Reality Check

Don't you hate it when you get to Tuesday night, and you've already worked more than 35 hours? Me, too. The reality is, this week is going to be screaming busy. There's not likely to be any cooking worth blogging about; in fact, I could (and might) live on toast and oranges the rest of the week. I did make a great dish over the weekend I didn't have time to post (started working like crazy on Sunday--about 12 hours that day alone). So, check back on the weekend, and I'll bring you up to date.

Martha Stewart + Paper Towel Rolls = Pretty Cookies

But when you're baking on a whim, you might not have extra paper towel rolls just sitting around. So, my Icebox Butter Cookies aren't Martha-pretty, although I do notice that even in her cookbook, she only shows the pretty RAW dough slices. These just look a little like the frog before the kiss if you ask me. However, they are pretty good. Perhaps they would have been perfection if I had an empty cardboard tube to slip them in while chilling. Who knows?

I do know, though, that this recipe makes the best cookie dough I have ever snuck when I thought no one was looking. I made the variation with chopped pecans, and after quickly roasting the finely chopped nuts in a skillet, I put the dough together in minutes. Then, it was tidily rolled up in parchment paper, left to chill for an hour, then rolled in sanding sugar prior to slicing and baking. Were I to make these again, I think I'd roll them in more toasted nuts; the sanding sugar overpowers the delicate, simple flavor of the cookie itself.

At least they provided one last diversion from the work I need to do, as well as something to nibble with the coffee I'm now drinking to keep me awake to do it. So now, at 10:57 p.m., I think I'll get started on that.

Bean there, done that!

Oooh...a new favorite food. In an admirable effort to avoid all the work I brought home to do over the weekend, I've been playing in the kitchen. I once again spent some time baking bread, with a revisit of Moomie's Beautiful Burger Buns. Then, I pulled out Mark Bittman's newest book, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, which is vying for menu space with Jack Bishop's A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen. After all, what's the point in having buns if there's nothing to dress them up with, right? Bittman has a whole section on bean burgers, which sound gross, but are really, really, really good. I used black beans, which take a spin in the food processor with onion, rolled oats, chili powder, salt, pepper, and an egg for binding. From there, they can be cooked immediately or, as I did, refrigerated for awhile to allow the flavors to meld.

Once formed into patties, they are fried in a skillet or baked. I chose baking for a couple of reasons. Mine were really wet, and I just didn't think they'd make it into the skillet. So, I lined a baking sheet with parchment paper, then scooped out the mixture and formed the patties right on the parchment-lined pan. I covered and refrigerated them a bit longer, as I was still waiting for bread dough to rise and bake. When I took the buns out of the oven, I cranked up the heat and tossed the whole baking pan in the oven. Fifteen minutes, turn, fifteen more minutes--success.

There was a tiny little roadblock which had me worried for a minute. When I took the burgers out of the oven to turn them, they were glued to the parchment. I did scrape them up and turn them onto a clean spot, and they were fine after that. I think the bean mixture was just so wet that it got too attached. Next time, I think I'll just use Reynold's Release or a Silpat sheet to eliminate the problem.

There are about a million possible variations on this, using any kind of bean (or even lentils) and any kind of spice. The book has directions for making the mixture into cutlets, meatballs, or meatloaf, or even changing the whole thing up with different additions.

We topped our burgers with chipotle ketchup, which was a perfect go-with. I can tell I'll be making these over and over again.

Given all the healthy properties of beans and all things legume, I'm sure you'll want to check out My Legume Love Affair over at The Well Seasoned Cook. The results of this blogging event will be posted the week of February 10. In the meantime, check out the blog itself for lots of great recipes and ideas.

Something Old, Something New

When I made the Quinoa with Caramelized Onions earlier in the week (something old), it made a ton. I knew I needed to find something to make with it that would compliment the flavor without copying it. Another Jack Bishop recipe, Spicy Pan-Glazed Tofu (something new), was a perfect match. Now, I have to be honest. I'm still struggling with tofu. I like it crumbled and squeezed dry, then cooked, but slab o'tofu still leaves me cold. It has the texture of over-fried eggs. Plus, I made roasted Brussels sprouts again, which eclipses every other food group in my kitchen. Plus, I pretty much had a toast orgy when I got home tonight. I was starving, it was cold, and toast just sounded good. So, my appetite didn't exactly have a razor-sharp edge by the time I got dinner on the table.

With that said, though, I can still be objective about this. The warm, cinnamon undertones of the quinoa dish, and the sweetness of the caramelized onions, called out the sticky, warm notes of maple syrup and balsamic vinegar in the tofu glaze. In this preparation, the tofu is sliced, patted dry, and pan-fried to develop a golden brown crust. The glaze ingredients are then poured into the pan with the tofu, where the crispy cutlets absorb the flavor but still retain their chewy texture and crisp exterior. I turned my back at a crucial moment, though, and let the syrupy glaze absorb completely into the tofu. I think I would have liked this better had I had some of the glaze to drizzle over the tofu. I really liked the glaze, and I can see using it over a crumbled tofu/browned mushroom mixture, or even to glaze braised and browned tempeh.

And I just need to work on my tofu attitude.

My new addition

Over on the right side of the screen, you'll see a new addition to my blog--The Foodie Blogroll. It includes a scrolling list of tons of great blogs where you can satisfy yourself with all things foodie. Best of all for my fellow bloggers, joining automatically links you to tons of sites, boosting your search engine ranking and giving you a bit more exposure. Best of all for my non-blogging readers, it's just a great way to click across some blogs you might not find otherwise, and who knows where your next favorite blog is lurking? Jenn over at Leftover Queen manages this resource and runs a great blog to boot. Give her a visit, will you?

Dinner tonight was supplanted by a long nap on the couch. The Husband wasn't feeling well last night, and when he can't sleep, I can't either. So....I had been up since 12:30 a.m. Really and truly, I was just going to rest for a few minutes while watching the Food Network, but instead slept through Ina, Paula, and Rachel. Wouldn't have woken up then, either, but the phone rang. So, thermometer and extra blankets in hand, I'm headed back to bed, where hopefully we can both get a little shut-eye. Tomorrow, however, is looking good for dinner. I have plans involving the leftover quinoa and some glazed tofu--and a repeat visit from my very favorite roasted brussels sprouts. See you then!

I Bake Bread, Therefore I Am

When I start to feel like I'm getting lost in busyness, there is one thing that always calls to me--bread baking. There is something so elemental about bread, so connected to life, that it always brings me back to myself. Maybe it's the alchemy that causes such simple ingredients--yeast, flour, water, salt--to spring to life. Or the smell that promises something that has to be good. I don't know, but I know that I needed to bake bread this weekend. And I did. Specifically, I baked an epi. I never knew what that was until I was clicking through some blogs and found a great set of pictorial directions on KitchenMage. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to make it. I turned to Dough: Simple Contemporary Bread, by Richard Bertinet, for a recipe and more directions. The recipe I used is just a simple baguette dough. I found Bertinet's directions less than clear, so I went back to KitchenMage. It worked like a charm; after your baguette is shaped and risen, you just use kitchen scissors held almost perpendicular to the loaf to cut almost through, then pull each leaf to alternating sides.

To get the crispest crust possible, I put a baking stone in the oven while the oven preheated. I turned a rimmed baking sheet upside down, covered it with a piece of parchment, and shaped the epi there. When the oven temp hit 475 degrees, I pulled out the rack with the baking stone, spritzed the entire oven with water, and slid the dough--parchment and all--onto the stone. Twelve minutes later, I had a beautiful, crusty, just-dense-enough loaf. Who needed anything else for dinner?

I went back to Jack Bishop for dinner again tonight, turning out Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Dried Cherries, Chard, and Walnuts. Another simple dish, this one starts with minced garlic sizzling in olive oil, followed by a huge bowlful of chopped chard that wilts down to nothing. Once the chard has had a few minutes to wilt, a handful of dried cherries is tossed into the pot, given a quick stir, then covered and taken off the heat. There is just enough moisture to allow the cherries to reconstitute without losing all of their intensity and chewiness. Meanwhile, the pasta is boiled, with a bit of the cooking water retained for finishing the dish. A few tosses with the tongs, and dinner is on the table. I will say that I thought this dish called out for crumbled feta or goat cheese; the tanginess of either would be a nice note to accompanies the sweet-tart cherries and earthy chard. For lots more great pasta ideas, don't forget to check out the Presto Pasta Night Roundup every Friday at Once Upon a Feast.

I also put together a huge pot of Pasta e Fagioli from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. I doubled the recipe, which is both good and bad. It's good, because the soup is delicious, and I am working to fill the freezer for busy nights. It's bad, because some salt voodoo devil apparently came to my house and swam in my soup. It's like plucking petals off a daisy, saying, "He loves me, he loves me not." Except in this case, it's, "It's just right, it's too salty." You can eat ten bites of this soup and be in heaven, and suddenly get a bite that tastes like you ate a salt cube. I have NO idea what happened. I've added water, reheated, stirred...and laughed like crazy when the Husband literally spit a mouthful of soup into his hand halfway through a bowlful. So, I don't know if the whole bit is going to go into the garbage disposal, or if a night in the refrigerator might somehow dissipate the salt. I'll report back.

Have you met quinoa?

If you've never cooked with quinoa, Bishop's Quinoa Pilaf with Caramelized Onions and Toasted Pecans is a great way to start. Quinoa is considered a "supergrain" with unbelievable amounts of nutrients and protein. It cooks pretty easily and typically doesn't take too long. I don't know what happened with my dinner tonight, because it took me over an hour to get the quinoa tender and to absorb all the water. Of course, what happened is really a no-brainer; I apparently wasn't cooking at a high enough heat. I'm still in a bit of a learning curve with my Le Creuset cookware. Too high a temp and things scorch, too low and they don't get done--and the range between the two is very narrow. (I never cook above level 5--of 10 levels--when using my Le Creuset.) But, I digress.

Another thing I really like about quinoa is the way it looks after it's cooked. The grains plump up, and you can see an opaque spiral running through them. They just look very cool. The grain is also versatile, able to take on many flavors and feel right at home with all of them. One word of caution: If you're going to use quinoa, don't ignore the directions to rinse it well prior to using. The grain has a natural protective coating of a substance called saponin, which is very bitter. A good 30-seconds of rinsing is a great investment into your finished product.

This recipe starts with diced onions and bell peppers cooked for five minutes. Ummm...that doesn't really caramelize them. So, I threw them in the pan and gave them about 20 minutes, which is what it took for them to brown and take on the sweet flavor characteristic of caramelized onions. Warm spices--cinnamon and ginger--are added and toasted just long enough to bring out their fragrance. The quinoa is then added to the pan and toasted for about a minute before the water is added and the whole mixture sets to simmer. After 20-30 minutes, you should be able to fluff it up, add some toasted pecans and chopped parsley, and sit down for dinner. We were going to have this with some roasted broccoli, but it took so long to cook that we had broccoli as an appetizer while we were waiting for dinner. I love roasted veggies, but that should probably be another post entirely!