  Second, the only knowledge I had of turnips was a book I read in elementary school…

Luckily, the internet (and Clay and Zach) saved the day.

Turnip and Kohlrabi Slaw

adapted from Turnip-and-Kohlrabi Slaw with Ginger Vinaigrette

1 kohlrabi, peeled and grated
 1 bunch of turnips, peeled and grated (I used about 5 small turnips)
 A few lettuce leaves (or any other green), shredded
 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
 3 tbsp olive oil
 1 1/2 tbsp sugar
 1 tbsp ginger, finely chopped
 salt and pepper to taste
 a handful of peanuts

The food processor is really handy to grate all these veggies.  Combine grated kohlrabi, turnips and shredded lettuce in a bowl.  In a small bowl mix together vinegar, oil, sugar, ginger, salt and pepper until the sugar is dissolved.  Pour dressing over vegetables, toss to combine and sprinkle with peanuts.  Serves 4-6 as a side dish.

I was extremely pleased with this.  Next time, I would definitely add a grated carrot and some cilantro for both taste and color.  This really would be perfect to take to a barbecue or potluck!

Have a great night!

Pão de Mel (Honey Bread)

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My first Portuguese teacher was named Mimi (Miriam); she was from São Paulo.  On the last day of class, she brought a delicious, Brazilian treat for the class.  It was sweet and spicy.

Honey,  spices and chocolate, an interesting combination.  Ever since, I’ve wanted to make it.

A few days ago, I stumbled upon a blog and while perusing the recipes, I came across it!

Pão de Mel (Honey Bread)

from The Cookie Shop

2 cups flour
1/2 tbsp baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup oil (I used coconut oil)
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup milk
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Whisk together dry ingredients.  Add wet ingredients and combine well.  Put batter into a greased and floured baking dish and bake for 30-40 minutes.    As soon as you take it out of the oven, sprinkle with chocolate chips.  As the chocolate chips melt, spread with a spatula.  Allow to cool and serve.

I’m not sure why I love this stuff so much!  Probably because it’s crazy sweet and has an interesting flavor combination.  Let’s call it sweet and sassy.  Reason enough to try it, right?

It’s a beautiful day out here!  And it’s Friday!

Have a great day!

Beans and Greens Burgers

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Not gonna lie.  Not a lot of cooking has been happening over here the past few days for a few reason:

1. No one will eat my baked goods. Boo.
2. I’ve been eating salads like it’s nobody’s business.  Fresh things are just fun in the summer.
3.  I’ve been spending the better parts of my day watching soccer.

Basically I made one big pot of lentil/rice/greens and ate that for about 4 days.

I also ended most meals with strawberries that were in my CSA bag this week.  Pretty tasty.  Sad they’re gone.

Finally, today I decided it was time to make something.  Why not a burger?

Beans and Greens Burgers

1-2 big handfuls of greens (I used turnip greens and kale)
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 an onion, roughly chopped
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 handful of fresh basil (I bet mint or cilantro would work great too)
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes (rehydrated or packed in oil)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups cooked garbanzo beans
1 tsp salt
2 “flax” eggs (2 tbsp milled flax + 6 tbsp water)
2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp paprika

Preheat oven to 400 F.  Put greens,  garlic, onion, basil, sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil, lemon juice and zest in the processor and pulse until it resembles a coarse pesto. Add remaining ingredients and continue to pulse until you get a consistency you like (I left mine kind of chunky).

Form into patties and place on a greased baking sheet.  Bake for 15 minutes, turn and bake for 15 more minutes.  Serve as patties or on a bun.

In other news, I’ve been watching Glee. While a lot of the times I get embarrassed for the characters who are singing and have to fast forward (does this happen to anyone else!??!),  I’m enjoying it.  But let’s be realistic, it’s no secret I watch TV shows/movies for the eye candy…

Anyone else love Puck?

CSA

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Hi Friends!

The past few days I’ve been enjoying summer in Ithaca with some friends.  It really is quite lovely here in summer (at some point I’ll take pictures and share).

This morning I woke up and walked with my friend, Sara, to the farmer’s market.

The exciting thing for the day was that today was the first pick up day for my CSA!

CSA stands for community support agriculture.  They’re an easy way to eat locally and often organically. Basically you buy a “share” which allows you to get a “box” (in my case a bag)

of vegetables (and sometimes fruit) each week.  If you’re curious about getting a CSA share in your area click here.

The farm I chose, Early Morning Farm, allows you to “shop” so you basically take as much as you need.  I got 2 bunches of lettuce, some turnips and a bunch of rhubarb (I skipped the radishes since I’m not a fan).

I’ve never tried rhubarb before!  I’m excited to give it a whirl.  You’ll probably see it here for the next few days.  But before that I had to use my lettuce to make lunch

Went well with some multigrain sourdough I got at the farmer’s market too!

Well I’m off to read for fun!  I’m reading The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, loving it so far.

Recommend any summer reading books?

Peruvian Ceviche

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Ready for a super simple, super delicious fish recipe?

Here’s another recipe from my sister and her multi-cultural friends: Peruvian Ceviche. Apparently in Peru (according to my sister’s Peruvian friends), this is commonly eaten for breakfast!

If you make this, please make sure you use fresh fish!  But really you should do that anytime you eat fish.

Some of you might question the safety of this for a few reasons, but we made this for my parent’s birthday party, many people ate it and no one got sick.

Instead, everyone was so pleased, the ceviche was gone in less than 10 minutes!

Peruvian Ceviche

3 lbs raw tilapia, cut into small cubes
4 lbs of key limes (or enough juice to cover all the fish)
2 celery ribs, finely chopped
2 tsp yellow hot pepper paste (aji amarillo o chile guero)
1/2 tsp sazon (this is really just MSG, if it’s a huge issue for you, you can probably just use salt)
1 red onion, thinly sliced

Cut the tilapia into small bite sized pieces and place in a serving bowl with chopped celery.

This recipe requires a ton of key limes

A lemon/lime squeezer makes this a whole lot easier.  Press your key limes, you want enough juice to cover your fish completely.

Pour over fish, then mix in your yellow hot pepper paste (use more if you want it spicier) and sazon.

Lastly, top with thinly sliced red onions.  Refrigerate for half an hour and serve!

The citric acid in the limes cooks the fish!  Then you have a super quick and easy light dish!   I definitely recommend giving it a try.  My mom was apprehensive because she thought it was raw (even though it’s not) but ended up loving it!

Any foods scare you?

Tofu used to freak me out… still not a huge fan.

Guatemalan Rellenitos

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One of the best parts of being home is the food. I’ll be honest, my mom is a lovely woman, but she’s not much of a cooker. She most definitely can; she simply chooses not to. My aunt on the other hand loves to cook. Lucky me, she’s visiting!

So I’ve been following her around the kitchen the past few days trying to get some Guatemalan recipes to share with you all.

I guess the first warning is that a lot of these things are cooked to taste, so the measurements may vary but I’ll give estimates of what she used.

The first thing we made was rellenitos.

rellenitosedited

Rellenitos are mashed plantains stuffed with sweet black beans then fried to create tasty little dumpling type things.  They’re usually eaten as an afternoon snack or dessert.  They’re a little labor intensive but totally worth it.

Rellenitos

1/2 lb cooked black beans (cooked like the Guatemalan Black Bean recipe I posted before)
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
10 ripe plantains
1 cinnamon stick
oil for trying

This recipe will make a few dozen rellenitos, so adjust accordingly.  I know it sounds sort of weird but you start with salty beans cooked in garlic and onion.  Put them in the blender with cinnamon and sugar (you might have to do it in batches). Taste to make sure they’re sweet and not too cinnamony.

Then put the blended beans in a deep skillet with oil and bring to a boil.  Simmer for a few minutes then transfer to another container to cool (they’ll thicken as they cool).

You want your plantains to be ripe.  The riper they are, the sweeter they are but also harder to work with.

Cut your plantains into 2 inch pieces, leaving the skin on.  Put them in a large pot with cinnamon stick and fill about half way with water (plantains won’t be completely submerged).  Bring to a boil and simmer for a few minutes until plantains are starting to soften but not so soft that they fall apart.

Peel and put in a container to mash.  If you have a potato ricer or food mill this will be a whole lot easier, we had neither so we used a mug, some forks and a masher to get out all the clumps.

Now comes the shaping part.  Once the plantains have cooled.  Take a palm sized amount and shape it into a thick pancake/tortilla shape.

Place about a 1/2 tbsp to 1 tbsp sized amount of beans in the middle and close the pancake/tortilla shape.

Pinch the edges together and smooth with your fingers into a roundish egg shape.  Repeat until you run out of beans or plantains.

Heat oil in a skillet.  Place rellenitos in hot oil and fry all around.

Once they are golden brown all around (okay if a little burnt), place them on a paper towel to absorb the excess oil.

Serve with sour cream and sprinkle with sugar.

Delish!  Definitely not the healthiest way to eat a plantain but probably one of the best.

If you made a ton don’t worry about finishing them all at once.  While chances are they will get eaten, if not you can wrap them in aluminum foil and freeze them and when you’re ready for a treat just unwrap them and microwave for a minute or two and ta-da! Ready to go!  My family actually brings them frozen from Guatemala since my mom isn’t big on cooking 🙂

Anyway, tonight we’re having a birthday party for my dad since he was in Guatemala on his actual birthday!  More fun recipes and hopefully pictures to come!

Hope you’re having a great weekend!

Tostones

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Since I last posted… I’ve finished finals, packed some stuffed, said some sad goodbyes and flown across the country.  But before that, I went to a small potluck.  As I was trying to use up everything in my kitchen, I made tostones from 2 green plantains I had sitting in my kitchen.

Tostones are fried green plantains eaten throughout the Caribbean.  This recipe is courtesy of my sister who lived in the Dominican Republic for 3 years.

Tostones

2 green plantains
oil for frying
salt

Peel and slice your plantains into 3/4 inch-1 inch rounds.

Heat oil in a pan.  Fry rounds until golden

Transfer to a paper towel lined cutting board (or on the counter is fine, it’ll just get oily).

Cover with another paper towel or two and using your hand mash into a thin circle.  You can make them as thin or thick as you’d like.  I like them pretty thin.

Fry again.  Once they are golden transfer them to a paper towel lined plate and salt.

Serve on their own or with ketchup (or really any dipping sauce).

Fun, easy treat for a small gathering.

Coming up soon… another unhealthy way to eat a plantain!

Have a great night!

Spicy Chocolate Cupcakes and Fried Plantains

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It’s the last day of class!

I woke up this morning pretty excited about the last day of class.  I threw on my gym clothes, walked to the gym only to find that it was closed because of Slope Day!  So apparently Slope Day is a big deal.  Essentially, people get drunk in the morning then go to “the slope” (large hill on campus) where there is a concert.

I was pretty bummed about the gym situation, but figured it’s okay.  Instead of trying to find alternative means of exercise (i.e. go for a run) I decided going home and having breakfast was a better idea, so here I am.

But let’s backtrack to yesterday…

I had a potluck for my Urban Transformations in the Global South class.  You can probably guess that I brought dessert.  I tried to keep with the “Global South” theme. Inspired by Guatemalan Platanos en Mole, I made Spicy Chocolate Cupcakes topped with a fried plantain.

Spicy Chocolate Cupcakes

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cayenne
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable/canola oil
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and stir together. Add all the wet ingredients minus the boiling water and mix together.  As you mix the batter, add the boiling water.  Pour into lined cupcake pan (fill half way).  This batter is really watery/runny so be careful!

Bake for 18-20 minutes.  Makes about 30 cupcakes

Frost with Spicy Chocolate Frosting and top with a fried plantain.

Spicy Chocolate Frosting

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
few shakes of cinnamon
few shakes of cayenne

Combine all ingredients and mix with a hand mixer until it reaches the right consistency, add more powdered sugar if too runny.

I was talking to a friend a few days ago, and he said he really wasn’t sure what to do with a plantain since he didn’t really see it as a child.  In light of that I thought I’d do a little plantain tutorial.

If you’re going to make fried, sweet plantains you want a really ripe plantain.  Basically you want it to look like it’s going bad:

If you’re making a South Asian dish or something like tostones, you want a green plantain.  But for now, I’m working with the super ripe!

Cut off the ends

Cut skin off lengthwise and peel.

Slice as desired.  Since I was using this as cupcake toppers I cut them in circles (ish), but for fried plantains like you would get at a Cuban restaurants cut them thicker and slightly diagonal.

Put some oil in a pan (enough to coat the bottom) and heat.  Once the oil is hot (but not too hot).  Add plantains.

Keep the flame on low and cook until golden brown on one side. Then flip over and continue to cook.

They will probably take about 10 minutes to cook through.  Then transfer them to a papertowel lined dish to soak up some of the excess oil.

Enjoy!

I loved when I walked into my apartment later in the day and it smelled like fried plantains.  Reminds me of home!  (Can’t wait to go home in 11 days!)

I should probably get ready for class!  Have a wonderful day!

No Panini Press? No Prob!

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Hi Ladies (and gentlemen?)!  Hope your weekend is starting out well! Mine’s been okay.  I finished the book I had to read, now paper writing can commence, but before all that I had a lovely morning.

I watched Ugly Betty (cried a bit… so sad this show is ending) while I had breakfast, cleaned the apartment, did some laundry and went to the gym (45min elliptical + 15 min treadmill + some weights).  Then I came home and before going to the library decided I should probably have lunch.  So this ensued…

Holey Moley!  Sooo good!

Now, I love toasted/pressed sandwiches.  However, I’m poor and unmarried (no registry… not for a long time, if ever) so instead I got a little creative.

I started with a flat out foldy thing (flat bread essentially but any bread would work), spread some delicious hummus on both sides, layered a little under 2 ounces of reduced fat cheese on both sides, then added spinach, sprouts and yellow peppers to create this:

Then I heated a pan and sprayed it with cooking spray and placed another pan on top and weighed it down with a jar of tahini, like such:

Then I had the most amazing meal ever!  Check out the melty cheese!

But seriously what made this extra delicious was this hummus:

Tribe Mediterranean hummus.  It tastes Moroccan!! Sooo good!  (Note: if you have a Harris Teeter look in their deli section for Moroccan Hummus!  Delish!)

I love this hummus with the yellow peppers as well.

Tip: If you don’t want to consume an entire pepper at one time, one way to keep it fresher longer (since they are expensive and you want them to last!) is to wrap the cored pepper in a paper towel then place it in a bag in the fridge.

It’ll keep fresh for up to a week!

Friends, I am a bottomless pit today!  Sadly I came home from the library with no desire to cook (gasp, rarely happens).  This is where I need a sexy man who waits eagerly for my arrival just so he can serve me a gourmet, healthy meal.

Wishful thinking.  Instead I had PB&J

some edamame and cottage cheese.

I’m hoping my hunger monster will go away soon, in the meantime, I’m chugging water and starting this paper!  Wish me luck!

Random Question: What’s your favorite sandwich ingredient?