Black Bean Soup with Cauliflower Croutons

I admit, this one got weird.  Blame the cholesterol test.  I was in the mood for black beans and started going through the crisper.  The upside was using parsley instead of bay leaf, which tends to overpower the beans.

Funny thing was, this ended up tasting exactly as I wanted it to.  I would have puréed half of it in the blender if I'd felt like cleaning it, to create a thicker texture.  The taste of a slightly bean-y French Onion Soup was just what I wanted.

And what goes well on French Onion but cheesy croutons.  These actually worked better than I imagined.  They do soften during the roasting process, but retain just enough crunch to serve the purpose.  And being coated in cheese doesn't hurt.

I preferred the texture of soaked beans for this.  If you open a can, omit the added salt.

3/4 C dry black beans or 1 can drained
1 qt unsalted vegetable or chicken stock
2 Tb olive oil, divided
1/2 C diced onion
*2 ribs celery, diced
*1 Tb fresh tarragon, finely chopped
*1/2 C fresh parsley, finely chopped
4 oz fresh mushrooms, finely chopped
salt and cracked pepper to taste
2 C cauliflower florets (frozen ok)
*1/2 C grated parmesan cheese

1.  Soak black beans for 4-8 hours.  Drain and rinse.  Bring beans and stock to a low boil over medium heat.  Lower heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until tender, about 1-1/2 hours.

2.  Start preheating the oven to 400º.  In a soup pot, heat 1 Tb oil over medium heat.  Add diced onion and celery and cook until tender, about 5 minutes.  Add mushrooms and herbs, and cook until everything starts to wilt.

3.  Add broth and bean mixture and simmer, covered, over low heat while you make the croutons.

4.  In a bowl, toss florets with the other Tb of oil.  Add cheese and toss until it sticks.  Spread out in a single layer on a parchment or Silpat-lined baking sheet.  Roast for 15 minutes, move them around a bit, and cook another 10 minutes.  This works the same with frozen florets.  Do not defrost them first, or they'll get mushy.

5.  If desired, purée the soup in batches.  Return to heat until serving temperature.  Ladle the hot soup into serving bowls and top with the cauliflower croutons.

Difficulty rating  :)

Semi-Homemade Mince Pies

My local Pavilions clears out seasonal stock the second a holiday is over, despite the expiration on the package being months or years ahead.  I've been sitting on a jar of half-price Nonesuch Mincemeat since spring.

Mincemeat (or "Mince") pies are a standard in England.  They consist mostly of apples, dried fruit, and a liquid sugar like molasses.  A couple of centuries ago, they had plenty of actual meat in them.  Nowadays, you just get beef fat.  I did have a couple of recipes for making it from scratch in the Country Cooking cookbook I decided I don't want.  Really, all the from-scratch recipes are off-putting.  Getting it out of the jar, for me, is like using beef broth in vegetable soup.  It's there for depth of flavor, but you don't have to think about what goes into it.

I'm doctoring up the jar filling here with homemade spiced plum jam that came out a bit thin and is more like pie filling.  Half a cup of any fruit compote or pie filling will produce the same effect.  The brandy is for added seasoning and is optional.  The crust is from the butter tarts.  I really liked the recipe, and it has already shown that it holds up to a sugar-based fruit filling.

Traditional mince pies are individual size, or smaller for tea time, and have a star as the lid.  I made some in Grandma Sophie's old patty pans for Christmas dessert and the rest in muffin cups...for me.  The filling is so sweet and dense, it helps to have a higher crust-to-filling ratio.  You're going to end up with about half a cup of filling left over, since that's what you added to the jar mix.  I saved it for topping ice cream, waffles, or French toast.  Just remember, if you added brandy to it, it hasn't cooked out like the rest of it you baked in the oven.

Pastry
1-1/2 C flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 C cold butter, cubed
1/4 C cold shortening, cubed
1 egg yolk
1 Tb lemon juice
cold water as needed

1.  Sift together flour and salt.  Cut in butter and shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

2.  Beat together egg yolk and lemon juice.  Add enough water to equal 1/3 C.

3.   Make a well in the flour.  Add liquids and work into a crumbly dough.  If needed, add cold water a tablespoon at a time until dough sticks together.  It will get more hydrated as it rests, so be careful not to over-hydrate.

4.  Form dough into a disc and chill for at least half an hour.  Can be prepped a day ahead, or frozen for 1 month.

Filling
1 jar (27 oz) prepared mincemeat
*1/2 C pie filling of choice
*2 Tb brandy (optional)
powdered sugar for garnish

1.  Preheat oven to 425º.  Stir together mincemeat, pie filling, and brandy until uniform.

2.  Roll out 2/3 of the dough.  Cut twelve 5" circles and place into a well-sprayed muffin pan.   (Or one 8" pie pan or 8 patty pans.)

3.  Fill muffin cups with pie filling.  Roll out remaining dough and cut 12 stars to top the pies.  Or, you can cut round lids to make mini two-crust handpies.  Just make sure there is some kind of vent or cutout in the lid.

4.  Bake until crust is golden brown, about 20 minutes.  If using a muffin pan, loosen with a heat-proof scraper, then let sit until they stop bubbling.  Remove from muffin tin to finish cooling.  Patty pan size can be left in the tins or removed shortly before serving.  Finished pies can be kept at room temperature for 3 days, or frozen for later.  Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

Serves 8-12

Difficulty rating  :)

Green Goddess Dressing

Because I bought that bottle of tarragon vinegar for the Baja Chicken.

This dressing was created in California in the 70's and quickly became a hit.  It's just a bunch of herbs whizzed up in the blender with mayo.  I'm following a recipe from the Bible, with a nod to the one on the back of the vinegar label.  Some recipes I looked at included spinach or watercress, but I didn't feel like de-stemming a bunch of spinach, and watercress is very hard to find right now.  My arugula is still too small to use, but a handful of that would make a tangy change.  Basically, I'm stuck with another half a bunch of parsley now.

If you're still trying to figure out what to feed the one gluten-free vegetarian at Christmas dinner, I spooned this on spaghetti squash with quinoa, tomatoes, and walnuts.  The rest of the squash can be tossed with butter and leftover tarragon as a side for everyone else.  If that difficult person is vegan, you can sub a single-serve container of plain vegan yogurt for the mayo.  Just make sure it's also GF, or they'll bring it up next year.

1/2 C chopped parsley
1 Tb chopped fresh tarragon
2 Tb chopped onion
2 Tb chives or green onions
*1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp kosher salt
*1 Tb tarragon wine vinegar (or just wine vinegar)
*3/4 C mayonnaise
milk or buttermilk to thin

1.  Everybody in the blender or food processor, except the milk.  Pulse at first to get it started.  Run for about two seconds at a shot to desired consistency.  Over-mixing could break the mayo because of the vinegar.

2.  Check thickness with a spoon.  Pulse in milk a tablespoon at a time to desired consistency.  Chill until ready to use.

Makes about 1 cup

Difficulty rating  π

Onigiri

I went to a new grocery store.  Mitsuwa Marketplace is a Japanese grocery store with a food court in it and an additional store selling Japanese imports.  It's a condensed version of Little Tokyo without having to go downtown.

I did clip an entirely from-scratch recipe from the L.A. Times for onigiri.  I've been wanting to make this for some time.  I went on YouTube to watch the molding technique and found out there are seasoning packets.  So I cheated.

What is onigiri?  It's a seasoned rice ball, sometimes filled with fish.  They're common in school lunches, like the Japanese version of PB&J or Lunchables.  I found the seasoning packet in the children's snacks area.  There were four or five flavors and several brands.  I don't read Japanese and went by the photo and the tiny sticker on the back of each package with English nutrition information.  Pretty sure I picked the plum and seaweed version, but it mostly tasted like salt.  Next time, I'll add my own seasonings.

This made a lot because the directions on the package started with 320g of dry rice.  Fun with the digital scale.  If you go the package route, it's going to be the only part of the directions you can read. I'm posting a simplified version today which only requires items you can find in a well-stocked grocery store.  The ingredients are by volume instead of weight, and it makes less than the packet did.

1-1/2 C short grain rice such as Calrose
salt to taste
1/2 C chopped seasonings such as parsley, cilantro, green onion, carrot, sesame seeds, shredded dry seaweed etc.
Fillings like cooked tuna or pickled fruit (optional)
snack-sized dry seaweed, for wrapping

1.  Rinse rice until the water runs clear.  Add water to cover and let sit 30 minutes to start softening.  Drain.

2.  Bring rice, salt, and 2 C water to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat to medium low, cover, and cook.  Yes, this is higher than you would normally cook rice.

3.  When the water is absorbed, about 10 minutes, stir and check consistency.  If the core of the rice is still hard, add a few more tablespoons of water and let the pot sit.  The rice will continue to cook in the residual heat.

4.  Work the rice lightly with a wooden paddle or broad spoon.  Work in seasonings.  Let the rice cool until it can be handled.

5.  Wet your hands.  Scoop up about 1/3 C of rice and shape into a flattened triangle.  If filling, poke a hole in the middle, fill with a teaspoon of filling, and patch over with more rice.

6.  Before serving, fold a strip of nori around the bottom of the onigiri to be the handle.  Serve chilled or at room temperature, and refrigerate any leftovers.

Difficulty rating  :)

Parsley Socca with Roasted Garlic and Eggplant

I'm all about the long titles lately.  This one builds on previous recipes, so it isn't like I'm throwing a whole bunch of new stuff at you at once.

For those of you who missed it the first time, socca is a Mediterranean chickpea pancake.  They're traditionally plain with toppings, but I've taken to stirring herbs or vegetables into the mix itself, then topping it with something that didn't fit in the batter once it's out of the pan.

This does require a few hours of planning, but at least it is increasingly easy to find the garbanzo flour.

Just a quick reminder that vegan and gluten-free doesn't automatically mean healthy.  There's a total of a quarter cup of oil in this recipe, one tablespoon per serving.  At that rate, I might as well go back to eating meat more often.

1 C garbanzo bean flour
1 C water
1/4 C olive oil, divided
kosher salt and pepper to taste
*1/2 C diced onion
*1/2 bunch parsley, chopped
1 large eggplant
1 head garlic

1.  At least 4 hours before, and up to overnight, whisk together flour and water.  Stir in 2 tsp oil and a little salt and pepper.  Allow to rest at room temperature to hydrate.

2.  An hour before, cook garlic and eggplant.  Preheat oven to 400º.  Pierce eggplant in several places and set on a rack in a roasting pan.  Cut top off garlic to expose cloves, and peel off the outer parts of the skin.  Drizzle with a little oil and wrap in foil.  Place next to the eggplant and roast for about 45 minutes.

3.  While that's in the oven, sauté the onion in a little oil in a 10" oven-safe skillet until softened.  Allow to cool a little before adding to the batter, then rinse out the pan.  Chop parsley and add to batter.

4.  When the eggplant is cooked, remove from oven and turn it up to 450º.  While it's preheating, put the skillet in there to preheat as well.

5.  Thoroughly stir batter to break up any remaining lumps.  Pour remaining 2 Tb of oil into hot skillet and swirl around to coat bottom and parts of the sides.  Remember to wear oven mitts the whole time!  Pour batter into skillet and swirl until set.  Return to oven and bake 20-25 minutes, until crispy.

6.  By now, you should be able to unwrap the garlic and scoop the insides of the eggplant.  Chop the eggplant.  Squeeze cloves out of their skin onto the eggplant and stir together.

7.  Remove socca from oven and coax out of pan with a wooden spoon.  Cut into wedges and serve, topped with eggplant mix.  I went non-vegan by adding parmesan, plus some pine nuts for crunch.

Serves 2 as a main, 4 with sides

Difficulty rating  :)

Red Lentils with Parsley

Time to use up a bunch of parsley.  Also, I got back a cholesterol test.  I've had high cholesterol my whole life, so anything under 250 is a win, but I still make an effort.  It's kind of unfair to run one of those tests any time between Thanksgiving and New Year's anyway.

I served this hot, alongside the pictured broccoli and (still in the oven at time of photo) packaged salmon.  I didn't like this offering from Sea Cuisine as much as the one I made when my cousin was here, but it was still pretty good.  I may have overcooked it.

Still, this was super-easy and counts as a vegan, gluten-free main dish.  I'm really liking red lentils as opposed to green.  They cook like rice, instead of over half an hour for the green ones, and have a less muddy flavor.  Still need a lot of herbs and spices to be interesting, but that's lentils for you.

*2/3 C dry red lentils
3 Tb olive oil, divided
*1/2 C diced onion
*2 ribs celery, diced
*1 bunch parsley
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tb white wine vinegar

1.  Rinse lentils several times, until the soapy residue stops.  Refill saucepan with water to cover by 1".  Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook until softened and split, about 10-15 minutes.

2.  In a skillet, heat 1 Tb oil over medium.  Add celery and onion and cook until tender, about 5 minutes.  Chop parsley.  Mix together vinegar, salt, pepper, and remaining 2 Tb of oil to make a dressing.

3.  Drain cooked lentils and add to skillet.  Stir together with onion mix.  Remove from heat and stir in parsley.  Toss with dressing.  Serve hot or cold.

Difficulty rating  π

Artichoke Mezzelunes with Spinach Alfredo

I admit, I'm using up Spinach-Artichoke dip ingredients.  I almost did a pizza, but I've been wanting to make pasta for a while.  The shape kept changing from simple tagliatelle, to ravioli, to tortellini.  The latter two felt like too much work, but mezzelune is just like a tortellini before you fold it.

The "sauce" is pretty much thinned out dip.  So, here's another way to use any leftover spinach-artichoke dip!  Most dips can be thinned out into sauces, or further into soups.  It's a culinary not-so-secret.

And yes, I'm doing this metric by weight for the flour.  Forgot to measure the result by volume.

Pasta
100 g a.p. flour
100 g buckwheat flour
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 eggs
1 tsp olive oil + more later

Filling
*1 C frozen artichokes, partly defrosted
*2 Tb plain Greek yogurt

Sauce
1 Tb olive oil
*1/2 C diced onion
*1 C frozen spinach, thawed
1 Tb flour
*1+ C milk
*1/2 C grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

1.  To make the pasta, stir together both flours and salt in a medium bowl.  Crack eggs into it and drizzle in olive oil.  Gradually beat together with a fork into a crumbly dough.

2.  Turn out dough onto a work surface and knead into a smooth and elastic ball, about 5 minutes.  If too dry, wet hands and go back to kneading.  I ended up doing that twice to get the consistency I wanted.  Do not add the water to the dough directly.  Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1/2 hour.

3.  While the dough is resting, make the filling.  Finely chop artichokes.  I found this easier to do with the pieces that were still partly frozen.  The defrosted ones were too mushy.  Mix together in a small bowl with the yogurt.  (You could use mascarpone or cream cheese if you have it.)

4.  Start boiling a large pot of lightly salted water.  Roll out dough thinly, either by hand or in a pasta roller to #4 thickness.  Cut with a round 2-1/2" cutter.  Reroll scraps as necessary, adding as little a.p. flour as possible.  Fill each circle with 1 tsp of artichoke, fold over, and pinch into a half-moon shape.  The finished pieces can be done ahead and refrigerated for later in the day.

5.  While the pasta is lightly boiling for 6-8 minutes, make the sauce.  Heat the oil in a medium skillet.  Add onion and sauté until tender.  Stir in flour to make a paste.  Gradually add in 1 C milk, letting it thicken between additions.  Add spinach and cook.  (You'll probably need to drain the pasta around this time.)  Stir in grated cheese, then judge thickness and add more milk as necessary.  Season with salt and pepper.

6.  Toss drained pasta lightly in olive oil to keep the pieces from sticking together.  Either toss in sauce or plate pasta first and spoon sauce on top.  Serve hot.

Difficulty rating  :-0

Sizzling Ginger Scallion Sauce With Pan-Seared Tofu

Sorry about the long title.  I got this one out of the L.A. Times with that name.  As a whole, I'm disappointed with their new Food section because it's mostly restaurant reviews.  This is one of the few recipes I've considered since the revival.  It's a vegetarian take on Kung Pao.

This recipe is really about the sauce.  The seared tofu part is so they could have something to spoon it on for the photo.  I enjoyed finding a new way to prepare tofu, and would not mind trying it again with a different topping.  Conversely, I can also see myself making the sauce part to use on salmon.  It's a crazy amount of ginger, but tofu kind of needs that much help.

The one thing I didn't love was how oily the sauce is.  I'd probably make it a higher proportion of vinegar in the future.  The steamed cabbage in the photo is seasoned with rice vinegar, soy, and sesame seeds.  When that mingled with the sauce, I liked it better.

I know, kung pao is normally spicy.  I made the mild version of this recipe, where all the heat is from the fresh ginger.  Add as much dried red pepper flakes or diced fresh chili as you would like to spice it up.

1 box (14 oz) firm tofu, drained
5" ginger, peeled and minced (about 1/4 C)
*1 bunch green onions (scallions), minced
1 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
1/2 C neutral-tasting oil such as safflower
1 tsp balsamic vinegar, preferably white balsamic
steamed rice, for serving

1.  Cut the tofu into 8 slices crosswise, about 1/2" thick.  Press between paper towels to remove as much water as possible.  Let sit on fresh paper towels to dry while you prepare the sauce.

2.  Combine minced ginger and scallions in a heat-proof bowl and sprinkle with the salt.  You can probably get minced ginger in a jar at an Asian supermarket.  I got fed up with the chopping and got out the onion whacker.  In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high until shimmering, about two minutes.  Pour most of it over the onion and ginger mix, standing back in case the oil pops and splatters.  Leave about two tablespoons in the skillet and return to the heat.

3.  Add the tofu slices to the hot skillet and cook, turning once, until golden brown on each side.  This takes 5-7 minutes per side.

4.  Once the sauce is no longer sizzling, stir in vinegar and any spices.  Taste and add salt or vinegar as necessary.

5.  Serve tofu slices on top of rice, then spoon sauce on top.  Serve with remaining sauce on side.

Difficulty rating  :)

Curried Chicken Salad

A hundred years ago, an area five miles from me was the celery-growing capital of the U.S.  Before I was born, the last celery farm was sold to build houses.   Nowadays, the juicing craze has driven up the price of celery so that even locally sourced produce is expensive.  Whenever I buy celery, I insist on finding a way to use all of it before it spoils.

That said, I also did buy that small container of curry powder.  When I decided to make a cold dinner, this came to mind for the protein.  It certainly works for sandwich filling or as part of a green salad.  This is just what I came up with using one can of chicken and items on hand.

Most curried chicken salads use mango chutney as the sweetener.  I used a spoonful of kumquat marmalade instead because I didn't feel like buying and chopping up a mango.  You could use orange marmalade, or even no sweetener other than raisins.  The point of the fruit is to balance the spice of the curry.

1 9 oz (or closest to it) can chunk white chicken
*1 rib celery
*1 stalk green onion
*2 Tb chopped fresh parsley
*1/2 tsp curry powder, or to taste
dash black pepper
*2 Tb raisins
*2 Tb mango chutney or 1 Tb orange marmalade
*2-4 Tb mayonnaise

1.  Dice celery and finely slice onion.  Open can of chicken and drain.

2.  In a bowl, combine all ingredients except mayo.  Add in the mayo a tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.  Chill until ready to serve.

Difficulty rating  π

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

We are hardcore into that time of year that most "healthy" eaters fall off the wagon.  Bulking up for the winter is a real thing.  Unfortunately, when I flipped through cookbooks for this recipe, none of them had it.  This flavor combination must have become standard after 1990.

I scrolled down the first page of Google hits and immediately clicked on Alton Brown's version.  His recipes are always basic and to the point.  Other versions add mozzarella cheese and assorted spices.  This one is basic, creamy, and tastes just like you want it to.  Theoretically, you could thin it out with vegetable broth into soup.

A quick note about phrasing.  It's important where you put the comma in this recipe.  One cup spinach, thawed is a different amount than one cup thawed spinach.  We're using the latter here.  Measure after defrosting.

I'm posting the full-fat version, but I made it much lighter in reality.  I used reduced-fat neufchatel instead of cream cheese and fat free Greek yogurt instead of sour cream.  To use up the whole 8oz brick of cream cheese, I subbed out half of the mayo.  The end result had the same texture as the full-fat version, so I consider it a win.  Seriously, this whole recipe is an excuse to eat a ton of cream cheese and pretend you're getting your veggies.

1 C thawed, frozen chopped spinach
1-1/2 C thawed, frozen artichoke hearts, chopped
6 oz cream cheese
1/4 C sour cream
*1/4 C mayonnaise
1/3 C grated parmesan
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
salt to taste
1/4 tsp garlic powder

1.  Simmer spinach and artichokes in 1/2" water until cooked through.  Drain.

2.  Melt cream cheese in microwave until smooth and hot, about 1 minute.

3.  Stir together all ingredients.  Serve hot.

Makes 3 C dip

Difficulty rating  π