I read myself the riot act about 6 months ago, when my cholesterol level reached a new high. My doctor seemed nonplussed, perhaps because my cardiac calcium score was a perfect zero. But I was not happy. Yes, I had lost weight and was exercising, but to be honest, my heart belonged to cheese. And eggs. And ice cream. Something had to change.
Breakfast was easy. The whole eggs (which I had been eating almost daily) were replaced by Starbucks Sous Vide Egg whites or oatmeal served with a side of chicken sausage. Lunches were yogurt or soup or vegan bean burritos or salad or tuna or peanut butter. I started snacking on nuts and fruits and avocado.
But dinner remained a challenge for some time, as it’s the one meal my husband and I always eat (and often cook) together, and he loves meat. Though we often cooked chicken, we were definitely eating more red meat than recommended, not enough fish and almost never an entire veggie meal. He loves salmon, so we added that more frequently into the rotation. But It was hard to convince him to forgo the red meat. Until his cholesterol returned elevated – though not as high as mine.
We decided it was time to tackle dinner together. We dropped red meat from the menu, except for the occasional grass fed beef and lamb or top rib in a cabbage soup, upped the fish to several times a week, and started rotating in some vegetarian dinners.
I’m proud to report that, with just these changes, my total cholesterol dropped over 60 points and my LDL almost 50 points! I’m still not where I want to be, but I’m on my way, out of mandatory statin territory and eager to move further into meatless cuisine.
Luckily, I have a few vegetable-forward relatives who are also creative and wonderful cooks, and who have generously shared their recipe and ingredient gems with me. Let me in turn share this one with you.
Whole Roasted Squash With Tomato-Ginger Chickpeas & Za’atar
Cousin Karen modifed this recipe from Ali Slagle at the NYTimes by adding some of my homemade za'atar that I had shared with her. It's the perfect addition!
Ingredients
315-ounce cans chickpeas, drained
⅔cupextra-virgin olive oilplus more for drizzling
314½-ounce cans diced tomatoes
¾teaspoonground cinnamon
3oregano sprigsplus leaves for garnish
2½tablespoonspeeled, finely chopped ginger
Salt and black pepper to taste
23- to 4-pound butternut squash
¾cupfull-fat plain yogurt(I use sheep yogurt)
Za'atar to taste
Instructions
Heat the oven to 300 degrees. On a sheet pan, stir together the chickpeas, ⅔ cup olive oil, tomatoes, cinnamon, oregano sprigs and 2 tablespoons chopped ginger. Season with salt and pepper and spread in an even layer.
Scrub the squash and prick in a few places with a paring knife. Transfer to a foil-lined sheet pan and coat lightly with oil, salt and pepper.
Bake the squash in the preheated oven on the bottom rack and the chickpeas on the upper rack until a knife slides easily through the squash and the chickpeas and tomatoes are dark red and thick like jam, 2 to 2½ hours, stirring the chickpeas occasionally.
Meanwhile, stir the remaining ½ tablespoon ginger into the sheep yogurt. (If using Greek yogurt, you may need to thin it with a little water) Season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Discard the herb sprigs, then season the chickpeas to taste with salt and pepper. When the squash are cool enough to handle, cut into big pieces and scoop out and discard the stems, seeds and stringy bits. Keep the skin on – it's edible. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer the squash to a platter flesh side up, then top with the chickpeas, some of the ginger yogurt and a very generous sprinkle of za'atar. Serve the remaining yogurt alongside.
In the “How did I not know about this before?” category, allow me to introduce you to vadouvan, a delicious Indo-French curry spice mix that will blow your taste buds and your mind. Thanks to bro Joe for turning me on to vadouvan, though the real credit goes to the French colonists in seventeenth century Pundicherry, India who created the spice mix as they blended French and Indian cuisines. Vadouvan is complex and piquant but milder than traditional curry, and a truly exotic treat for your taste buds.
Joe learned about Vadouvan from his buddy Mourad, the modern Moroccan chef whose book Mourad-New Moroccan has become a classic. (You can read my review of the book and my take on Mourad’s recipe for baked beans here) Here’s what Mourad says about Vadouvan –
I can’t think about curry without going straight to vadouvan, on of my all time favorite seasoning ingredients….Vadouvan is a spice mix made with minced shallots and onions sauteed with curry spices and then dried to make a chunky blend. It lets you add the rich flavor of sauteed curry (as opposed to the unpleasant raw flavor of curry powder) to foods without having to cook that flavor into the dish. (Imagine wanting to add a bit of curry flavor to a poached egg – with vadouvan, you just sprinkle it on top)
Mourad New Moroccan
As with any spice mix, the exact spices and their proportions in any given vadouvan can vary, as can the preparation, depending on who’s making the blend. Mourad’s recipe is quite complex, with a long ingredient list that includes shallots, garlic, onion, curry leaves and fresh turmeric, along with pretty much every spice you’ve ever loved, not to mention both yellow and brown mustard seeds, and involves both cooking and then dehydrating the mix. This makes it somewhat intimidating to make, especially if, like me, you’ve never even tasted vadouvan before.
So – instead of making my own vadouvan, I headed straight to Kalustyans, NYC’s spice mecca in Midtown East, whose vadouvancomes highly praised. Kalustyans vadouvan ingredient list pretty much echoes Mourad’s, but uses rosemary instead of ginger. I was impressed but not surprised. Kalustyan’s is really an amazing place, you must go sometime. Luckily, if you can’t make the journey, you can order their vadouvan online. I also hear the LA-based Le Sanctuaire has an amazing Vadouvan for sale.
While Vadouvan is indeed delicious sprinkled on scrambled eggs, it can also be used to make faves such as chicken curry. And it’s insane when mixed into a butter, as its flavor is enhanced in fat. In this form, you can toss it with carrots, or brush it atop grilled duck or fish. Here, I’ve opted to toss it with roasted cauliflower. It’s an easy gateway drug into this mind blowing spice mix. Do try it.
I modified a recipe from Good Food Australia to an American kitchen, and increased the amount of vadouvan a tad from the original recipe.
Ingredients
1medium headCauliflower, washed, dried and cut into florets
2tbspOlive OIl
1tbspVadouvan Spice Mix
1tbspButter
Instructions
Cut the cauliflower into florets and place in a large bowl. Pour in the olive oil, season generously with salt and pepper and toss to coat well. Spread evenly over a sheet pan tray and bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 25-30 minutes or until golden and tender.
To serve, melt the butter in a frying pan, add the vadouvan and stir through. Add the cauliflower and toss for a minute or two until well coated over low heat (don't let it burn). Serve.
My love affair continues with Sofrito, the Spanish slow cooked tomato-olive oil-mirepoix that’s a staple in a healthy Mediterranean diet. I now make it regularly, storing it in small jars in my freezer and searching for ways to incorporate it into the foods we make. For example, these stuffed peppers, a recipe I am proud to say I came up with all by myself. Well, actually, that’s not entirely true. I had a little help from my friends (and family). Let me tell you how it went down…
Last week, while at the market, a beautiful multicolored fresh pepper medley caught my eye. I knew I had a pound of lean ground beef and one last ziplock bag of this past summer’s corn in our freezer, and decided to make stuffed peppers. I think I’ve only made stuffed peppers once in my life, so obviously, I needed a recipe.
I went home, took the ground beef out of the freezer and called my sister Rosemary, who I knew made a mean taco stuffed pepper. She told me she uses ground turkey in her recipe – much healthier, I know, but my ground beef was already defrosting. Her recipe also called for salsa and taco seasoning mix, neither of which I had. But I did have sofrito, which would be a delicious and healthy substitute for salsa, thus assuaging my guilt for using beef instead of turkey. The sofrito got me thinking that my peppers might lean more towards Spain than Mexico in their seasonings.
My spice cabinet
Consulting my spice cabinet, I chose sea salt, freshly ground Tellicherry peppercorns (Costco is a great source), ground Chipotle powder (from Sahadi’s Lebanese grocery on Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn), Ground cumin (brought back from Morocco by my friend Annette), Pimenton de la vera (Spanish sweet smoked paprika brought back from Spain by our daughter Emily) and Cinnamon (from Penzy’s, a gift from Rosemary). I also snipped some fresh oregano from our windowsill plant that I’d started from cuttings from my friend Paula. Then I got to work.
Consulting a few recipes around the web, I decided I’d precook the peppers, as I did not want them crunchy and did not want to overcook the already cooked meat filling. Baking them wrapped in foil would have been a great option, but I currently have an oven issue (no gas). The counter top oven I’m using is completely unpredictable, and I did not want to be unwrapping and testing the peppers every 5 minutes, so I parboiled them, then let them sit out to cool. Next, I prepared the meat, corn and rice stuffing mixture, adding and adjusting the flavorings as I went.
Tasting the final spiced mixture just before stuffing the peppers, it seemed like something was missing – it needed more umami. How about some fish sauce? After all, fish sauce is a whole thing in Spain, where scientists have reproduced an ancient Roman fish sauce using a recipe found in the ruins of Pompeii. They call it Flor de Garum, and it is said to supercharge dishes with umami. I didn’t have any Flor de Garum, but I did have Red Boat Fish Sauce, which is purported to be the next best thing. So I boldly grabbed the Red Boat from the fridge and added about a tsp to the mix. It worked!
I stuffed the peppers, topped them with some grated cheddar (Manchego would be more authentic, and next time I will try that instead), baked them and served them topped with a little sour cream. They were delicious!
I now present you with a new recipe I call Spanish Stuffed Peppers. Inspired by Rosemary’s taco stuffed peppers, enhanced with herbs and spices from Emily, Annette, Rosemary and Paula, and umami-ized by yours truly. Enjoy!
A great way to use leftover corn and rice. Use ground turkey instead of beef for an even healthier version. Diced tomatoes are a fine substitute for the sofrito. I've listed spices at about 1/2 tsp of each, but feel free to adjust amounts up or down to your own tastes.
1/2tspsmoked paprika(Pimento de la vera if available)
1/2tspground chipotle powder(can substitute chili powder)
1tspfish sauce(Flor de garum if you're lucky enough to have it. If not, Red boat brand if available)
1cupshredded cheddar cheese Manchego cheese would be a good alternative option
sour cream (for serving)
Instructions
Bring a large pot of water to boil. Cup tops off peppers and clean out seeds and ribs using paring knife. Dice the tops and set aside. Place bottoms in a boiling water, filling them with water to prevent floating. Simmer 5-10 minutes or till just tender. Drain and cool.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Saute onions, celery and diced pepper tops over medium high heat till softened, about 5 mins. Add garlic and saute another minute or so, being careful not to brown the garlic. Add the ground meat and continue cooking till just browned. Add sofrito and spices and fish sauce, cook another minute or so to blend the flavors. Taste and adjust seasoning, then stir in rice and corn.
Fill peppers with meat/corn/rice mixture and arrange in a lightly oiled baking dish. Top with grated cheese. Place any extra filling around peppers. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or till tops are melted and lightly browned.
I hope your Thanksgiving was as wonderful as mine. We did our usual back-to-back Thanksgiving dinners, shuttling between mine and Mr. TBTAM’s families, trying not to eat too much or too little at either one.
This year, my family eschewed the homemade turkey and instead had a relaxed luncheon at the Valley Green Inn situated on Philadelphia’s Wissahickon Valley Forbidden Drive, one of my favorite places in the whole world.
I’ve biked, hiked, walked, or run that trail countless times over the years, alone and with friends and family. The place is so special to us that my sister Fran’s ashes were scattered over the waterfalls not far from the Inn, and I can feel her presence in the sounds of the rushing waters. Having our family Thanksgiving on the Wissahickon felt just like coming home for the holiday.
The food at the Inn was great, the service fabulous, and the walk along the trail afterwards a real joy. I think we should do it again next year!
Of course, that was just lunch. Fortunately, I ate lightly, because next up was dinner at Mr TBTAM’s mother’s home. That meal has morphed over the years from a traditional Turkey-centered dinner to a more varied meal with contributions from all the generations, celebrating both meat eaters and vegetarians.
My contribution was, as it has often been, candied sweet potatoes. Unfortunately, on Wednesday afternoon, I realized that I had not purchased enough sweet potatoes. My sister-in-law offered to pick some sweets up for me on her trip to H Mart, the now-storied gigantic Korean grocery that is a great source for well-priced produce and Asian foods. She suggested that we get Korean sweet potatoes instead of more American sweets. I’d never eaten Korean sweet potatoes, but she and her daughter had, and they were convinced they’d be delicious. I was not so sure. We were also not sure how the Korean sweets would behave, so decided not to combine them with the American sweets in the same pan, but cook and bake them separately. Sounds like we had ourselves the set up for a sweet potato bake off.
Now, if there’s anything Mr TBTAM’s family loves, it’s a produce competition. I remember my first family dinner with them, where they spent what seemed like forever discussing the farm stand apples they had gotten that day, anticipating the after-dinner taste test when they would determine if these really were THE best Winesaps ever grown. Who are these people, I recall asking my siblings, who like me, thought that potato chips and dip made from Lipton’s French Onion mix were the ultimate gourmet delight. I mean, ‘cmon – who gets excited about apples? To us, apples were just a second fiddle food, or what my mother would suggest we eat when the answer to “Are there any Pop Tarts left?” was “No, but Daddy gets paid on Thursday. Why don’t you have an apple?” Of course, I’ve since changed my tune, expanded my palate and learned over the years to appreciate real food over processed treats. And, I can now tell you without a doubt that Honeycrisps, not Winesaps, are THE best apple ever grown. But back to the sweet potato taste-off…
What are Korean Sweet Potatoes?
Korean sweet potatoes or Goguma are a sweet potato variety found across China, Japan and Korea. In Japan, they are called Satsumaimo. Despite their name, sweet potatoes are not potatoes. Nor are they yams. Sweet potatoes are in fact a tuber of the morning glory family, thought to have originated in South and Central America, where Christopher Columbus discovered them along with the new world. The sweet potato was brought to Asia either by Europeans after Columbus, or by the Polynesians long before Columbus. Or maybe they are indigenous to Asia, where 57 million year old fossils of leaves from the morning glory family have been recently identified. Who knows?…
Regardless of its history, Korean sweet potatoes are purplish red on the outside with a starchy, cream colored interior that becomes yellow as it cooks. They are drier and sweeter than the American varieties, and are extremely flavorful, taking on what has been described as a chestnut flavor when cooked. Like all sweet potatoes, Goguma are high in fiber and packed with nutrients, and there are many ways to cook them, including a traditional Korean candied version.
The Bake-Off Methodology
For our bake-off, I simply used our traditional Thanksgiving candied sweet potato recipe, which I’ve shared before on this blog. I peeled and cut the American sweet potatoes and the Goguma, then prepared a pan of each for a taste test at dinner time.
The dryness of the Goguma necessitated some adjustments to my recipe. It took a good 10-15 minutes longer to soften the Goguma when first cooked.
American sweets (left) vs Korean Sweets (right) after steaming
In addition, they soaked up the glaze very quickly during the baking phase, so I made some extra glaze and even stole some from the pan of American sweets so the Goguma wouldn’t dry out. This did not appear to put the American sweets at a disadvantage, as they remained moist and caramelized beautifully.
American sweets (right) vs Korean Sweets (left) halfway through baking
The results
The Korean sweet potatoes, though not as pretty as the American sweets, tasted delicious! They were indeed flavorful, and their inherent nutty flavor came though, even with the extra glaze. They were perfectly cooked, neither too soft nor too firm, and had more density and substance than the American sweets. They tasted just as good as the American sweets, and a few preferred them (including me).
Finished American sweets (above) vs Korean Sweets (below)
If this were a scientific publication, I’d say that our un-blinded, non-randomized, not-entirely-controlled taste test suggests that Korean sweet potatoes are equivalent and non-inferior to American sweet potatoes when baked using a traditional American Thanksgiving candied sweet potato recipe. Further research, of course is necessary.
Peel the potatoes. Cut them lengthwise in half. Place cut side down on counter and cut lengthwise into 1/2 inch slices.
In a steamer set over boiling water (I use a pasta inset w/ my 8 quart calphalon boiler) steam the potatoes, covered, for 15-25 minutes, or until they are just fork tender. Let them cool, uncovered.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Arrange the potato slices in one layer, overlapping them slightly, in a buttered shallow baking dish. (I find my vintage Dansk 10 1/2 x 7 1/2 inch baker to be the perfect size for a single recipe.) Combine the remaining ingredients in a small pot, bring the mixture to a boil and cook it over moderate heat for 5 minutes, stirring while cooking. Drizzle the syrup evenly over the potatoes, and bake the potatoes in the middle of the oven, basting them with the syrup mixture every 15 minutes, for 1 1/2 hours, or until the syrup is thickened and the sweet potatoes have deepened in color.
May be made 1 day in advance, kept covered and chilled, and reheated.
Notes
NOTE – Korean sweet potatoes can be very thirsty, and may absorb all the glaze before they are fully cooked. The amounts in this recipe are optimized for how my potatoes acted, but yours may act differently. Make sure they are softened well from the initial steaming. While baking, watch them closely, and if the glaze absorbs long before optimal caramelization or before they are fully cooked, add a little water to the bottom of the pan to thin out the glaze so you can continue basting, or make some additional glaze to use.
One of my goals in retirement is to shop more at the farm markets, in order to support local farmers and eat more seasonally. It’s something I could never find the time to do when I was working. (Though I have friends who managed to do so even with full time jobs, so really, what was my excuse?…)
Although I adore the Union Square Green Market, it’s a bit of a schlep to visit on a regular basis. Thankfully, we have a wonderful farmer’s market every Sunday here on the Upper West Side, on Columbus Avenue just behind the Museum of Natural History. That’s where some lovely-looking oyster mushrooms caught my eye last weekend. Actually, they were the only variety the mushroom guy had left by the time we reached the market late afternoon. I brought them home in a brown paper bag. Then they sat in the fridge for a day or so while I wondered what to do with them.
I decided not to make this mushroom-broth infused farro, or this mushroom risotto with those oyster babies. Rising food prices have led us to commit to cutting out food waste and working first from the fridge, freezer and pantry when planning dinner. So instead, I reached for the leftover farro I discovered in the fridge, and concocted a little mushroom-onion delight. We served it alongside some sausages we found in the freezer and a salad made with greens and leftover homemade lemon dressing from the fridge. It was a delicious and satisfying dinner.
I’m really enjoying shopping the farm markets and looking for meal inspiration in my own fridge and pantry. Not to mention the upside of seeing our overcrowded, impossible-to-find-anything shelves take on a Marie Konda-like serenity as we begin to work our way through their contents. And the gratitude of realizing that these are the first-world problems of a life lived in abundance.
In that vein, I’ve committed us to use our food dollar savings towards a monthly donation to City Harvest, whose goal is to rescue NYC’s excess food so it doesn’t go to waste, distributing it to food pantries and soup kitchens across the five boroughs. They also run free neighborhood mobile markets, teach healthy cooking, and work with corner markets and groceries to encourage and support them in selling fresh produce and other healthy foods in their neighborhoods. Check out their App and online map that folks can use to find free food across NYC. A cause worth your contribution!
A great use for leftover cooked farro or rice. To make using uncooked farro, you can add the uncooked farro to the mushroom and onions just after they've sauteed, along with the recommended amount of water (or better yet, mushroom broth), and cook them all together till the farro is done. Serve as described.
Ingredients
2large clumpsFresh Oyster Mushrooms
2tbspbutter
2 tbspolive oil
1Onion, large, large mince
2cloves garlic, minced
1sprigFresh thyme, minced
salt and pepper to taste
sun dried tomatoes packed in oil for garnish
Grated Parmesan cheesefor the table
2cupsLeftover Cooked Farro or Rice
Instructions
Clean oyster mushrooms with a dry brush or paper towel. (Do not wash, as they will suck up all the water.) Chop the mushrooms into largish bite size pieces. They will be all sorts of shapes. Use all of the mushroom, even the stems.
Heat butter and oil in a large skillet or cast iron pan. When hot, add onions and saute over medium high heat till translucent. Add garlic and thyme and stir for a minute or so.
Add mushrooms and saute, letting them sit for spells so they brown, but being careful not to let them get too dry. (Oyster mushrooms don't have much water to give off, unlike other mushrooms you may be used to using. Although mine stayed nice and moist, if yours seem dry, at this point you can add a little mushroom, chicken or beef broth – but be careful the mushrooms will absorb it all if you let it cook too long.) Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Add farro and cook till heated through.
Plate and garnish with thinly sliced sun-dried tomatoes. Pass the Parmesan.
In the largest study of its kind to date, the Mediterranean Diet has trumped a low fat diet in secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. The study was conducted in Spain, where participants assigned to the Mediterranean diet received free olive oil. They were also instructed to use sofrito – “a homemade sauce with garlic, onion, aromatic herbs, and tomato slow cooked in olive oil” – in their cooking two or more times a week.
Free Spanish olive oil and Sofrito as a required food group? I’d have moved to Spain to be in that study! But since that never happened, I figured I’d make some Sofrito and find out why it’s front and center in the Mediterranean diet.
What is Sofritoand Why is it So Healthy?
Sofrito is an aromatic mix of herbs and vegetables, a sort of Mirepoix, used as a flavor base and enhancer in Spanish and Caribbean cultures. It’s more a cooking technique than a recipe in and of itself, and it’s where many recipes start. If you’ve made Paella, you’ve made a sofrito.
There are many versions of Sofrito, depending on where it’s being made. A Puerto Rican patient of mine once gave me a jar of her homemade Sofrito, which was a rich, oily cilantro-based delight. (Here’s a recipe for Puerto Rican Sofrito) Dominican Sofrito uses vinegar, and Cuban Sofrito has ham. The Spanish or Mediterranean Sofrito is primarily tomato based, and includes onions, garlic, herbs, peppers and lots of olive oil.
Spanish researchers have analyzed Mediterranean Sofrito, and determined that its heart healthy attributes are derived from an abundance of antioxidants – polyphenols and carotenoids – as well as Vitamin C. Slow cooking the veggies in olive oil allows these bioactive compounds to move into the olive oil, which in turn enhances their bio-availability. The beneficial effect is almost immediate – inflammatory markers decline in the bloodstream after just a single portion of sofrito!
How I’m Using Sofrito
Tuna on Farro with Sofrito and Parsley
It took no more to convince me to start including Sofrito in my diet. I made a simple recipe for Spanish Sofrito, which I served atop some leftover farro and Italian Flott Tuna (My fave canned tuna). It was a delicious, umami-rich lunch! A few days later, we topped a flatbread recipe from Ottolenghi with the rest of the sofrito, and served it alongside his Gigli, Chickpea and Za’atar.
I’ll be making Sofrito again soon and hope to find ways to incorporate it into my diet at least three times a week. Thinking of cooking an egg atop some sofrito, like a shakshukah, or using it to atop broiled fish. If you have ideas or suggestions for using Sofrito in everyday cooking, feel free to comment below.
This classic sauce is a staple of a heart-healthy Mediterranean Diet. There are lots of different Sofrito recipes out there – all have varying portions of tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic, and herbs. This recipe is modified from one I found on the Spruce Eats.
Place a large heavy-bottom skillet over medium heat and add olive oil. Once the oil is warm, add the garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until only slightly brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the onion and peppers, lower the heat and begin to cook them down VERY slowly, stirring occasionally, until the onions are caramelized. This will take about 30 minutes. About halfway through, stir in salt, pepper, pimenton and oregano.
Once onions are caramelized, add tomatoes and bay leaf (If using). Cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until all the liquid evaporates and the color turns deep red, 25 to 35 minutes more. When everything is caramelized, the oil will begin to separate from the vegetables a bit. Remove the bay leaf.
Sofrito can be used immediately, or stored in fridge for a week and up to a year in the freezer.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and yeast. Add 1 tbsp of oil to the water, pour into the flour mixture and combine w a rubber or dough spatula. Transfer to a lightly oiled work surface and, with lightly oiled hands, knead the dough for five minutes, until soft and elastic (add more oil if it starts to stick to the surface). Transfer to a large bowl, cover with a slightly damp, clean tea towel and leave in a warm place to rise for about 40 minutes, until nearly doubled in size, then cut into four equal pieces.
Warm the sofrito in a small saucepan on the stove. Heat a large baking tray on the middle shelf in a 450 degrees Fahrenheit oven. When it has doubled in size, transfer the four pieces of dough to a lightly oiled work surface and use your hands to stretch each one into a rough circle about 18cm wide and 5mm thin.
Remove the hot tray from the oven and quickly put two flatbreads on it, spacing them well apart. Quickly return the tray to the oven and bake for eight minutes, until the dough is golden brown and crisp. Repeat with the remaining dough.
Top the flatbreads wtih the warmed sofrito and grate a little Parmesan atop. Serve immediately
As promised, here is recipe for the wonderfully delicious potatoes we served with La Cagouille’s Sea Scallops with Warm Vinaigrette. It’s a method of cooking potatoes totally new to me – in a pot on the stove with nothing but butter or olive oil, salt and garlic. So very French, don’t you think? Not to mention, a great tactic if you find yourself without a free oven to roast potatoes, and don’t want to mash them.
Each sack of precious potatoes comes with a tiny bag of the equally noble fleur de sel, the fine crystals of sea salt that are hand-harvested on the island of Noirmoutier, not far from the Nantes on the Atlantic coast.
They’re practically telling you how to cook little new potatoes, and who are we to do differently? So get thee to your nearest Farmers Market and do what needs to be done.
I wish I could say we used Noirmoutier fleur de sel in our potatoes, but sadly we did not. Even more sadly, we had recently used the last of our box of Maldon Sea Salt. This left us with just the Fine Sea Salt we buy from Costco, which for almost any purpose is more than fine. And the potatoes were delicious. But this recipe demands a good finishing salt. I really want to make them again, and I really want to use the eponymous Noirmoutier.
A bit of searching landed me on the website of The Meadow, a wonderfully tiny store on Hudson street in the West Village that specializes in salt, and which carries Noirmoutier. Now I recall we visited the Meadows a few years back as part of a gastronomic tour of the Village, where I’d purchased a small block of Himalayan Salt that I still haven’t figured out how to grind. (The tiny hand grater I got with it doesn’t really do the trick) I’m pleased to see the place is still in business. On my to-do list now is a trip there to pick up some Noirmoutier salt and a better grater for my pink salt.
In the meantime, feel free to make these potatoes, as we did, with whatever salt you happen to have around.
Noirmoutier Potatoes with Fleur de Sel
This recipe serves 4. We used a mix of olive oil and butter – next time I will try just the butter. Do use the garlic – those soft cloves are a gift. I increased the quantity of garlic from 3 to 4, so everyone gets a clove. By leaving the garlic unpeeled, their flavor does not overwhelm the potatoes.
2 pounds baby potatoes (fingerlings or small Yukon gold). Get the very smallest new potatoes you can find, and if not equally sized, cut up larger ones to match the smallest.
3 tbsp unsalted butter (or eEVOO)
4 plump, fresh cloves of garlic, unpeeled (optional)
Coarse sea salt to taste
Fleur de sel
Rinse and pat potatoes dry. Place the potatoes in a large pot. (This is important – it should be a nice large pot, so that the potatoes are spread around the bottom. Though not necessarily in a single layer, close to it.) Add butter, garlic an coarse sea salt.
Cover and cook over lowest possible heat, turning from time to time, until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork and are browned in patches. Cooking time will vary depending on the potato size. Those potatoes up there took about 40 minutes, and I ended up turning up the heat just a tad from the lowest possible setting, which for us was practically off.
Using a slotted spoon, transfer the potatoes to a serving bowl. Serve, making sure everyone gets a clove of garlic with their potatoes, passing a small dish of fleur de sel at the table.
I know the year’s barely begun, but this dish from Yotam Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem is well on its way to being my most memorable meal of 2015. Maybe even the past decade.
And this from a gal who says she doesn’t like eggplant.
If you don’t own Jerusalem, you must. Every recipe in it is a gem. The day after I was given it from my dear friends Karen and Steven, (OMG thank you!), my book club was over for dinner. They all gathered round and placed stickies on their favorite recipe in the book that I simply must make. The entire book is one giant sticky collection, but somehow this recipe escaped their stickies – my turn to give them a Jerusalem must-make!
My husband and I have already decided that this is what we’re serving the very next time we have company for dinner. It’s perfect for a dinner party because you can put it all together ahead of time, then let the eggplant roast for an hour and a half, giving you plenty of time to clean up the kitchen, set the table and make dessert or appetizers before your guests arrive. Not to mention, you can serve it warm or at room temp. It just doesn’t get any better.
I made one change to the recipe, which was to toast the pine nuts before using them. We toyed around the idea of adding some golden raisins to the meat mixture, but in the end did not. We also considered a breadcrumb topping, but again, left that be. It was pretty darned perfect just as it was.
STUFFED EGGPLANT WITH LAMB & PINENUTS From Jerusalem: A Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi
Serves 4
This dish is Ottolenghi and Tamimi’s take on a dish served at Elran Shrefler’s restaurant Azura in the Machne Yehuda market in Jerusalem. I’ve Americanized the recipe instructions (we work in volume, not weight), and split the parts to make it a little more idiot-proof. (The original recipe gives total amounts of ingredients then splits them up depending on which part of the recipe you are making. That always throws me if I’m in a hurry.) Don’t let the amount of spices worry you – the flavors are sweet and smoky, but not biting. Don’t cut out anything.
Ingredients
Eggplant
4 medium eggplants (about 2.5 lbs each), halved lengthwise
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
Black pepper to taste
Sauce
5 tsp spice mix (see above for spice mix recipe)
2/3 cup water
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp tamarind paste
4 cinnamon sticks
1/2 tsp salt
Black pepper to taste
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 425 F. Place the eggplant halves, skin-side down, in a roasting pan (I used a La Crueset lasagna pan) large enough to accommodate them snugly. Brush the flesh with 4 tbsp olive oil and season with 1 tsp salt and plenty of black pepper. Roast for about 20 minutes, until the tops are golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.
While the eggplant is cooking, make the spice mix and stuffing. Mix the cumin, paprika and ground cinnamon in a small bowl. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan. Add 5 tsp (1 2/3 tbsp) of the spice mixture to the pan along with the onions. Cook on a medium-high heat for about 8 minutes, stirring often, then add lamb, pine nuts, parsley, tomato purée, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp salt and some black pepper. Continue to cook and stir for another 8 minutes, until the meat is cooked.
Make the sauce. Place the remaining spice mix (5 tsp) in a bowl and add the water, lemon juice, tamarind, 2 tsp sugar, cinnamon sticks and half a teaspoon of salt; mix well.
Reduce the oven temperature to 375 F. Pour the sauce mix around the eggplant in the bottom of the roasting pan. Spoon the lamb mixture on top of each eggplant. Cover the pan tightly with foil, return to the oven and roast for 1 1/2 hours, until the eggplant are completely soft and the sauce thick; twice through the cooking, remove the foil and baste the eggplant with the sauce, adding some water if the sauce dries out. (Ours did not dry out)
We were having kale for dinner last night, but we bought a bit too much for just the two of us. So while Mr TBTAM sautéed some up with garlic using his now-famous recipe, I took the rest and made kale chips for snacking. It was all we could do not to eat them all before dinner.
Olive oil (1 tbsp per large bunch of kale -you barely need any oil)
1 large bunch of kale, rinsed and pat dry, leaves cut away from stalks and torn into large bite size pieces
Sea salt
Pepper
Preheat oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit. Put about a tbsp of olive oil in a large bowl, then add kale and rub with the olive oil so that both sides are coated. Season with salt and pepper. Place kale on a baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes or until leaves just start to brown. Turn and bake another 3-5 mins. Be careful, they burn quickly. Remove from oven, let cool and eat. Or store in an airtight container for later snacking.
I take no credit for this amazing entree, prepared by Mr TBTAM tonight and based on Melissa Clark’s recipe in last week’s NY Times.
I do take credit for suggesting that we substitute lemon juice for the soy sauce, given my all day migraine. So Mr TBTAM made two versions – one with soy sauce for him and one with lemon juice for me. He also sautéed rather than roasted the tofu, but otherwise stayed true to Melissa’s original recipe.
I thought mine was delicious, and Mr TBTAM thought his was too.
We served it with sautéed curly kale tossed with some of the lemon flavored sauce (delish!) for a surprisingly satisfying meal.
Sorry for my absence and the sporadic downtimes on the blog this past few weeks. My website was crashing the server, requiring me to completely rebuild the blog using an upgraded version of my theme. Well, I didn’t exactly rebuilt it – Corey did. (thanks, Corey!), although I did do a little tweaking. I’m hoping it’s loading faster and more smoothly now, making for a better user experience.
Amazingly, I resisted the urge to re-design anything, which is sort of like having your apartment renovated, but buying all the same furniture and not changing the wall color or curtains. Which is testimony either to the fact that I have become less of a perfectionist, or that I don’t have time and energy for anything new right now, or maybe that I simply love my blog just the way it is.
I think I can pretty much say the same thing about these brussels sprouts.
I started out scouring the web and my recipe books to find something amazingly new to do with these lovely little babies that hasn’t been done or blogged about by someone else before. You know, something to rock the food blogging world and turn the heart of even the most vehement brussels sprouts hater. Something just crazy enough to be brilliant.
Along the way, I found this recipe using both bacon and brown butter (be still, my atherosclerotic heart!), which reminded me of my Dad, who used to eat bacon raw (It’s smoked, he’d say) and turned us on at a young age to bread soaked in browned butter, which we had for breakfast with hot cocoa, which reminded me that my arteries were probably already clogged by the time I was 15, so I’d better make something with olive oil, which reminded me that they just published a study this week showing that a Mediterranean Diet actually lowers the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
By then, it was 7 pm and we needed to get dinner on the table.
And I realized that if I stopped trying to change the world and just sauteed these lovely sprouts with a bit of onion in some olive oil, then deglazed the pan with a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and tossed in a few toasted pine nuts, I’d have pretty much a perfect preparation that I would completely adore.
So that is exactly what I did.
BRUSSELS SPROUTS WITH PINE NUTS & BALSAMIC VINEGAR
2 tbsp pine nuts
1 pint brussels sprouts
1/2 sweet onion
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
Toast pine nuts in a small saute pan over low heat, tossing frequently till evenly toasted – about 4 minutes. Rinse the sprouts in cold water and drain. Slice off the little stem end and remove any yellow or browned leaves. Then quarter the sprouts lengthwise. Slice the onion into pieces about the same length as the sprouts. Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a large saute pan till hot, then saute the sprouts and onion till browned, about 5 minutes, stirring several times, but making sure they stay still long enough in the pan to get nicely browned. De-glaze the pan with balsamic vinegar, toss in the pine nuts, transfer to a serving bowl and serve.
Looking for a good way to prepare two gorgeous yellow squash we picked up at the 79th St Greenmarket on Sunday, I came across a recipe for quick zucchini and almond saute on Deb Perelman’s blog Smitten Kitchen. And then the same recipe on Adam Robert’s blog The Amateur Gourmet. And then on Confessions of a Picky Eater. And then on about another million and a half other food and mommy blog sites, all inspired by Deb’s recipe.
Deb herself was inspired by Jimmy Bradley, the chef at The Red Cat – a restaurant I’d passed by on Tenth Ave in Chelsea, but have never thought to try. Of course now that I’ve made this recipe, the Red Cat is at the top of my list of must-eat places. Jimmy has been sharing his recipe for Quick Sauté of Zucchini with Toasted Almonds and Pecorino all over the internet, TV and radio since The Red Cat Cookbook came out in 2006. So if you google Jim’s name and zucchini, you’ll see a whole ‘nother spate of food bloggers who’ve made this dish.
Now, this recipe had mutated a bit from its source. While Bradley makes his preparation with 1/4 cup of oil and two separate fry pans, Deb uses only 2 tbsp of oil and makes it all in one pan, mentioning Bradley’s tent of pecorino as more of an afterthought. Hmm…easier to make and lower calories and fat. I knew which version I was making.
But wait – Mine would have yellow summer squash instead of zucchini. Another mutation!
Let’s see how far this one spreads….
[amd-recipeseo-recipe:4]
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How to Julienne a zucchini – great video comparing a knife to mandoline. Wish I’d found it before I cut up my squash!
This is a new favorite quick evening meal in our household, straight from the pages of Cooking Light Magazine. All we added were a few grape tomatoes.
I love having eggs for dinner – there is something so homey about it. I also like that this meal uses ingredients we usually have in stock – all we need to pick up at the store on the way home is fresh cilantro and maybe a lime – though if we have a lemon at home I’d use it instead. If you don’t keep Panko around the house (we usually have a bag in the freezer), use some old bread to make your own breadcrumbs instead.
It’s a question I found myself asking after reading that a diet rich in the natural plant compound phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) has been shown to prevent the development of mammary tumors in mice. PEITC is a compound found in watercress and in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower.
The researchers found that administering PEITC for 29 weeks was linked with a 56.3% reduction in mammary carcinoma lesions greater than 2mm. “Although PEITC administration does not confer complete protection against mammary carcinogenesis, mice placed on the PEITC-supplemented diet, compared with mice placed on the control diet, clearly exhibited suppression of carcinoma progression,” the authors write. PEITC was also well-tolerated.
Although studies on PEITC in mice are quite promising, proving that PEITC works in humans is not so easy. Dietary studies in humans are exceedingly difficult to perform, and studies of PEITC-rich foods and cancer rates have had mixed results to date. Still, we do know that people who eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables have lower rates of certain cancers, as well as less heart disease, hypertension and diabetes.
Those are enough reasons to feel good about eating your broccoli. Here’s my new favorite recipe for eating mine.
ROASTED BROCCOLI
Although there are many wonderful roast broccoli recipes out there (see links below), the simplicity of this preparation makes this it a versatile accompaniment to almost any meal.
Ingredients:
– 1 head broccoli
– Extra virgin olive oil
– Sea salt & fresh ground pepper to taste
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut the broccoli into large florets. Cut off the end of the stalk and discard, then slice the remaining center stalk into 1/8 inch thick rounds. Spread the broccoli out in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast 15 mins or so, till just tender and the edges are nicely browned, stopping halfway through to turn the broccoli and re-brush as needed with olive oil.
___________________________________________________________________ NCI info on cruciferous vegetables and Cancer
I know. You’re wondering what a courgette is. I’ll give you a hint. It’s long, green, has seeds and can grow to enormous sizes. And no, it’s not a male frog’s body part, get your mind out of the gutter, will you?
Courgette is the French word for zucchini.
Courgette = Zucchini (French)
Speaking of words, although this dish, which hails from the Sephardic Jewish Jews of Turkey and Persia, is called a kugel, it is actually almost identical to the Persian egg-vegetable dish called a Kuku.
Remarkably similar words, similar ingredients, but, it seems, completely different etymology. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, the word “Kugel” is derived from the German/Yiddish for Kugeltopf – a ball shaped ceramic jar in which puddings were cooked on the stove – while the word “Kuku” is believed to stem from the Farsi word for fowl, which either makes a noise like the word or lays the eggs from which the dish is derived.
LEEK, SPINACH & COURGETTE KUGEL
Another recipe from Martha Spieler’s Jewish Cooking. This is one of the healthiest, most delicious ways to use the spring harvest, and is chock full of veggies, with the egg serving as more of a binder for the veggies than a main player. Yet another reminder of what makes the Mediterranean cuisine so good for you.
6 tbsp olive oil
2 large leeks, cleaned and thinly sliced
1 1/2 pounds spinach, washed
1 courgette (zucchini), coarsely grated
1 baking potato, coarsely grated
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 scallions, thinly sliced
2 pinches ground turmeric
3 tbsp matzo meal
2 tbsp chopped fresh dill
3 eggs, lightly beaten
salt and ground black pepper to taste
Lemon wedges to serve
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Heat half the oil in a large saute pan. Add leeks and saute till just tender. Remove leeks to a large bowl and set aside.
Add the spinach to the pan with just the water that clings to it after washing. Place the cover on (it will seem like a lot of spinach, but don’t worry – it cooks way down) and saute over med high heat till just softened, using tongs to distribute and toss the spinach as it cooks down. (This step only takes a few minutes) Drain really well (use technique below if needed) , and when cool, chop roughly.
Meanwhile, grate the courgette and the potato, then drain and either squeeze in your hands to remove the excess liquid, or wrap in a clear dish towel and wring to accomplish the same.
Add zucchini, potato and spinach to leeks, along with scallions, garlic, turmeric and salt and pepper to taste. Add the matzo meal. Stir the dill into the eggs and add to the vegetable mixture.
Pour the remaining 3 tbsp olive oil into a lasagna-type baking pan and heat in the oven for about 5 minutes. Carefully and quickly remove the pan to the top of the stove, and spoon the vegetable mixture evenly into the pan, allowing the hot oil to bubble up over the ides and onto the top of the veggie mixture.
Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and bake another 15-20 minutes till firm to the touch, golden brown and fluffy.
Sprinkle with chopped dill for garnish ad serve warm with lemon wedges to squeeze over the kugel.
ADDENDUM 6/24/12 – IRENE’S VERSION
My mother-in-law Irene, the Best Home Cook in the World, modified the recipe as follows –
One leek instead of two. 1/2 chopped red pepper in with the leek. One 10 oz. bag spinach instead of 1-1/2 lbs. 2 tbsps. matzo meal instead of 3. 2 scallions instead of 3. I stirred in about 1/4 cup of crumbled feta cheese to the finished mixture before baking it. Had some home-made spicy tomato sauce in the fridge and smeared about 1/4 cup on top, halfway thru the baking. Thanks, a great recipe and will be wonderful at Passover.
Just tasted her version and it is even better than the one I made. She made hers in a 7 by 12 by 2.5 inch oval ceramic pan, which gave hers more height.
