Eatyet’s Weblog

As lovely as the rosemary bread was, I think this is even more awesome.

Chop one stalk of scallion, mix with 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of black pepper. Knead half (or more) of the scallion mixture into a large ‘grapefruit sized’ piece of dough, place on a floured surface and top the dough with the rest of the scallion. Let dough rest for 20mins, cut slits (I shaped it just like the rosemary bread), and I baked it in an enameled cast iron pot (preheated with oven to 450º for 20mins), baked with lid on for 20mins and another 15mins lid off till it was the color I wanted. It taste heavenly, so savory and aromatic. Where as rosemary loses it’s intensity when baked, scallion becomes even more flavorful.

-L

Some of the orzo got a little burnt, resulting in the variations of color.

Orzo, being a rice shaped pasta, gives you the quick cooking time of pasta and the applications of rice. You can make a fast faux risotto or a substitute rice salad. I prefer not to cook orzo in a large pot of water like you would most pasta. I like to toast the dry orzo in a pan with some oil till golden brown before adding liquid to it. This ensures the pasta won’t become too soggy and adds more flavor to the finished dish.

Porcini Orzo (for 2 or 4 as sides)

• 1 small onion diced
• 1 pint cremini or button mushrooms diced
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 oz dried porcini (+ 2/3 cup hot water)
• 1 cup dry orzo
• 1 1/3 cup water
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tsp of chopped rosemary or thyme
• 1/2 cup peas (frozen or fresh)
• 3/4 tsp salt
• pepper to taste

About 3oz or however much that looks like to you.

1. Soak porcini in hot water for about 15-20mins, when softened, cut the porcini into semi large pieces, reserve the liquid (you can strain it through a coffee filter to get out all the grit).
2. In a wide pot or sauté pan on medium high heat, add in oil to coat pan. Then add the diced onions, stir, and cook till translucent with slight browning on edges.
3. Add bay leaf and orzo to the pan, stirring a lot to make sure the orzo is coated in oil and doesn’t get burned.
4. When orzo looks toasted, add in diced mushrooms and salt, stir and cook till mushrooms have shrunk.
5. Add in porcini and its liquid, the peas, along with the 1 1/3 cup of water. Stir thoroughly and bring to a simmer, turn heat down to low and cover for 9-11mins.
6. There should be no liquid left after that, but if it’s too dry and the pasta is kind of hard, stir in another 1/4 cup of (hot) water and cook on medium low till it’s absorbed. If there is too much liquid after the initial cooking, just cook it uncovered till it dries up.
7. Stir in chopped herbs and pepper at the end.

-Lina

My rosemary plant has more than doubled in size. Here I added two tablespoons of chopped rosemary into some dough. The final shape was an accident, I flattened it out too much in the center. The slits were done with a pair of kitchen shears (easier than knives).

-L

  Soba salad with smoked mackerel.

The first day of the heat wave, I was mostly hiding out in my room with the air conditioner. I wasn’t willing to cook a big meal or even stand in front of the stove for long. Soba noodles are noodles made with buckwheat flour; it has slightly nutty flavor, and is all around healthy. The cooking time is only three minutes in boiling water. In colder weather I love soba in hot broth. In summer, they can be eaten chilled with cold dipping sauce. I like it hot or cold with tororo (grated yam). And of course as a salad one dish light meal.

Soba Salad (for 2)

• 6oz dried soba (2/3 of most small packages)
• 4 cups (roughly) baby salad greens
• 1/2 small onion (thinly sliced)
• 1 scallion (thinly sliced)
• 3 tbsp dried wakame 
• smoked fish or leftover meats (optional)
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• ponzu + olive oil or salad dressing or…

soy citrus dressing:

• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 minced garlic clove
• juice of 1 lemon or lime
• few drops of fish sauce (optional)
• few drops of sesame oil
• 2 tsp olive (or canola) oil
• 3-4 tbsp water to dilute

Cook noodles in boiling water for 3mins, drain and rinse under cold water till completely cooled. Set aside and let water continue to drain away. Rehydrate wakame in some hot water, let it sit for 2mins or so, then drain. Toss cold noodles, vegetables, fish, and wakame together with dressing, top with sesame seeds.

To make it completely vegan, leave out any fish/meat or fish sauce. You can add firm tofu or just leave it plain. I didn’t have any at the time, but thinly slice cucumbers would also be great. Wakame adds a really nice ‘sea’ flavor but if you can’t get any, you can also add other seaweeds like finely shredded nori at the end.

-Lina

The hubby loves cereal (mainly Nature’s Path Optimum Power) and soymilk in the morning, afternoon, late at night, and whenever he feels like eating something. He doesn’t really miss it when we go weeks without buying any but when it’s there he’ll go thru a box in two days (maybe three). I tried buying in bulk, but it still doesn’t feel like much of a deal. The cheapest organic cereals are plain puffed grains of some sort. I prefer granola, but most of the granola I see at the stores aren’t organic and they are still expensive. A one pound bag of organic rolled oats is moderate in price. To make a bowl of oatmeal you would use less than you would normally consume in a bowl of granola.

So here’s my attempt in trying to solve my cereal dilemma, involving some cheap organic puffed brown rice and organic rolled oats. However, with the added costs of nuts, fruits and other extras, I don’t think I can conclusively calculate it as a real savings. But it’s tasty and makes use of my new glass container.

Granola cereal with almonds, coconut, and raisins

• 2 1/2 – 3 cups rolled oats (I eyeballed it)
• 2 cups puffed rice or kamut
• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 2/3 cup flaked coconut
• 2/3 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup golden syrup or maple syrup/rice bran syrup (more or less according to your taste)
• 1 tsp molasses (optional)
• 1 tbsp of oil or more if needed

Makes about 2 1/2 quarts (roughly)

Preheat oven to 350º. Coat large mixing bowl with the oil. Mix everything except the raisins together in the bowl with the liquids. Pour and spread evenly onto a parchment lined sheet pan. Bake for 20mins (or till golden brown), stirring it half way thru. When cooled mix in raisins, and store in an airtight container if you intend to keep for long. The non-airtight container is ok for a day or two (which is exactly how long it’s gonna last here).

Will be making more soon, but I ran out of raisins, and walnuts might be cheaper.

-L

This was the dough after 7 hours in the fridge. This is a 4qt bowl and I also had another 1.5qt bowl of dough.

I finally bought a copy of ‘Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day’ by Jeff Hertzberg, Zoe Francois. For the past year and a half I’ve been working with the ‘No-Knead Bread’ recipe but with more yeast and less than half the incubating time. And the pot baking method really insures great crust every time. With the ‘five minute’ method, the dough is drier than I’m used to, but it’s still considered a wet dough. The refrigeration makes it easier to handle, and the idea of always having readied dough on hand is great. Of course it’s not literally five minutes but it’s less labor intensive than making a batch of cookies or a cake. Hardest part might have been trying to make room in the fridge for the dough.

After resting. The chunk may have been a bit larger than the recommended grapefruit sized 1lb ball.

The book suggests a baking stone and a broiler tray for hot water to create steam (to form a crisp crust). So I went out and bought a cheap round pizza stone. The top of the bread looked perfect but the bottom was not crusty at all. Maybe it’s the stone or my placement of the steam tray (right under it), but the bottom of the loaf was very light and did not form a proper crust. I tried a second smaller loaf and baked it longer, but the bottom still wasn’t browning.

The first loaf.

On the second day, I tried baking a loaf in my enameled cast iron pot. I couldn’t slide the dough in perfectly but it proofed up beautifully. It was sort of football shaped while the other loafs came out more disk shaped. The pot once again made the perfect crust all around and a lighter crumb inside (much larger holes). Also, the dough has gained a little more flavor on the second day. There’s enough dough left for one large loaf or two small ones. Maybe I can mix new dough into the old and build on the flavor?

-L

Popcorn is always an easy satisfying tabula rasa waiting for you to fill in the blanks, and I have a large spice rack. Not to mention a whole world of sweet popcorn treats to explore.

Here I seasoned half with curry powder and the other half with smoked paprika. It’s separately seasoned (so there are yellow and red kernels) then tossed together with sea salt. You can also heat some butter/ghee (or Earth Balance, olive oil etc.), toast up some cumin seeds, dried chilies, and curry and pour over popcorn for a more intense curry flavor. Next time I want to try garam masala, salt, and sugar.

 -L

The hubby was ill all this week too, and now finally showing signs of improvement. Earlier in the week he wanted apple sauce, I had some apples in the fridge and figured I’d give it a try. At first I was wondering how long do I have to cook it to get it mushy, then I remembered I had an immersion blender (so it didn’t matter). Then later on I realized that I could’ve just blended the apples raw. But I guess cooking it gave it a smoother texture. The red apple skins made it a pretty rosy color and it was far better than store bought apple sauce. I’m feeling quite worn out this week and can’t think off the top of my head what else to do with apple sauce (pork chops, for the meat-eaters?).

Apple sauce

• 3 small apples (I had the kid sized organic ones from Whole Foods)
• 2/3 – 3/4 cup water (enough to submerge but not to cover all the apples)
• 1 tbsp sugar
• squeeze of lemon (1tsp more or less)
• dash of cinnamon
• pinch of cloves

Core and dice apples, with skins on (if organic, peel otherwise). Put in pot with water, sugar and spices. Simmer for 10min. Take off heat and use immersion blender to puree or put into blender/food processor. If it’s too thin, put back into pot and simmer till desired consistency and adjust sugar if necessary.

Apple sauce in tarts? I have to try that later.

 -L

I had bought some dark chocolate bars that I didn’t like very much. They were too strong at 75% cocoa without any vanilla and scant sugar in it. So I melted them down with some almond milk, sugar, and vanilla into a ganache-like consistency. I was keeping it in the fridge for a while (wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it). Then I got my mini-madeleine pan just when I ran out of eggs. But I went ahead and made madeleines anyway. So they are vegan now.

Vegan Chocolate (mini) Madeleines

• 11 oz dark chocolate (approximately)
• 1/2 cup almond milk or soy milk
• 1/3-1/2 cup sugar (depending on the sweetness of the chocolate and liquid)
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup flour

Heat liquid and dissolve sugar. Break chocolate into small chucks and melt in liquid over very low heat. Add vanilla, once incorporated, let cool till lukewarm or room temp before stirring in flour.

Preheat oven to 350º. Spray madeleine pan with oil, optional but they will probably come out easier (I didn’t spray my pans and there was minimal sticking). I tried not to over fill the molds. Bake for 15-17 minutes. This made exactly four batches with my mini madeleine pan (I only have one pan that makes 24 at a time).

I found out that I didn’t have to clean out the pan after each batch. Let it cool for 5min, and pop them out. Just refill pan when it’s cooled to the touch even if there’s a crumb layer stuck on. It pops out about the same each time. They have a fudgy brownie texture. After 15min of baking they are very moist, another minute or two will dry them more and give them a crispier edge.

 -L

also check out red bean and green tea madeleines 

Right now, I fear I will catch what the hubby has (fever, aches, and coughs). He never gets this sick usually. I’m keeping him hydrated, and made rice porridge (not the one pictured, that was from weeks ago). By the time he’s better, my immune system will probably give in. And this will be his instructions. I don’t expect him to be able to make anything more than just the rice porridge part.

Rice porridge

• Dashi:
• 2 quarts water
• 5×8inch piece of kombu
• 1/2 cup bonito flakes

• 1 1/2 cup white rice (long or short grain)

 small cooked piece of kombu, used bonito tea bag, pack of tea bags

Put water, kombu and bonito flakes (in tea bag/dashi bag/or tied up cheese cloth) in pot. Cover, bring to a boil on medium, let simmer for a minute or two, then turn off heat, and remove the kombu and bonito package. Kombu will expand when cooked. For a vegan dashi; use kombu and one dried shitake mushroom. Or simply make it with only water.

Rinse rice with cold water and add to dashi. If using a regular pot on stovetop, bring to boil and let simmer on low for 90mins to 2hrs. When using a rice cooker you can just put it in and let it run on porridge mode, but make sure you know what the maximum capacity for porridge is. If using a pressure cooker (making sure you are well with in the max fill line) secure the lid, and bring to a boil, locking in the lid. On medium low, let it cook for 20-25mins. After turning off the heat and letting the pressure dissipate, take the lid off, stir (add more water if it seems to be too thick) and simmer for another 5-10mins.

Kombu enoki relish

• Kombu leftover from dashi
• 1 large package of enoki (about 1 3/4 cup worth when chopped)
• 3/4 cup water
• 3-4 tbsp of soy sauce
• 2 tbsp of mirin
• dash of sansho pepper

Cut kombu into small 1/2 -3/4 inch pieces. Cut enoki into 3/4 -1 inch long segments. Combine kombu, enoki with water, soy, mirin in small pot and bring to a boil, simmer on medium till the liquid is mostly gone and you are left with a syrupy sauce. Sprinkle on sansho pepper at the end.

Nori sauce

• 4 sheets of nori, torn into small pieces
• 2 shitake mushrooms sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1/4 water
• 2 tbsp of soy sauce
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 1 tsp sake (optional)
• 1 tsp sesame seeds

Combine nori, mushrooms, soy, mirin, sake, and water in small pot and bring to a boil, simmer on medium till the liquid is mostly gone and you are left with a syrupy sauce. Sprinkle on sesame seeds at the end.

Spinach with sesame

• 2 cups baby spinach
• 1 clove garlic chopped
• 2 tsp oil (olive or canola)
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp sesame seeds
• 1/4 tsp salt

Heat skillet on medium high, add oil, garlic and sesame seeds, then add in the spinach. Stir and cook till spinach just wilts, turn off heat, add in salt and sesame oil, toss and mix well.

Addition sides

• ume (umeboshi)
• fish (hot smoked mackerel or salmon, fish cake)
• egg (hard/soft boiled)
• edamame

Wish spring was here already.