DRESSING UP. (SOY GARLIC OR PEANUT NOODLES)

As the weather warms it is natural to lighten up one’s cooking style. Cravings change and colors make a comeback as the Earth wakes from her dark slumber. One of the things that helps me bang out dinners that are quick (and acceptable for pre-bikini season eating) is having a few jars of salad dressing type things waiting for me in the fridge.

A good dressing is easy to whip up and can make proud almost any flavor profile. Perfect when tossed with leafy lettuces, these concoctions get even more use in my kitchen over grains, noodles, beans, grilled meats/veg and steamed tofu. From a spicy smooth peanut sauce to a chunky sundried tomato and fresh herb dressing, they are an indispensable part of the hustling spring/summer repertoire.

Pictured above is a throw-together dinner that was good! Glass noodles were tossed with fresh herbs and sliced jalapeños and topped with some leftover roasted fish and carrot-daikon pickles made using the basic brine in the last post. A drizzle of this powerfully savory Soy Garlic dressing ties all the stuff together. The recipe which is listed below is versatile, it works as a dressing, dipping sauce or marinade. It would also be super-duper for seasoning the broth of a gingered chicken soup or a kale soup or something similar which would be delicious right now as, even though spring keeps trying to rise, lady Earth just kinda wants to sleep in like a hungover teenager.

SOY GARLIC DRESSING

(makes about 1 cup)

2 tablespoons sugar

1-2 small red chiles, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

3 tablespoons lime juice

6 tablespoons soy sauce

1/4 cup oil

drizzle of sesame oil (optional)

black pepper

• Place all ingredients a lidded jar or container, stir to dissolve the sugar.

• Replace lid and shake vigorously to combine.

• Check for seasoning. Adjust.

Here is the world’s quickest peanut sauce since I mentioned it… Good for everything.

PEANUT SAUCE

(makes about 2 cups)

1/2 cup coconut milk

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon sugar

2 limes, juiced or more to taste

1 clove garlic, grated

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 drizzle toasted sesame oil

cayenne pepper and/or hot sauce to taste, don’t be shy

• Measure all ingredients into a mixing bowl. 
• Whisk until thoroughly combined and season to taste. 
• Thin with water if needed.     

I love it when a meal comes together.

Don’t call it cake. (SWEET CARROT BREAD)

I like to make healthy quick breads to have around for easy, one-handed breakfasts. Quick bread, by definition, is a sweet or savory baked-good that is leavened by something other than yeast like baking soda, baking powder, eggs, etc. Banana bread, zucchini bread, cornbread, scones all fall under this category. I try to make it so the bread  has an inkling of nutrition to it. In other words, it can’t be straight up cake… not for breakfast anyway. I save up my pastry-in-the-morning points for when I am in France.

When I come across an interesting recipe, I’ll tweak it here and there so it meets the standards of morning fare; subbing whole wheat flour or natural sweetener, adding bran or nuts and things like that. This recipe has benefitted from some of those adjustments and the result is a slightly sweet, moist, nutty cake… um, bread.

SWEET CARROT BREAD

(adapted from Alton Brown Good Eats, 2005)

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour + extra for the pan

1 cup finely ground almonds (almond meal)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon 5-spice powder

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups grated carrots

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup honey

3 eggs

3/4 cup plain yogurt

3/4 cup vegetable oil + extra for greasing the pan

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Butter and flour a 9-inch round  cake pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.
• Put the flour, almond meal, baking powder, baking soda, 5-spice, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl and whisk until combined. Toss the carrots with the flour mixture until they are coated.
• In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, honey, eggs, and yogurt. Whisk in the oil in a constant stream.
• Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir until just combined.
• Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Fat New Year. (POPOVERS)

First morning of the year I made something I had been thinking hilarious for a while. A king-sized, over the top power brekkie I referred to in my head as the Elvis Popover. A popover is somewhat half biscuit, half inflated pancake. The eggy batter gets huge in the oven, full of nothing but its own hot air. Elvis enters the kitchen with his legendary love of the peanut butter, banana and bacon combo, a square meal if I’ve ever seen one and maybe the perfect candidate to fill the void (and cure the hangover) on this festive morning, 2010. Trashy though it may sound, with the ingredients upgraded to a food snobbery quality, it was pretty fantastic. I would do it all again even if one short week later wasn’t the King’s 75th birthday.

The base was inspired by my friend Megz, who had recently made a batch of gluten-free popovers for an afternoon gathering. Quite impressively, she took this recipe, plain as day, and swapped out all-purpose flour for spelt flour (1:1) to excellent results, pleasing immensely the guest who didn’t go that way. The melting butter and honey over the airy and dense pastry was ridiculously good and got me thinking of all the things one can put in the empty space that is the heart of a popover.

For this version, homemade peanut butter* consisted of honey roasted peanuts and almonds, the first layer on the split popover. Piled on top was bacon acquired from the kind, meat-loving hands of friends at Dickson’s Farmstand, which I like to cook -mess free- in the oven, intertwined with your everyday unlocal bananas. This heap was coated in raw honey from Clermont, NY. The jar reads ‘produced by the bees of Ray Tousey’ and every time I eat it I feel like I am being introduced to the honey and it is awesome. We can be friends with food.

Happy New Year! …it’s still new.

POPOVERS

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

• Preheat oven to 450 F. With butter, grease a muffin pan that makes (6) large muffins.
• In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together all ingredients until smooth.
• Pour batter into muffin cups filling 1/2 – 1/3 of the way up.
• Bake at 450 F for 20 minutes, then lower the temp to 350 F for another 20 minutes.
• When the popovers come out of the oven, make a small slit the top to let off some steam.
• Make an Elvis special out of them or don’t! Enjoy.

Though they are best straight from the oven, remaining popovers can be reheated at any hour for days to come. They won’t do any  science magic like swell up again but keep them in the oven until crisp on the outside and heated through. They will have great flavor and texture, just about begging for your jam and butter, or savory stuff like cheese or ham. Teatime!

* Process the nuts until smooth and peanut-buttery, you can fold in some coarsely chopped nuts afterwards if you are feeling chunky. I kept it smooth like Elvis’ early years.

Redux redux. (HUGUENOT TORTE)

In 1965 this recipe ran in the New York Times. In 2009, it was published again in an article by Amanda Hesser. My friend caught it a few Wednesdays ago and politely suggested that I make it for him. Why not be a part of American history? The legendary Huguenot Torte is so full of sugar, it may very well outlive the teeth of anyone who eats it regularly. For a recipe of so few and such straightforward ingredients, it turns out a rather complex confection. The final torte surprises with three layers of texture, all very different from each other. The crisp, light, sugary top forms over a gooey middle where the apples have gone so soft and sweet, it mimics a perfect old school pecan pie, sans corn syrup. The third and my favorite layer, is the the bubbly, sticky caramelized edge that, after the torte deflates, lines the pan and in this case, my oven.

To avoid such troubles, place a cookie sheet at the bottom of the oven to catch any dripping sugar and beware of the bad smell that is burning sugar. This recipe doubled beautifully in a 9×12 inch pan and served about 16 pieces. The recipe below is for 8. Reading about the torte, it is well stated that it will not present beautifully and it doesn’t. Once cut it is a little hard to divide up properly, since that caramelized edge is difficult to scrape off the side of the pan and serve. Instead, I found myself peeling that layer off and eating it straight from the oven (be careful.. hot!). Unfortunately when cooled it was nearly impossible to remove. Next time I would put the batter into individual ramekins so everyone, not just the greedy baker, can experience the whole sugary thing.

1965: HUGUENOT TORTE

Adapted from the New York Times (September 9, 2009)

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup peeled and chopped tart cooking apples

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
• Beat the eggs and salt with a rotary beater until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the sugar.
• Add the vanilla, flour and baking powder. Fold in the apples and pecans with a spatula. Pour into a well-greased baking pan about 8-by-12 or 9-by-9 inches and at least 2 inches deep. Bake for 45 minutes, until sunken and crusty. Cut while warm. Serve warm or chilled, with whipped cream.
• Serves 8.

Top it. (SNAZZY STREUSEL)

I make pretty strong coffee* and think it kind to offer some sort of baked good to go with even though, as previously stated, I don’t love baking very much. And, as a part of the commercial food chain, it is impossible to NEVER bake. So every once in a while I give in, make something nice and hope that it will become more natural to me as time goes by. When it comes to recipes, I am an off-roader. I change and tweak and substitute and cross reference and experiment all the time. The problem: it is hard to do this when it’s essential to follow the rules (as a novice baker). So instead of being rebellious and left with something inedible, I pay attention and keep in mind some of the tips I have picked up to increase the baking-success-rate and fend off frustration:

• read the recipe all the way through before starting
• have the ingredients measured and ready
• grease and line and re-grease every cake pan
• non-stick spray is your best friend
• add wet ingredients to dry
• if you are multiplying a recipe, do all the math first
• which is it!!? baking soda or powder. always double check
• proof your yeast
• when in doubt, the answer is usually 350F
• use an oven thermometer
• don’t boil gelatin
• a small scale is very useful
• Even Cook’s Illustrated likes Pillsbury Rolled Pie Crust and you will bake alot more blasphemous pies as a result of discovering them. (Of course they are not as good as homemade, but they can do…)
• Speaking of Cook’s Illustrated, it is an excellent resource for baking complicated stuff because they walk you through every single detail.
• I set a timer to go off halfway through the cooking process to check the oven in case the items need to be rotated or moved for even cooking, then I set a timer for a few minutes before recommended time is up to make sure nothing is getting too dark.
• Avoid opening the oven during the first ten minutes of anything that is intended to rise.
• It is true that practice makes… improvement, at least.

As a natural born rule-breaker, I find myself cheating in small ways; changing spices, adding handfuls of nuts, dried fruit and secret sprinkles of salt, black or cayenne pepper to my batters, etc. Safe substitutions also include playing with the types of flour (i.e. using some whole wheat or rice flour) or sweetener (honey or maple for sugar), or oil for butter. It works sometimes… Another trick I like is adding a crisp topping to quickbreads, muffins, cakes or fruit before baking. Putting the streusel together takes no more than pretending you are in a sand box, scrunching the ingredients with your fingers. Sprinkle it on and proceed as directed by the original recipe. You can even put a layer of streusel on a baking sheet and bake it by itself until crisp (about 30 minutes @ 350F). Embellish ice cream, oatmeal or fresh fruit. This is a great secret weapon which bakes up beautifully, giving even the ‘healthy-twist’ recipes an extra layer of deliciousness because what good is a whole grain flax zucchini yogurt muffin if no one is going to eat it…

Snazzy Streusel
3 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts or hazelnuts)
3 tablespoons butter, cold, cut into pieces
2 teaspoons cinnamon (optional)

Combine ingredients well with your fingers. Should resemble coarse crumbs.

Make your favorite banana bread recipe extra-dreamy: sprinkle on before baking and proceed. If the streusel looks like it is getting too dark before the batter is baked, cover the top with loose foil.

or

Sprinkle a layer of this stuff on top of chopped fruit (apples, peaches, pears or berries) and bake 45-50 minutes until crisp and fruit is bubbly. Perfect for summer!

or

Make your own music, it’s rather foolproof!

* This ‘back to basics’ coffee I have become addicted to brews in the cup. Add two tablespoons of freshly ground coffee to your 8 ounce mug. Pour some boiled water on top and stir. Wait patiently for the grinds to settle and drink until the grinds are visible…um, don’t drink the grinds. Make great coffee anywhere, even in a Vegas hotel room where the nearest good coffee is San Francisco. Just please do not bring your coffee grinder on an Everest expedition whatever you do. Thx!