New Ingredient: Egg Replacer

 

Assuming you can get eggs at all right now, they're twice as much as I'm willing to pay.  I'm investigating my options, as I eat a lot of them.  Looking into different breakfast proteins as well, and not ruling out tofu or other vegan options.  For baking, I decided to try a bag of Bob's Red Mill egg replacer.

I read the ingredients before buying it, because if it was mostly chia it would do crazy things to my stomach.  There's a reason I don't do chia "eggs" or pudding.  It's the binders tapioca flour, potato starch, and psyllium husk, with some baking soda to mimic the leavening of eggs.  It's gluten free, egg free, and vegan.

It's also a nutritional black hole.  I consider eggs a protein and fat, even in baked goods.  This is a couple of carbs without fiber, and that's about it.  Ok, fine, I'll consider it for its binding properties and not use it in challah, where eggs are for flavor and fat.

The first thing I tried with it was waffles, since they're fairly forgiving.  I feel like they could have risen better, but the taste was right.  They weren't tough, like they would be if there was no egg and the gluten was the only thing holding them together.

Next up was subbing for the egg in lasagna.  Granted, the egg doesn't really do much except keep the ricotta from running everywhere, and I don't think that's a problem.  I definitely noticed the thickening effect in the ricotta.  I had put in a lot of water, to make it easier to spread, and by the time I got to it the mixture had thickened up almost to where I started.  Also, I made way too much filling, so I made a second 8x8 for the freezer.  That's going to come in handy some day I don't want to cook.

I haven't tried it yet, but a good off-label use would be to make stabilized whipped cream.  I've struggled with ways to make it work.  The package does not say it requires cooking before consumption.  Adding it directly to the cream before whipping might do the trick.

Will I buy this again?  Hard to say.  I do like the idea of shelf-stable options for commonly used ingredients.  It reduces the odds of going to the market for one thing, which never turns into only one thing.  And if this saves an egg that's only there to hold something like crepes together, it's worth $5 for a three dozen equivalent package.

Bagel Chips

I have had two sesame bagels in the freezer for so long, I don't remember why I saved them.  It may have been for tashlich, before they put out a request to bring vegetables instead of bread because it's more environmentally friendly and safer for the birds.  Either that, or for a stuffing I never made.  I also remember thinking I could make breadcrumbs out of them.

Turning stale bread into croutons or chips is very easy.  You just toss or brush the cut slices with oil and toast them in the oven with whatever seasoning you choose to sprinkle on them.  That is, until you try to multitask a pie, don't set a timer, and leave them in about three minutes too long.  These were edible, just quite a bit darker than I had in mind.

1 or 2 day-old bagels
olive oil
seasonings of choice: flake salt, everything seasoning, Italian herbs, etc

1.  Preheat oven to 350º or 325º with convection.  Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

2.  Slice bagel thinly, ideally a quarter inch thick or less, all around the radius.  You can do them the long way too, if you want ovals instead of rounds.

3.  Lightly brush both cut sides with olive oil.  You're looking for a drop or two on each, maybe a total of 2 Tb for this entire project.  Sprinkle with seasonings, if using.  I left mine plain because they were already sesame.

4.  Bake chips 10 minutes, flip, and bake another 10 minutes or until crispy and about three shades less brown than the ones I made.  Allow to cool and set, then serve with soup, salad, or dips.

Yield depends on size and number of bagels

Difficulty level  π

Chickpea and Kale Soup

I thought I had done something like this before, but I can't find it.  Maybe a different bean with cabbage.  It's kind of like the Zuppa Toscana soup, but not really.  I wanted a cross between something light and summery and a filling winter soup.

What I got was slightly sweet and unexpectedly floral.  That had to be the carrots and tarragon.  For something that came together in half an hour, I was very happy.

I did choose to go a bit skimpy on the broth, as a personal choice.  3-4 cups would be more appropriate for four servings.  The batch I made was almost a stew, which was fine for what I wanted that day.  If you want it to be more soupy, double the broth.

2 Tb olive oil
*1/2 small onion, diced
*1 Tb grated ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
*1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp paprika
*1/2 tsp celery salt
*1/4 tsp white pepper
*1 tsp dried tarragon
*2 C unsalted vegetable or chicken stock
*1 15 oz can sliced carrots with their water
*1 15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
*6 C (about two bunches) kale, destemmed and cut in ribbons

1.  Heat oil in a soup pot over medium heat.  Add onion, ginger, garlic, spices, salt and pepper and allow to cook until the onion is soft and spices are fragrant, about 5 minutes.

2.  Add stock and kale to the pot.  Cover and simmer 10 minutes, until the kale is thoroughly wilted.

3.  Stir in rinsed chickpeas and carrots with their water.  Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes.  Serve hot.

Difficulty rating  π

Unintentional Pantry Challenge

I'm not doing the classic January Pantry Challenge, where you try not to buy any food for a whole month and just cook with what's already in the pantry and freezer.  I would run out of eggs and dairy, not to mention fresh produce.  Also, I'm as concerned about inflation and product availability as everyone else, and don't want to pass up a good deal when I see it.

However, I did find myself creating this month's meal plan almost entirely based on what I have on hand.  Yes, that's the point of this blog.  I also think I stored up too much last year when inflation was unchecked.  Anything that didn't seem too expensive went into storage.  I probably have six months of legumes and pulses, if I ever want to go vegan.  There's still kale in the garden, and I really want to use up what's in the freezer to get that space back, plus whatever new things I'm growing now.  There's also everything I canned, since that was my fun new toy.  I need to use and rotate all this food, or the money spent on it is wasted.

First up was pinto and kale enchiladas with pesto.  I was considering calling them "Italian Enchiladas", but that would be manicotti.  Pesto in the filling and a very mild tomato enchilada sauce.

New Year's breakfast, I usually make waffles, but I had some pumpkin pancake mix in the pantry.  That, plus some frozen hash browns and one of several packs of sausage links in the freezer was a fancy way to start the new year without buying anything.

I finally had enough arugula in the garden for a salad, and cobbled together one with other items scavenged from the garden to have with franks'n'beans.  Not fancy, and certainly not blog-worthy, but it was a really satisfying meal.

I didn't get my peanut butter cream pie for Christmas because of remaking the pumpkin one, but I had already bought the ingredients.  Made one for myself, which did take a week to finish.

The second week of the year, I finally needed to go grocery shopping in order to make a lasagna.  It actually ended up being a lot of filling, so I made a second 8x8 one for the freezer.  I added enough routine items to my grocery list to make it worth the trip.  I really missed shopping those two weeks, but the truth was I didn't need anything.

I don't know how many trips I'll end up making this month, but I'm definitely going to spend less than usual.  It's the end result of buying in bulk, canning, and having a year-round garden.  Makes up for the price of eggs.

Sweet Potato Latkes

I made these for Chanukah dinner, but I'm only getting around to posting them now.  We're having staffing issues at work, and I'm very glad it's the slow season.  Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to keep up.

There are a lot of firsts for me with this recipe.  I've never used sweet potatoes or puréed vegetable in a latke, and I've never baked them before.  With everything going on for an admittedly excessive meal, I found this to be the easiest way to make them.

I got out a bag of pre-steamed sweet potatoes from the freezer, leftovers from the canning session.  It was 2 pounds, so a double recipe of what I'm posting for four servings.  In a surprise twist, the skins were super easy to remove after defrosting, almost as easy as tomatoes.  I was thrilled.  You don't have to go through all that.  You can absolutely open one of the large cans if you don't have the wherewithal to do this from raw potatoes.

*1 lb sweet potatoes or one 30 oz can, drained
1/2 small onion, diced, about 1 C
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
2 Tb flour (matzoh cake meal or potato starch for Passover)
oil for frying

1.  Scrub potatoes well.  Place in a large pot in a steamer basket or sieve over 1" of water.  Cover, bring to a low boil, and cook until thoroughly tender, at least 30 minutes depending on size.

2.  Once cool, peel potatoes.  Either with a masher or food processor, break down into a chunky purée.  Stir together with diced onion, cinnamon, salt, egg, and flour.  Allow to sit 15 minutes while you preheat the oven to 375º.

3.  Smear a rimmed baking sheet with about 2-3 Tb of neutral oil.  You can use olive oil if you want, since this isn't deep frying and the oven won't overheat it.

4.  Spoon or scoop potato batter onto the baking sheet.  I used the 3 Tb cookie scoop and liked the size.  1/4 C would also bake well.  I wouldn't go larger, since they are soft when you flip them later.

5.  Bake until the undersides are crisp and easy to scrape off the pan with a pancake turner, about 20 minutes.  Flip and cook other side until done, 15-20 minutes more.  They're sweet enough that I wouldn't serve them with applesauce, but you could have sour cream with them if you choose.

Makes 8-10

Difficulty rating  :)

Red Lentil and Parsley Salad

I didn't intend to put two lentil recipes in a row.  This was actually for the couple of days before Chanukah, when I knew I would be eating a lot and wanted something lighter in advance.  Being only two days, I'm doubling what I actually made for this post.

Yes, more roasted radishes.  I want to clear the pot they're in and grow beets and turnips.  The few beets I have were being suppressed by the giant radishes.  I also pulled the last giant green onion from the last round.  The new ones won't be ready for at least a month, but I haven't been using them much lately, which is why they got so big.  Or I could sub green onion pesto.  There's still over a quart of that.

While I made up this recipe, it is influenced by the recent adventures in North African cooking.  Most of the ingredients are Mediterranean, inexpensive, and easy to find.  Most people are on a diet and/or trying to save money in January.  This is a good way to do that and enjoy a very good salad.

*1 C red lentils
*1 bunch radishes
1/4 C olive oil
*2 Tb white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
*1/2 tsp fennel seed (anise), crushed
*1 bunch Italian parsley, chopped and large stems removed
*2 green onions, thinly sliced

1.  Preheat oven to 375º.  Cut leaves and root from radishes, and cut larger ones in half.  Toss with a little of the oil and roast until tender, about half an hour.  Set aside.

2.  Sort and rinse lentils.  Place in a saucepan with water to cover and bring to a low boil.  Cover, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.  Drain well.

3.  In a bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, salt, garlic, and crushed fennel.  Add the parsley and onion and toss to coat.  Add the radishes and lentils once slightly cooled and toss until evenly distributed and coated with dressing.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Difficulty rating  π

Addis

Yet another Moroccan vegan adventure.  I'm running out of bean varieties, so this may be the last recipe of its kind for a while.

Many of the recipes I found called addis are Lebanese.  There are small differences in the spices and method, as well as how much sauce you end up with.  I didn't want a soup, which is what most of the Lebanese addis recipes are.  Here, I'm largely adapting an Instant Pot version for stovetop.  Surprisingly, the cook time is about the same.  You don't get the completely mushy texture that pressure cooking does to beans, which may be a plus if that's what you want.

I'm going off recipe a little, but not much.  I was surprised that paprika is not a common spice in addis.  Instead of adding black pepper and a hot pepper or flakes, I used chili powder for a hint of roasted flavor.  I also cut back slightly on the quantity of spices because, dang, that's a lot of cumin.

1 C brown lentils
1/4 C olive oil
1/4 C diced onion
1 Tb cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
pinch saffron (optional)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 lb tomatoes, grated
1 C water

1.  Sort and rinse lentils.  Soak 6-12 hours, or overnight.  I did not expect half of them to start sprouting.  Maybe I should look into growing lentils, but with my small space I doubt it would be worth the effort.  Drain when ready to begin cooking.

2.  Heat oil over medium heat in a large saucepan.  Add onion and cook until softened.  That's a lot of oil, so try not to fry the onion.  Add in spices, salt, and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes.

3.  Stir in tomatoes, lentils, and water.  Bring to a low boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and cover.  Cook 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  That should be enough time to wash the unfortunate number of dishes.  It's grating the tomatoes that bumped up the difficulty level of this dish.  If lentils are not tender yet, continue to cook in 5 minute increments.

4.  Add water to desired consistency.  Taste and adjust seasonings.  Serve hot.

Difficulty rating  :)

Gingerbread Loaf

I know, it's past the holidays, but it's still winter.  And as long as the conspiracy to not sell glacé fruits so people can't bake fruitcake persists, I will come up with alternatives.

I made only tiny changes to I Am Baker's recipe.  First, I cut it in half and made it in two mini loaf pans, after deciding not to use the 6" round cake pan.  I felt like slicing it, rather than cutting wedges.  You can also use it to make muffins.  It's a quick bread/muffin recipe.  Next, I opted for low-fat plain yogurt instead of buying sour cream.  I already had the yogurt.  And I added some crystallized ginger that was supposed to go into fruitcake or stollen, decreasing the brown sugar in the recipe a tiny bit to compensate by not packing it.

I made this on a somewhat cold day, so it took longer for the refrigerated ingredients to come up to "room temperature" than to make it after that.  With a low-moisture recipe, you definitely want to start with everything the same temperature.  Otherwise, the batter will break.  I'm not sure if it was the butter or yogurt that stayed a little lumpy, but it did melt in the oven.

1/4 C unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 C + 2 Tb light brown sugar, lightly packed
*1/4 C + 2 Tb molasses
1 egg, room temp
*1/2 C sour cream or yogurt, room temp
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 C flour
1/2 Tablespoon ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp kosher salt
*1/4 C chopped crystallized ginger, optional

1.  Prepare one 6" cake pan, 2 mini loaf pans, or about 8 muffin cups with pan spray.  Preheat oven to 350º.

2.  Cream together butter and brown sugar until fluffy.  Add molasses, egg, sour cream, and vanilla and beat until smooth.

3.  Separately, sift together flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt.  Toss crystallized ginger in 1 Tb of the flour mixture and set aside.

4.  Once the liquid ingredients are smooth, add the flour and stir until just combined.  Add ginger pieces and the reserved flour and stir again to distribute.  Do not overmix.

5.  Portion batter into pan or muffin cups.  Bake 20 minutes for muffins, 30 for loaves.  Start checking with a toothpick at that time.  Center should not be wet.  Wait about 2 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool thoroughly.

6.  If desired, dust cooled loaf with powdered sguar or drizzle with a glaze.  Keeps room temperature 2 days, in the fridge for a week, or in the freezer for at least a month.

Serves about 6

Difficulty rating  π

Grape Leaf-Wrapped Lemon Cod

I hate coming up with names for recipes I invent.  But, well, that's what this is.

I'm trying to tidy up the chest freezer by eating things that were a good idea when I bought them.  I picked up the cod on sale at a time I was feeling guilty about not eating enough fish.  Freezer-pack fish portions take up much more space than they have the right to, so they went on the list.  I still have that jar of grape leaves in the fridge to deal with, and several lemons on the tree past ripe.  That and a few herbs and seasonings made an easy dinner.

I'm going to stop buying frozen fish.  They're all water.  I forgot that until I took off the foil and they were drowning in way more juice than I expected.  I wouldn't have covered them at all if I had realized that.  It was a disappointment with the scallops, and equally so here.

*4 portions cod fillets
1 Tb olive oil
*12-ish grape leaves
*1 lemon, thinly sliced
salt and white pepper
dried dill and tarragon

1.  Gently grease a roasting pan with the olive oil.  Preheat oven to 375º.  Rinse the grape leaves well and trim off any stems.

2.  Lay out two grape leaves on a work surface.  Lay a portion in the middle.  Sprinkle with salt, white pepper, dill, and tarragon.  Top with a couple of lemon slices.  Place another leaf on top and fold into a package.

3.  Transfer portions to the baking dish.  Cover with foil and bake until 155º, about half an hour.  Mine took quite a bit longer because they were still pretty much frozen, even after a day and a half in the fridge.  Another reason to transition to fresh fish.  Remove foil and bake another five minutes to crisp up the leaves a bit.  Serve hot.

Difficulty rating  π

Pasta Salad with Roasted Radishes

I was thinking of making a side dish salad, then noticed that the radishes in my garden were getting exceedingly large.  It was time to roast them up and get creative.

Radishes are almost always sold with the leaves attached.  They are absolutely edible.  They taste kind of like a peppery spinach.  And you paid for them, so you might as well get the benefit.

I really need to stop leaving plants in the garden too long.  Yes, I was waiting for the radishes to get big enough to roast, but one was stupid huge.  I have one green onion that has overstayed its welcome, too.  I'll have to figure out a recipe for that.

*1 bunch radishes with leaves
1 C pearl (Israeli) couscous
*1/4 C sun dried tomatoes
1/4 C olive oil
2 Tb vinegar of choice (I used balsamic)
*1/4 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste

1.  Preheat oven to 375º.  Cut greens off of radishes and save, trim off any extending taproot, and cut in half into bite-sized pieces.  Toss in a bit of olive oil just to coat and spread in a single layer on a baking sheet or in a roasting dish.  Bake until lightly browned and softened, about 30 minutes.

2.  Start boiling a medium to large pot with 2 C of water while the radishes are roasting.  You can multitask by whisking up the dressing of the rest of the oil, the vinegar, thyme, and salt and pepper.  I also soaked the tomatoes in it.

3.  Cook couscous according to package directions.  Cut the radish leaves off the tough stems and roughly chop.  Add to the pasta in the last two minutes of cooking so they can wilt.

4.  Drain pasta and greens and return to the pot.  Stir in radishes, tomatoes, and dressing and toss until everything is evenly coated.  Can be served anywhere from chilled to hot.  I preferred slightly warmer than room temperature.

Difficulty rating  :)