corn and bean enchiladas

Posted on by
Reply

Corn and Bean Enchiladas

Corn and Bean Enchiladas

It is tough to make beige foods like enchiladas look good in pictures but they definitely tasted good. Fantastic for summer when corn and tomatoes are in season. This is inspired from many different recipes and I change it around a little every time. This is a recipe in 4 parts (prep time 30 min)

Red sauce: Blitz one small can whole tomatoes, half a preserved lemon, 4 cloves of garlic and 2 soaked Arbol red chillies in the vitamix. Add 1 tsp of cumin powder, 1 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp salt and cook for 15 min. Add 1 tsp of balsamic vinegar

White sauce: While the red sauce is cooking- brown 1 tbsp all purpose flour in 1 tbsp butter over medium heat for 1-2 min. Whisk in 1 cup whole milk. Add 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp cumin powder

Filling: Steam 3 corn cobs- cut off the kernels. Add to one can of vegetarian baked beans in tomato sauce. Add half the red sauce and half of a white onion finely chopped.

Salsa: chop 2-3 large heirloom tomatoes, ¼ onion, 1 jalapeño and lots of cilantro. Add salt

Assemble:

Brush your tortillas with a little oil. Wrap in 2 layers of wet paper towels and microwave for a minute (thanks America’s test kitchen)

Pour the red sauce in your casserole dish. Take a softened tortilla, add the filling and fold, place seam side down in the pan. Fill your pan up with stuffed tortillas. Pour white sauce over the tortillas. Top with some shredded cheese (I like Colby jack or pepper jack).

Bake at 350 F covered with foil for 30 min and uncovered for 10 min till light brown

Top with fresh pico de gallo.

Grab a beer, squeeze some lime in it and pretend you are in Mexico

Spinach and Tallegio Risotto

Posted on by
Reply

Spinach and Tallegio risotto

I love the funkiness and creaminess of tallegio – especially in grilled cheese so this recipe intrigued me immediately. It’s simply marvelous, the spinach, arborio rice and tallegio blend into a rich unctuous almost fondue like creaminess while still being fresh and green and summery

The recipe is modified from the Melissa Clark recipe linked below which is also modified from a River Cafe cookbook recipe.

Wilt 10 oz of spinach (one large container) in one tablespoon butter on the stove. Purée it with some salt and set it aside.

Use the same pan and sweat together 1 medium chopped onion, 3 cups celery, 3 cloves garlic with 5 tbsp of butter for around 10 min on medium heat. Don’t brown them and yes the quantities are correct and necessary.

Add 1.5 cups unrinsed arborio rice and roast till all the water is soaked up and the rice starts getting toasty pale brown (5 min)

Add ¾ cup of white wine (serve the rest of the bottle with the dish or drink it while cooking). Cook till the wine is all absorbed

You remembered to warm up a quart of vegetable stock right. The traditional method is to add a ladleful at a time as it’s absorbed while continuously stirring. I add the liquid all at once and stir every 3-5 minutes (serious eats did a blog post on this- the risotto is just as good). Add more hot stock if needed. Season with salt.

20 min later- the rice should be creamy and cooked. Add the spinach purée and 8 oz of tallegio (take the rind off with a knife and break the cheese into pieces – try not to eat all the cheese before it goes into the risotto) . Stir till cheese melted! This is a superlative recipe! It’s a keeper

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/13/dining/river-cafe-risotto-recipe.html

Kung Pao Tofu

Posted on by
Reply

When David Leibovitz recommends a recipe it’s generally fabulous. I followed the recipe pretty exactly except I used regular peppercorns in place of Sichuan peppercorns

It’s very good!!

https://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2018/07/kung-pao-tofu-recipe.html

Here is the recipe

Kung Pao Tofu

author andrea nguyen

yield 4 servings

Ingredients

14 to 16 ounces extra-firm tofu

Rounded ½ teaspoon salt

3 to 4 tablespoon canola oil, divided

2/3 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts

Seasoning sauce 1

2 ½ teaspoons regular soy sauce

1 teaspoon Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry

Seasoning sauce 2

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon plus ½ teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Chinkiang vinegar, or 1 tablespoon balsamic and 1 teaspoon cider vinegar

1 tablespoon water

1 ½ teaspoons regular soy sauce

1 teaspoon dark soy sauce, or ½ teaspoon regular soy sauce plus ½ teaspoon molasses

1 ¼ teaspoons toasted sesame oil

8 dried red chiles, stemmed, halved lengthwise with scissors, seeds discarded

1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns

Rounded 1 tablespoon minced garlic

Rounded 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

White part of 4 large green onions, cut to match size of peanuts

Green part of 1 large green onion, cut to match size of peanuts

Instructions

Cut the tofu into thumb nail-size cubes (each about ¾ inch). Sprinkle on the salt and gently toss to coat. Spread out on 2 layers of paper towel and let drain for 10 to 15 minutes.

Heat 1 to 2 tablespoons of oil in a large wok or skillet over medium-high or high heat. When barely shimmering, add the tofu (work in batches, if needed), then cook for 1 to 2 minutes, tossing and stirring to sear and lightly brown the tofu. Transfer to bowl and set aside.

Reheat the wok or skillet over medium-high heat until bead of water evaporates in 2 to 3 seconds. Add 2 tablespoons of oil and the peanuts, stirring constantly for 1 to 2 minutes, until fragrant; take care not to burn them. Use a slotted spoon to transfer peanuts to small plate, leaving excess oil behind.

Stir together the ingredients for each of the seasoning sauces, keeping them separate. Set near the stove with the remaining ingredients from dried red chiles down to the green onion.

Reheat the wok or skillet over high heat. Add the chiles and Sichuan peppercorns. Stir briskly for 20 seconds, until aromatic and crisp. Add the tofu, give things a stir, then splash in seasoning sauce 1. Let the tofu absorb the seasonings, then add the garlic, ginger and white scallion parts. Stir-fry for 1 minute more to cook through and become aromatic.

Give seasoning sauce 2 one last stir, then add to wok. When sauce is thick and coats things, about 30 seconds, return the peanuts and add cut green scallion parts. Stir, transfer to a plate, and serve.

courses main

cuisine chinese

Mango Palettas

Posted on by
Reply

 

It’s summer and the Mexican popsicle is a fabulous treat

 

1 bag of frozen mango (I used Trader Joe’s), 2 limes and enough simple sugar syrup (1 part sugar 1 part water – microwaved till sugar dissolves) to make the whole thing delicious – I needed half a cup

 

Blend and freeze!! Rinse and repeat

Vegetarian Steamed Baozi Buns

Posted on by
Reply

Even before I became a vegetarian- my severe shellfish allergy limited the Asian food I could eat which was depressing because it is my absolute favorite cuisine. A few years ago, I was in Hong Kong for the world glaucoma congress and had vegetarian steamed buns at a Buddhist monastery and they were a revelation. They are surprisingly easy to make – here is my own recipe which took me a while to develop.

Dough buns :

Dough ingredients :2 cups all-purpose flour,1 teaspoon instant yeast, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 4 tablespoons sugar, ½ tsp salt, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, ½ to ¾ cup lukewarm water

I use my kitchen aid mixer with the dough hook to get this dough together. After it comes together- knead on high for 5 more minutes. It’s a soft elastic dough

Rest in a warm place for 2-4 hours till doubled or more in volume

Bao filling:

1 small cabbage shredded and steamed for 5 minutes. Drain the cabbage to remove all the water.

Additions: corn, tofu, cooked mushrooms, anything really. I used corn today – they are in season and I steamed the cob and removed the kernels

2 tbsp oil (sesame or olive or a mix)- add 1 tbsp ginger and 1 tbsp garlic. Cook for a few minutes.

Add to the cabbage corn mixture with 1 tbsp of soy sauce

Divide raised dough into 16 equal parts. Treat the dough gently – like you would pizza dough – don’t beat the air out of it

Make the baos- be generous with the stuffing. The dough is easy to work with- the yeast and the kneading makes it very elastic.

Rest for 10 min- steam on parchment for 15. They really puff up- don’t crowd them.

Serve with your favorite sauce. Today I made a gochuang, soy and vinegar sauce and a hoisin and vinegar sauce.

Frozen ginger

Posted on by
1

It’s easy to preserve ginger – blend it to a paste with water (my vitamix makes it easy) and freeze into tablespoon measures. Remove ginger cubes and store in a ziploc bag. It lasts for months without any flavor change at all. This new ice cube tray makes a slightly bigger portion. Ginger is one of the few foods that taste exactly the same fresh or frozen. Tamarind works well with the same treatment

Chole

Posted on by
Reply

Chole is a spiced chickpea dish that is ubiquitous in India. They say there are as many chole recipes as there are North-Indian families. I’m not North Indian and I’ve been searching for a good chole recipe for a long time.

This variation of a recipe by “your food lab”- the Tasty videos of India (link below) comes very close to what I think are perfect chole. A trip to the Indian store for the spices is essential. I had to buy the Chana masala (I got the MDH brand).

Pressure cook- on high for 30 min

1 cup chickpeas soaked for 24 hours- drained

In a tea ball or cheesecloth – 1 tsp peppercorns, 3-4 cloves, 1-2 Black cardamon pods, 2 bay leaves, 1 inch cinnamon

2 tea bags

4 cloves garlic – crushed

½ cup onions- sliced

1 tsp ajwain (carom seeds)

1 tsp baking soda

Add 2 quarts of water

In a pan:

Melt 2-3 tbsp butter

Add 3 tbsp of Chana masala and 2 tbsp of cumin-coriander powder

Cook for 3 min or so

Add 1 can of tomatoes – puréed

1tbsp of ginger

Cook for 10 min or so

Add pressure cooked chickpeas with their water (removing the tea bags and the spice bouquet)

Cook for 20 minutes

Stir in 1 tsp of amchur powder (dried mango powder) and 1 tsp of garam masala and 1 tbsp of kasuri methi (crushed fenugreek)

Salt to taste – this recipe needs a lot of salt

Garnish: raw onions, chopped preserved lemon, slivers of garlic

Serve with roti or naan or rice or griddled multigrain pizza dough (store bought) which tastes a lot like naan except its whole grain.

https://m.facebook.com/yourfoodlab/posts/2002122406771755/

Mushroom Barley Burgers

Posted on by
Reply

This is my favorite vegetarian burger – the barley makes it particularly toothsome. Mollie Katzen’s “the heart of the plate” is a fabulous vegetarian cookbook.This recipe is adapted from a recipe in that cookbook.

Start with 1.5 cups cooked barley (boil barley with plenty of water for 30 min to cook and then drain-use the water to make barley water lemonade). Cook ¾ cup onion, ¼ lb finely chopped mushrooms and 1.5 tsp garlic in olive oil till dry and slightly brown. Deglaze with 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar and add to barley. Mix in ½ packed cup shredded mozzarella, ½ cup finely chopped cashews, 2 eggs, 6 tbsp all purpose flour, salt and pepper and mix well

Add some oil to your non stick griddle and use non stick spray on your measuring cup and on your spatula. Measure out ¼ cup of the batter onto the griddle- flatten with the spatula into burger shape. Cook for around 5 min each side till brown.

These are great in burgers with your favorite toppings and in tacos in place of meat

Spanish tortilla

Posted on by
Reply

Spanish tortilla

 

Exactly like Melissa Clark- I’ve always been wary of any dish that starts with 1-2 cups of olive oil and I’ve been unimpressed with the Spanish tortillas I’ve eaten in tapas bars (vegetarian food is always an afterthought in these places)

 

But on a sunny Sunday morning, when you are waiting to hear from the on-call resident to see if you have to go back to the OR- it’s a perfect distraction. And most of the oil does get poured off.

 

I followed the recipe linked below. I chopped 3 large Russet potatoes (equal size cuts) and finely chopped one onion and poached all of it in enough oil to cover the potatoes for 15 min on gentle heat till the potatoes are soft and the onion is golden( I did add one dried chili to poach in the oil). Drain some of the oil – add 6 eggs to the potatoes with salt and pepper. Cook on the stove top till set and then in the oven (375F) for 10 min or so till set all the way through. I skipped the flipping over part and added 2 sauces , one is my tomato chutney and the other was a yogurt, parsley, garlic, olive and some of the drained olive oil sauce.

 

All I can say is that I’m really sad I waited so long to make this. This may have been the best brunch dish I’ve ever eaten. It should be great for brunch guests as well- everything can be done in advance till the eggs are added.

 

 

 

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/12/25/dining/a-potatos-postcard-from-spain.html