RECIPE COUNTDOWN TO 2010: NUMBER 6

Both Dash and Bella are out of the house today after 10 LONG DAYS at home. The quiet is bliss. Sort of like the silence after it snows. I'm sipping coffee and trying to shake the foggy feeling from my head. I've fallen behind. Posting one recipe a day for my new year's recipe countdown is proving to be impossible. I"m going to try to catch up.

Number 6: CREMINI MUSHROOM SALAD WITH ASPARAGUS, AGED GOUDA, AND LEMON VINAIGRETTE




You will need a surprising amount of dressing because mushrooms are like sponges. I used cremini (or crimini) mushrooms. I just learned that they are baby portobellos. They're also called baby bellas. MY baby Bella turns her nose up at mushrooms. What is it with kids and mushrooms?

Cremini and asparagus salad? Yes, I know. You can't grow asparagus in California right now. They just looked so beautiful and spring-like. They were conventionally grown and from Chile. And to tell the truth they didn't have much flavor. Bad, bad carbon footprint asparagus. Tomorrow I"m going back to organic local kale, squash, onions, leeks, and Brussels sprouts. If you do make the salad, you can replace the asparagus with green beans or fennel or just keep it a simple mushroom salad. And in the spring, make this salad with beautiful young and skinny asparagus from the farmers' market and it will rock.

I finish off the salad with thin slices of aged gouda. The caramelized taste and the flavor crystals (that's what I call them but they're actually crystallized lactic acid) make the cheese like candy. Bella looks at me like I'm either stupid or crazy when I say that aged gouda tastes like candy.

CREMINI MUSHROOM SALAD WITH ASPARAGUS, AGED GOUDA, AND LEMON VINAIGRETTE: printable recipe

You can replace 1/2 the olive oil with walnut oil or hazelnut oil. Green beans are a good replacement for the asparagus. Thinly sliced fennel would also work well. Or just make it a solo mushroom salad.

(feeds 1 as a meal or 2 as a side)

for the dressing:

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 lemon

handful of parsley, coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

3 tablespoons olive oil

pinch of salt
a few turns of pepper
aged gouda

10-12 cremini mushrooms, sliced thinly
6 spears asparagus, raw or cooked until just tender and sliced into 1 inch slices

In a bowl, squeeze half 1/2 the lemon over the chopped shallot and let sit for a few minutes. Whisk in parsley, mustard, salt, and pepper. Slowly whisk in olive oil. Taste and add more of any of the lemon or dressing ingredients if it's not balanced. In another bowl, combine mushrooms and asparagus (or alternate vegetable). Drizzle over 1/2 the dressing and quickly combine with a fork or your fingers. Add more dressing in a minute or so. Shave lots of thin strips of aged gouda over the top of the salad with a vegetable peeler. Drizzle over a bit more olive oil and cunchy salt. Eat immediately.

RECIPE COUTDOWN TO 2010: NUMBER 7

NUMBER 7: SQUASH AND CARROT SOUP TOPPED WITH YOGURT, PARSLEY, LEMON ZEST, AND BACON

This is how fast Dash moves. Here he is holding a glass bowl filled with oranges. This is why I'm always taking deep breaths.

Thankfully he seems to slow down a bit when he gets to cook. "What are we cooking today, mama?" is his constant refrain.  Today we are cooking squash and carrot soup.

 

Look at his focus as he peels the onion.

And then he starts rubbing his eyes saying, "The sun. The sun. Too bright." He doesn't realize that the onion is making his eyes sting, not the bright light.

We prep everything and then set it aside until the next day. I introduce him to the concept of "mise en place." Everything in its place. Bowls of chopped ingredients all ready to go. The next day Dash wants to "cook" the soup in the living room with his blue wooden pan. Onions. Yup. Carrots. Yup. Celery. We stir. And then we move to the kitchen to find the real heat.

I'm all about the toppings. Here's what we put on the squash and carrot soup: Greek yogurt, chopped parsley, lemon zest, and BACON.

SQUASH AND CARROT SOUP TOPPED WITH YOGURT, PARSLEY, LEMON ZEST AND BACON: printable recipe

2 tablespoons olive oil

6 carrots, diced

2 stalks of celery, diced

1/2 onion, diced

a least 2 big pinches of salt

a few turns of pepper

1 anchovy fillet (optional)

1 teaspoon tomato paste

4 cloves garlic

1 cup white wine

2 large squash or 3 medium (butternut, pumpkin, kabocha or anything similar)

4-6 cups chicken stock

1-2 cups water

2 sprigs thyme
squeeze of lemon juice (optional)
splash of vermouth (optional)

toppings:

bacon

Greek yogurt

chopped parsley

lemon zest

Warm olive oil in a big pot. Add, carrots, celery, and onion and keep at medium heat. While the aromatics cook, mash the salt, pepper, anchovy, tomato paste, and garlic into a paste with a mortar and pestle (or press the garlic and mix everything together in a bowl). Once the onions are translucent (4-5 minutes) add garlic/anchovy/tomato paste. Cook for a few minutes while constantly stirring until it smells caramelized and nutty. It can brown but don't let it burn. Add wine and cook off alcohol for a minute or so. Add squash, 4 cups of chicken stock, and thyme. Bring to a boil. Turn down to low heat, keep at a simmer, and cook until squash and carrots are tender (30-40 minutes). Remove thyme stems. Puree in the pot with an immersion blender or transfer to a cuisinart or blender. Taste and season as needed. If it's too thick add some chicken stock or water. I found I needed to add lots more salt. Sometimes adding a bit of vermouth or lemon juice at the end is nice as well. Serve by itself or with toppings.

RECIPE COUNTDOWN TO 2010: NUMBER 8

NUMBER 8: GRILLED COTSWOLD CHEESE SANDWICH WITH CILANTRO-PARSLEY PESTO

I bought this whole wheat oatmeal bread at The Cheese Board Collective in Berkeley. We brought it home warm and gooey and it inspired a grilled cheese sandwich.

We used Costwold cheese. It is a Double Gloucester (from Gloucestershire, England) cow's milk cheese with chives and onions. It is so unbelievably tasty in sandwiches, on burgers, and in omelettes. It melts beautifully and tastes a lot like cheddar. Some people in England love Costwold cheese so much that they have bumper stickers devoted to it.

I put the cheese, cilantro-parsley pesto, bread, and butter out on a cutting board. Bella helped Dash make the sandwiches and I grilled them. We ate so much of the cheese that we weren't very hungry for the sandwiches.

 

GRILLED COTSWOLD CHEESE SANDWICH WITH CILANTRO-PARSLEY PESTO: printable recipe

for the pesto:

1/2 clove garlic

handful of cilantro leaves

handful of parsley leaves
squeeze of lemon juice
glug of olive oil

1-2 tablespoons of creamy fresh goat cheese

handful of walnuts

big pinch of salt

pepper

sliced bread 
sliced Cotswold cheese (or cheddar)

butter for grilling 

Combine pesto ingredients. You can use a mini cuisinart, a blender, or a mortar and pestle. Or you can chop it all together on the counter. Just make sure you mash the garlic into a paste but everything else can be chunky if you like. Keep tasting the pesto to adjust the flavors. You can make it so that it tastes more like walnuts or more like parsley. It's up to you. For each sandwich, spread one slice of bread with pesto. Place slices of cheese on top. Place second slice of bread on top. Butter both sides of the sandwich. Grill on medium heat. Once you flip the sandwich over, put a heavy lid or pan on top of the sandwiches to press them down like a panini press. It's done when both sides are golden brown and the cheese is melting out the sides.

RECIPE COUNTDOWN TO 2010: NUMBER 9

NUMBER 9: CARAMELIZED SWEET POTATO TART

Crunchy cornmeal crust with layers and layers and layers of paper-thin sweet potato slices, each coated with cinnamon sugar and butter. Yum.

We made chips with the leftover sweet potato slices. 

CARAMELIZED SWEET POTATO TART: printable recipe

 This is a sweet tart intended for dessert. See details at the bottom if you want it to be a savory tart. Use corn flour instead of cornmeal for this tart if you don't like the crunch of cornmeal. 

Use a 9 or 10 inch tart pan.

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup cornmeal or corn flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick butter, unsalted and very cold

4-6 tablespoons ice water

3 sweet potatoes or yams

4 tablespoons butter, melted

5 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

Mix flour, cornmeal and salt in a bowl. Cut butter into 1/2 inch chunks and toss into dry ingredients. With your fingers or a pastry cutter, slowly incorporate the butter into the flour mixture until the butter chunks are the size of peas. Add half the cold water and mix it in with a fork. Add more water if you need to, enough so that when you squeeze the mixture in your fingers it's just moist enough to form a dough. Empty onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Use the sides of the plastic wrap to press the dough into a disc. Wrap tightly and refrigerate for a few hours.

Preheat oven to 350° F.  Remove dough from fridge and let it warm up for a few minutes.  Scatter some flour on your counter (and rolling pin and dough if needed) and roll out dough until it's a little bit bigger than your tart pan. Roll the dough up onto the rolling pin and roll it back out into the tart pan. Don't worry if it falls apart at all. You can just patch tears and holes as needed. Press the dough into the tart pan, press off excess scraps, and put it into fridge until the sweet potatoes are sliced.

Combine sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Peel the sweet potatoes and slice them paper thin with a knife or a mandoline. Remove the tart shell from the fridge. Layer the bottom of the tart shell with sweet potato slices in overlapping concentric circles. Once the entire bottom is covered, paint on some melted butter and sprinkle on some cinnamon sugar. Repeat this layering sequence with sweet potatoes, butter, and cinnamon sugar until you have put down enough slices to reach almost to the top of the tart shell. You might need a little more butter and cinnamon sugar. Finish the tart off with a final sprinkle of cinnamon sugar. Bake until sweet potatoes are puffed, golden and caramelized on top, about 45 minutes. If the tart shell starts to get too brown cover the edges with foil.

VARIATION: You can make this a savory tart. Leave out the cinnamon sugar and butter. Instead, warm 1/2 cup olive oil with 1 clove crushed garlic, pinch of salt, and a sprig of thyme. Set aside to infuse for 1/2 a hour. Paint each layer of sweet potato slices with the oil and some parmesan. Sprinkle parmesan on top of final layer. Bake until puffed and golden. 

 

SWEET POTATO/YAM CHIPS:

printable recipe

peeled and very finely sliced sweet potatoes or yams

olive oil

crunchy salt

Preheat oven to 300° F. Place sliced sweet potatoes in a bowl. Drizzle on a little bit of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Gently mix the sweet potatoes until each slice is covered with a thin layer of olive and salt. Add more olive oil if any of the slices feel dry. Line a sheet pan with parchment or a silpat. Line up the slices in a single layer on the sheet pan. Bake for 10-15 minutes. You want the heat low enough so that the chips dry out and get crisp. Don't let them brown. Using tongs, place the chips on a paper towel to cool. If your first batch is soggy, turn the oven temperature down for the next batch so they dry out enough to get crispy without browning. Store in an airtight container.

RECIPE COUNTDOWN TO 2010: NUMBER 10

This past week we cooked nonstop. But I haven't found a spare moment to sit down and write. So here's the plan. A 10-day recipe countdown to New Year's Day. One recipe a day. A few photos. That way I can catch up. Then we can move on to some more cookbooks and bigger posts in 2010.

NUMBER 10: VANILLA BEAN MARSHMALLOWS

I thought it was marshMELLOWS. They are mellow. Cocoa makes you mellow. S'mores make you mellow. I guess not.

These make a good present. Something about marshmallows makes people very happy.




 Dash measures the dish. "Eleventeen. Yup. Good."

He paints on the vegetable oil with such care.

 

He shakes the heck out of the pan to distribute the powdered sugar.

 I spread around the unbelievably sticky gooey mess.

 Dash licks. 

What a crazy texture. It is impossible to cut it with a knife. I have to snip the marshmallows with my poultry shears.

We have to try them in cocoa with Oreos. We shriek with joy. They taste JUST LIKE MARSHMALLOWS. Crazy cool.

And then we give them all away in pretty packages.

  

VANILLA BEAN MARSHMALLOWS: printable recipe

These are absurdly sweet. But I figure that marshmallows are supposed to be. This recipe is adapted from about 40 recipes I found on the internet. Some don't use egg whites. Some flavor the marshmallows with mint extract. Look around a bit at other recipes to make sure this is the one you want. The one good thing about making this recipe without egg whites is that you won't be dealing with uncooked egg. But I tasted it before and after the egg whites and decided they added a lightness that I prefer. Just eat them within a week or store them in the fridge.

Some tips: 
1. You must have a candy thermometer. 
2. Don't attempt to whisk this by hand. Use a standing or handheld electric mixer. 
3. Give your kids lots of measuring jobs early on because once the sugar is on the stove they need to stay across the kitchen.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/2 cup powdered sugar for dusting pan AND for the finished marshmallows

3 envelopes unflavored gelatin (2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon)

1/2 cup room temperature water

2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup warm water

big pinch of salt

2 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla and seeds from 1/2 vanilla pod

Directions:

Grease a medium-sized rectangular or square baking pan with straight sides (metal, ceramic, or glass) lightly with oil. Add 1/4 cup powdered sugar and shake the sugar around the pan around until entire inner surface is coated (same way you would flour a cake pan). Turn pan upside down over sink and smack out excess sugar.

Separate your eggs so that you have the whites ready. Set them aside.

Empty gelatin into your mixing bowl. Pour room temp water on top to and set aside. It will harden back up really fast. Don't worry because it will soften up again with the hot liquid.

Put granulated sugar, corn syrup, and warm water into a medium-sized saucepan and turn heat up high. Stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar dissolves. Turn down to medium heat. Boil until sugar syrup reaches around 240° F degrees (this took 5 minutes one time and 10 the next—and once the temp accidentally reached 250° F and it wasn't a big deal so don't stress). Remove from the heat. Pour syrup over the gelatin. Gently whisk mixture until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Whisk mixture using a standing or handheld electric mixer until the sugar syrup has tripled in size and is no longer hot—but still warm.  This takes anywhere from 5-10 minutes depending on your mixer. Add vanilla and vanilla bean (or any other flavoring ) during the final minute. In a mixing bowl with clean and dry beaters whisk egg whites until frothy (about 30 seconds). Add salt. Keep whisking until peaks are firm. It's very easy to overbeat so don't walk away. Pour beaten whites onto whipped sugar syrup and combine well. I needed to use the mixer to combine them but you can try to do this by hand. Be warned. It can be a big sticky mess. But so much fun. Pour mixture into oiled/powdered sugared baking pan. Even out the top surface as much as you can. Using a powdered sugar shaker, a sifter, or a fine strainer, sift powdered sugar all over the top. Put uncovered in the fridge for a few hours if you want to cut it soon. Or leave it out room temp and you can probably cut it about 6 hours later.

You can loosen the sides with a knife and remove marshmallow loaf onto the counter. Or you can just cut pieces out of the pan as needed.  I had no luck with a knife. Use scissors or shears to cut into any shapes you want. Funky squares look pretty good. Put all cut marshmallows into a big bowl and sift over more powdered sugar and toss with your hands until all sides are lightly coated. Store room temp for a few days in a bag or jar. Eat within a week or so or keep them in the fridge.

SLEEP DEPRIVATION PERSIMMON SALAD

Dash and I have been having it out every night about sleep. He just doesn't want to go to bed. Ever again. But during the day we have been cooking together and sharing peaceful lunches. I yawn my way through lunch while Dash looks concerned and asks, "You tired again, momma?" Oh Dash. You have no idea.

Every December people give me persimmons. Most years I place them in a bowl and admire them from a distance. And then they rot and I feel bad. In the past I've only had hachiya persimmons which are very bitter unless completely ripe. Hachiyas are good for puddings, cakes and purées. This year four people have given me fuyus. Fuyus can be eaten crisp like apples.

Dash and I made fuyu persimmon salad over and over again this past week.

We coat the persimmon slices with lemon, salt and olive oil. Then we start sprinkling on the goodies.

Dash and I giggle and eat the salad with our fingers. 

He rolls the thinly sliced persimmon around the pomegranate, goat cheese, pine nuts, and parsley. "Like a burrito," he says.

Dash loves how the pomegranate seeds pop in his mouth. I love how the warm pine nuts melt the goat cheese. And I love that we're sitting still for 20 minutes. No one is climbing out a window. No one is screaming about bedtime. No one is telling me I'm mean. No eyes needed on the back of my head. We scoop up the final scraps with our buttered bread. Lunch is over. And I release Dash from his chair.

PERSIMMON SALAD

These amounts are approximate. The persimmon slices absorb a lot of lemon juice, olive oil, and salt. I like lots of goat cheese. But you might just want a little bit. Or you could do parmesan instead. No matter what use lots of pomegranate and parsley.
printable recipe

Feeds 2.

2 fuyu persimmons

1 lemon

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 big pinches of salt

seeds from 1/2 pomegranate

4 tablespoons crumbled goat cheese

2 big handfuls of warm toasted pine nuts

chopped parsley

Thinly slice the persimmons (as thin as a piece of paper) with a serrated knife or a mandoline. Spread the slices out on a big platter, overlapping them a bit. Squeeze the lemon all over the persimmon slices. Let it absorb. Squeeze a little more. Drizzle over the olive oil.  Season generously with the salt. Sprinkle the pomegranate seeds, warm pine nuts, goat cheese, and parsley all over. Serve with bread.

TRANSFORMATION

"Momma, is it okay if I don't cook with you today?" My girl is burned out. Too much time in the kitchen. I'm going to cook stew, but she would rather make patterns in yogurt with raspberry purée.

If you're a vegetarian you should stop reading now and check back in a few days for my Persimmon Salad recipe. For the rest of you...

Dash is ready for anything. "Momma, you cook? We cook? Meat. Look that meat." Three pounds of chuck. When I was little I thought Chuck was the cow's name. "YUMMY CHUCK," shrieks Dash. Poor Chuck. But this cow had a good life at Prather Ranch. No hormones. No antibiotics. Organic food. And lots of roaming around the hills of Northern Calfornia.

Chuck meat is from the muscular front shoulder of the cow. This cut needs to be cooked in liquid for a long time to soften up but it has lots of flavor. The connective tissue makes it particularly hard to eat raw. But Dash gives it a shot. He grabs a piece and gnaws on it. "Too chewy," he says.

Dash has two modes in the kitchen: speedy helper or crazy troublemaker. Thankfully he kicks into helper mode. I don't even have to tell him what to do. He just grabs a paper towel and starts meticulously drying each piece of meat. He's getting really good at seasoning with salt and pepper.

 When he thinks I'm not looking he fills his oven mitt with cubed meat.

 

I am uninspired by all the stew recipes I find. So I do my own thing. To the base I add lots of onions, anchovies, tomato paste, cumin, paprika, and thinly sliced garlic. I hate mushy coins of overcooked carrots so I cut big old chunks (you could even put the carrots in whole). I end up cooking it for 4 hours. I serve the stew over this wacky pasta called Sa Fregula Sarda. It's a traditional oven-toasted Sardinian durum wheat semolina pasta.  You can boil it like pasta or cook it like risotto by slowly adding chicken stock until it's al dente.

I finish my stew with lots of toppings: pomegranate seeds, creamy yogurt, pomegranate syrup, parsley, olive oil, and crunchy salt. Dash puts his face right down to the edge of the bowl and sighs, "Beautiful stew."

Usually, if my kids cook with me they want to eat what they've made. Not this time with Dash. When I give him a fork he says, "Yucky stew." He finds it nice to look at but not to eat. Funny that he was willing to eat raw cubes of meat but not the stew. Maybe the meat transformed so much in those 4 hours that he didn't even recognize it. He refuses to taste it even once. Bella, on the other hand, can't stop eating it. She even requests it for her school lunch. I put it in her thermos hot and covered with yogurt and extra pomegranate seeds.

I'm no longer going to call it stew. Stew sounds like brown glop. Instead it's our Slow-Cooked Beef and Carrots.

P.S. In my stew research, I learned about Sonofabitch Stew (aka Rascal Stew). It was popular with the cowboys back in the day. To make it you would use my recipe below and then replace the chuck with a cow's heart, brain, liver, thymus gland, and marrow gut. It's a twisted Wizard of Oz in a bowl. Maybe I'll make it in 2010.

SLOW-COOKED BEEF AND CARROTS TOPPED WITH POMEGRANATE SEEDS, POMEGRANATE SYRUP, YOGURT, AND PARSLEY
printable recipe

Feeds 6-8

3 pounds beef chuck stew meat, cubed and preferably organic and/or local

salt

pepper

vegetable oil for searing meat

2 onions. peeled and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons flour

4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 anchovy fillets packed in oil (if in salt rinse off excess)

1 teaspoon cumin

2 teaspoons paprika

1 bottle of red wine (I used a $9.99 zinfandel)

1 cup water
2 sprigs of thyme

1 bay leaf

4 sprigs of parsley

14 ounce can of tomatoes (whole or diced)

10 large carrots, trimmed and sliced into 3 inch chunks (or leave them whole if carrots are small)

toppings (any or all of the following):

yogurt, sour cream or creme fraiche

pomegranate seeds
pomegranate syrup
chopped parsley

fleur de sel
toasted pine nuts
chopped cilantro
olive oil

serve over:
pasta, couscous, polenta, or rice

Spread cubes of meat out on a sheet pan, dry them very well, and season all over with lots of salt and pepper. Put a dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot on the stove. Crank the heat as high as it goes.  Add just enough oil to thinly coat the bottom of the pot. Add enough of the meat chunks so that they're not overlapping and sear them until brown and caramelized on all sides. Don't overcrowd the meat or it will steam and not brown. Remove meat with a slotted spoon and put it back on the sheet pan and continue the same way until all the meat is seared. Add more oil to the pot if you need to. Set meat aside.

Turn heat down to medium and add the onions. Scrape up all the fat and goodies left over in the pan with a wooden spoon. Cook until onions are soft and nicely browned. Add flour and cook for a minute, stirring the whole time. Add garlic, tomato paste, anchovy, cumin and paprika. Continue cooking for a few more minutes, stirring the whole time. Add the whole bottle of wine plus one cup water. Throw in all the herbs and the canned tomatoes. Add the seared meat and the carrots. Bring up to a boil. Turn down heat to low and cover the pot. Stir it every 20 minutes or so. It's done when the meat is falling apart. This can take anywhere from 2-4 hours. If the stew is too soupy when the meat it done, reduce it down at the end with the lid off. Also make sure to check the seasoning. I needed to add a bit more salt and pepper. Remove remaining sprigs of thyme and parsley and the bay leaf. Serve over pasta, couscous, polenta, or rice. Have bowls of selected toppings at the table.