Artful Farinata

Farinata is the Italian version of socca.  Pretty much the same ingredients and procedures, just another name.

I got the idea to turn this one into a bit of vegetable art by the YouTube channel peas etc.  She cooked up a kilo of chickpea flour in various recipes, and this was one of them.  Unlike my tendency to drop all sorts of things into my soccas and hope for the best, she placed her vegetables strategically.  I decided I could do that.

And then I was tired and hungry after work, and very glad I had done all the chopping in the morning.  It still only took half an hour to cook.

I did think the recipe made more than it did.  If the photo looks like not nearly enough food for a dinner, you're right.  I defrosted half a bagel once this plate was finished.  Nutritionally, this is a main dish, but calorie-wise, it's 2 or 3 servings.  It would work well as an appetizer, side, or snack.  I could make it as part of a Purim spread.  But it was wonderfully easy and baked in the time it took me to change and water the garden.

1 C chickpea flour
1-1/4 C water
1 Tb Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Olive oil
*1/2 C grape tomatoes, cut in half
3 slices red onion
*2 Tb pesto
*2 Tb pine nuts

1.  At least 4 hours ahead, and up to 12, stir together chickpea flour, water, Italian seasoning, salt, and a teaspoon of oil.  Allow to rest until time to bake.

2.  Preheat oven to 450ºF.  Generously oil a nonstick pan.  I didn't want to get burnt oil stains on my quarter-sheet cake pan and lined it with parchment, which was then oiled.  It worked wonderfully.  Place prepared pan in the oven as it is coming up to temp.

3.  Prepare vegetables and think of a game plan how you want to place them.  They're going to move around a little, but not much.  Get everything ready so you can assemble the pan before it cools too much.

4.  Using oven mitts, remove pan and set it somewhere heat safe.  Stir the chickpea batter a few times to get rid of any lumps, then pour it into the pan.

5.  Arrange the vegetables, pesto, and pine nuts however you would like.  I didn't try to make a picture.  I wanted a little of everything in every slice.  The fluffy green stuff is carrot tops.  I didn't put them in the ingredients since carrots are often sold without them.  Quickly return the pan to the oven and bake until the top is dry and bottom is crispy, about 20 minutes.

6.  Slide the farinata out of the pan and onto a cutting board.  Cut into slices or wedges and serve.

Serves 2-3 as a main, 8 as an appetizer

Difficulty rating  :)

Chickpea Flour Pumpkin Cookies

After buying two pounds of chickpea flour, I suddenly had a safety net of it to experiment.  It was a tossup between this and brownies.  Brownies are hard to sell as a breakfast option, but they would have met the nutritional criteria.  Maybe next week.

And then I couldn't find a recipe for what I wanted to make.  Fine, I found the closest thing Google had and swapped out ingredients.

I got a little impatient waiting for the batter to thicken and added another 1/4 C of chickpea flour.  What that gave me was a little more of a scone than a cookie.  If I had simply left the batter to set up for another hour, they would have spread out more.  The taste is the same, just a slightly different texture.  This is to explain why the photos may not match the posted recipe's final result.

What I forgot while subbing pumpkin for the oil was that these are low-fat.  Just the egg and whatever naturally occurring oils there are in the grains.  And while it looks like a lot of honey on paper, this made a lot of cookies.  They aren't overly sweet, and benefitted from the white chocolate coating I put on some.  Not bad for a high-fiber snack or portable breakfast option.

1/2 C rolled oats
1-1/2 C chickpea flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 egg
*1/2 C pumpkin purée
*1/3 C honey
1 tsp vanilla
Up to 1/2 C mix-ins like raisins or chips, optional
Chocolate or sugar glaze, optional

1.  If desired, pulse oats in a food processor with the salt to make a coarse oat flour.  This can also be made with regular oats.

2.  In a medium bowl, combine oats, chickpea flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Separately, whisk together egg, pumpkin, honey, and vanilla.

3.  Stir together wet and dry mixes into a batter.  Refrigerate until thickened, about 2 hours and up to eight.  Stir after an hour to make sure everything is evenly mixed.

4.  Preheat oven to 350º.  If desired, stir in any mix-ins like nuts, dried fruit, coconut, chips, etc.  Scoop generous tablespoons onto parchment-lined cookie sheets.

5.  Bake 15-18 minutes, until lightly browned and starting to firm up.  Cool 2 minutes, to make them easier to handle, then cool on a rack.  If desired, drizzle or dip in a glaze once cooled.

Makes about 18

Difficulty rating  :)

Tu b'Shevat Seder

I wasn't able to go to my temple's community Tu b'Shevat seder, so I decided to do my own on the actual holiday.  It's a kabbalistic way to celebrate the birthday of trees, and not a formal observance like a Passover seder.  It's basically a snack plate during a wine tasting.

You're supposed to serve the four "seasons" with wine or grape juice.  Still doing a Pantry Challenge, so I made lemonade for the white and added cranberry juice to it for the red.  If I had thought of it before the Challenge started, I would have had those saved in the pantry.

For a family, it's common to put out a platter of fresh fruits.  For just me, I got out dried.  I only needed a few bites in each category.  It's acknowledging the symbolism of the day that's important.  And yes, it's set up on a deviled egg platter.

The first glass of wine is a white, and the fruits are those with inedible casing: Nuts, coconut, bananas, pomegranate, melons

Next, a bit of red is added to the white and the fruits have inedible cores: Apricots or other stone fruits, dates, olives

The third cup adds more red and celebrates wholly edible fruits: Berries, figs, seedless grapes, chocolate

The last cup is all red and represents the tree itself: maple syrup (with challah for dipping)

As an aside, after blowing out my knee last year doing Passover cleaning and never finishing the list, I've decided to give myself two months to do it this year.  I just won't start any of the kitchen or dining room projects until two weeks before.  The point of the cleaning is to rid the house of chometz, and I don't take food out of those two rooms, just to make the process easier.

Sweet Potato Cornbread

Starring, the last jar of sweet potatoes!  I was going to make arepas to go with some sort of "Mexican" black beans, then saw this concept.  The beans became a version of Caribbean Black Bean Curry, to use some condiments and freezer seasonings.

I found a cornbread recipe I liked on Butter Be Ready.  Basically, it used the quantities of ingredients I wanted to put in it.  Only downside of this recipe is it makes three times what I needed.  Knowing that going in, I made it in three mini loaf pans (plus 3 muffins) and froze the other two.  I could have made a dozen muffins instead.  I was in the mood for less crust, so sliceable won.  If I don't have this as a starch for dinner, it could be toasted with butter for breakfast, with a side of cheese for lunch, or as a tea snack.

Like most quick breads, it takes longer to assemble the ingredients than to mix it.  I did a few workarounds to use powdered buttermilk and egg replacer for one of the eggs.  I need to use that stuff more often.  All that liquid vs powder math made it take a wee bit longer than if I had just followed the recipe.  If you're using canned or pre-cooked sweet potatoes, you should be able to mix it in the time it takes for the oven to preheat.

*1 C cornmeal
1 C flour
1/4 C brown sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs, room temperature 
*2 C buttermilk
*1 C mashed sweet potato (or 1 15 oz can, drained and mashed)
6 Tb unsalted butter, melted

1.  Preheat oven to 400º.  Spray or line a 9x9 baking dish, 12 muffin tray, or one loaf pan.  I may have over-sprayed my loaf pans.  The muffins popped right out of the silicone tray.

2.  In a medium bowl, sift together the cornmeal, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  I don't always sift, but in this case it made it easier to get rid of the clumps in the brown sugar and baking powder.

3.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, and mashed or puréed sweet potato.  Make sure your melted butter is somewhat cooled, but still pourable.

4.  Add liquid mixture to dry and stir gently until about half combined.  Add butter and finish mixing.  A few small lumps are ok and will bake out.  Just get the big ones.

5.  Pour batter into prepared pan.  This will not rise as much as you think, with so much leavening.  You can fill 3/4 full.  Bake time will depend on choice of pan, so use the toothpick test to be sure.  Muffins, 18-20 minutes, 9x9 35-40 minutes, and loaf pan start checking at 40 minutes.

6.  Let rest in pan 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.  Quick breads often taste better after a day in the fridge.  Wrap before storing.  Can also be frozen once cooled for up to 3 months.

Serves 8-12

Difficulty rating  π

Sausage & Mincemeat Pie

Tasting History did a beef mincemeat pie during December.  Max wasn't all that impressed, but admitted he wasn't a huge fan of mincemeat.  I was planning to make mince pies and had a small jar of store-bought, all fruit mincemeat.  His post encouraged me to make it with added meat.  Since the only ground meat I had at the start of the Pantry Challenge was breakfast sausage, this turned into a breakfast pie.

Yes, it's kind of cheating to have only three ingredients, all of them store-bought conveniences, but it isn't simply a dump and go recipe.  What you end up with feels a lot more homemade than it is.

*1 prebaked 9" pie crust
*1 lb sausage of choice
*1 C prepared mincemeat (or to taste)

1.  Pre-bake crust according to package directions, but leave it light and barely done.

2.  In a skillet or saucepan, cook the sausage over medium-high heat.  Break it up as you go, and pour off the excess fat about halfway through cooking.  You need some fat to hold the pie together.

3.  Preheat the oven to 350º.  Stir the cooked sausage and mincemeat together.  If desired, add a pinch of salt and/or a splash of brandy to the mix.

4.  Pour sausage into pie shell and spread evenly.  Bake until browned on top and the crust is golden, about 20 minutes.  Allow to cool before slicing.

Serves 6-8

Difficulty rating  π

Sweet Potato Muffins

I got this recipe from Suttons Daze on YouTube.  She used freeze-dried sweet potatoes, which I don't buy.  I wanted to use a jar of what I had canned. That involved tweaking her recipe a tiny bit to account for the added moisture.  I also messed with the pecan topping.  She didn't say how many it made, so I cut it in half.  I suspected it was a dozen.  Didn't want to find out it was two dozen.  I did, in fact, get six from my new version.

This isn't going to use a full 15 oz can of sweet potatoes.  I froze the leftover purée to add the next time I make a casserole or soup with some.  The 15 oz would come up short for the original recipe.  I would rather have leftovers than not enough.

Muffins

1 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tb (1/4 C + 2 Tb) packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon 
1/2 tsp nutmeg
*2/3 C mashed sweet potato, either canned and well drained or roasted
1/4 C unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 egg, room temperature 
2 Tb sour cream or Greek yogurt

Streusel

1/4 C pecans, lightly toasted and chopped
2 Tb brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon 
dash of salt
1 Tb softened butter
1 Tb rolled or quick oats
1 Tb flour

1.  Preheat oven to 400º.  If not using silicone muffin cups, pan spray or line a muffin tin for a yield of 6.

2.  In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  In a separate container, beat together sweet potato, butter, egg, and sour cream.  In a third small bowl, mash together streusel ingredients into a chunky paste.

3.  Stir together wet and dry muffin ingredients.  Combine only until no large patches of flour remain.  Do not overmix.  The batter will be thick.

4.  Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.  Top with pecan goo.

5.  Bake 5 minutes at 400º, then turn down oven to 350º and bake an additional 18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes up clean.  The high temperature to start is so they puff up, but the middle won't bake properly before the outside burns unless you reduce the heat.  It's important not to forget to turn down the oven.

6.  Once cool enough to handle, turn out onto a cooling rack.  Stores room temperature for 3 days, fridge up to 7, and in the freezer for longer storage.

Makes 6

Difficulty rating  :)

French Onion Soup Sandwich

Some of the crew from "The Chew" TV show have a new podcast called "Chewed Up".  I watch it on YouTube, but there are multiple outlets.  They post three times a week at 5am Eastern, which is 2am in my time zone.  If I'm up that early, it's for work and I don't have half an hour to watch during chat time.  It's still enjoyable without the community engagement.  They only post one recipe per episode, but they make it count.

This offering from Clinton Kelly makes me wonder why it is not on the menu of every restaurant and diner that serves French onion soup.  It's basically the soup en croûte if you drained off the broth.

I saved enough of the Rondelé from the last dish to make two lunches worth of these open-faced sandwiches.  I'm using the term "sandwich" loosely, since I consider all open-faced sandwiches to be a form of pizza.  As far as I know, I'm the only one who thinks like that.

Clinton's original version makes four servings, so that's how I'm posting, with some amendments for how I made it.  I ended up with extra onions and put them in the leftover broth from the jar to make a slow cooker beef meal the next week.  Or you could have them as instant French onion soup.

*4 slices sourdough or other crusty bread
2 Tb butter
3 medium onions or 2 large
1/4 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
1/2 tsp thyme, or to taste
1/2 tsp sugar, if needed, to assist browning
*1/2 C beef broth
*splash of red wine, optional
*8 Tb Boursin, Rondelé, or similar soft herb cheese
4 oz gruyere or Swiss cheese, shredded if available 

1.  In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat while you peel and thinly slice the onions.  Sprinkle them in evenly.  Add salt and thyme and toss everything to coat with butter.

2.  Continue to cook, stirring every ten minutes, until caramelized to your liking.  If they aren't browning after about half an hour, sprinkle in a bit of sugar.  Everything should be a soft mess.

3.  Deglaze the pan with red wine, if using, and beef broth.  Allow both to cook off until the mixture is fairly dry, then remove from heat.

4.  Lightly toast the bread, just to firm it up a bit.  Spread each slice with 2 Tb of the Boursin cheese, like you were putting cream cheese on a bagel.  Top with a generous amount of onions, then the shredded or sliced cheese.

5.  Toast under the broiler for 2-3 minutes, or in the toaster oven for smaller batches at 400º until the cheese is drippy and browning.  Let rest a few minutes so no one burns their mouths, then serve.

Difficulty rating  :)

Green-Tomato Cake

I got tired of battling hornworms and took out most of the tomato plants.  Powdery mildew was threatening to weaken what the caterpillars didn't eat.  I'm also kind of over preserving the excess tomatoes.  This left me with quite a few green tomatoes to deal with.  I didn't want to turn all of it into pickled green tomatoes.  Most of them will ripen on the counter if I leave them long enough.  Meanwhile, I went looking for unusual recipes.

This idea of substituting green tomatoes in a carrot cake recipe piqued my interest.  I was skeptical enough to make a one-egg version in a 6" pan.  Also didn't want to grate all the green tomatoes I harvested.  Several pounds of cherry tomatoes?  Yeah, no.  I got halfway through doing the first one by hand and switched to the food processor.

My one-third recipe makes a very full 6" cake.  You could also double it as two thinner 8" layers, or the original size of recipe in the 9x13 pan.  I was also thrilled with the result when I used a cake strip around the pan.  Perfectly flat top and evenly baked, which is hard to do on a thick layer.

Unlike with zucchini bread, you're going to be able to see the green in this cake.  Sorry.  Too bad St. Patrick's Day is too early for even green tomatoes.

*1 C grated green tomatoes, measured after draining
2/3 C granulated sugar
1/2 C vegetable oil
1 egg, room temperature 
3/4 tsp vanilla
1 C flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
heaping 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1.  Spray a 6" or 8" cake pan, and line with parchment paper if desired.  If using, start soaking baking strip.  Preheat oven to 350º.

2.  To grate tomatoes, either use a box grater or the shredding blade on a food processor.  Drain well in a fine-mesh strainer.  Lightly press out the juice, but it's ok if they aren't perfectly dry.

3.  In one bowl or a large measuring cup, combine sugar, oil, egg, and vanilla.  Whisk well.  In another bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda, and salt.

4.  Pour wet mix into dry mix and stir until almost combined.  Add shredded tomatoes and fold in until everything is wet, but not overly mixed.

5.  Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 35-40 minutes, until the cake passes the toothpick test.

6.  Allow to rest in the pan 5-10 minutes before running a spatula around the edges and turning out.  It's a very tender cake and I tore a bit by removing it too soon.  Once fully cooled, frost or glaze as desired.  I used a touch of cream cheese frosting only on the top, sprinkled with nutmeg and lemon zest.

Serves about 6

Difficulty rating  :)

Cucumber and Melon Salad

Second salad in a week.  I'm really trying here.  I even got down Salad Freak and flipped through half of it before finding a version of this recipe.  I knew it was in there somewhere.  I'm making this recipe less fussy, aside from using the V-slicer on the produce.  Because, seriously, it's just sliced cucumber and cantaloupe with lime juice.  Any herbs or seasonings are just to make it more interesting, and can be altered to suit one's taste.

Once it was on the plate, I added "breakfast" as a label.  A scoop of yogurt and a pastry would turn this salad into brunch.  That's pretty much what I did with the other half of the melon.  You could even serve this salad as a diabetes-friendly dessert.

1 large cucumber or one package of Persians
1/2 of a cantaloupe 
*2 Tb lime juice
Handful of fresh or dried herbs such as mint, basil, or tarragon
Lemon or lime zest, optional
Sprinkle of sumac for a floral hint, or chili powder for bite
Salt to taste

1.  If using a regular cucumber, peel first and seed if desired.  Slice cucumber thinly.

2.  Cut melon in half and remove the seeds from one piece.  Reserve the other half for another use.  Cut off the end and remove the peel with a knife, leaving just the fruit.  Cut in quarters or smaller wedges, then slice each wedge thinly.  I used the thinnest setting of the V-slicer for the cucumber, then flipped over the plate to get slightly thicker melon slices.

3.  Plate the cucumber and melon slices however you like.  I tried different designs each night.  Drizzle with lime juice, then garnish with herbs, spices, and salt.  Add a bit of citrus zest if desired.  Serve chilled.

Serves 4-6, depending on produce size

Difficulty rating  π

Tortilla de Patatas Vegana (Spanish potato omelette - vegan version)

I've been watching a little of Spain on a Fork.  Most of his recipes are more than I feel like making, and tend to be potato-heavy, but this looked like something We Cook Vegan would make.  With fewer ingredients.

Basically, it's a chunky latke.  This version uses a chickpea batter in place of eggs, making this version vegan and slightly less expensive.  I had been thinking of making a socca that day, so I was already in the mood for something like this.  I made it as part of dinner, but it really works any time of day.  Hot for breakfast.  Leftovers would make a great cold lunch.  A small slice at tea time.

It does take time to make.  Potatoes have to be thoroughly cooked, and this one doesn't use the oven.  You could make the onion and potatoes ahead of time, then mix with the batter when ready to cook.  All in one shot, you're looking at a minimum of an hour.

1 C diced onion (1 small or 1/2 large)
1/4 C olive oil, plus more as needed for the pan
1 lb dense potato, such as Yukon or red
salt and pepper to taste
*1 C chickpea flour
1 C water

1.  Stir together chickpea flour and water until most of the lumps are gone.  Set aside while you prepare the rest, or up to 8 hours.  For longer, refrigerate.

2.  Warm the oil in a 12" skillet that has a lid over medium heat.  Add diced onion and cook until softened, about 10 minutes.  Stir often so it doesn't get fried and crispy.  You may need to turn down the heat.  We're going for a slow caramelization.

3.  While that's happening, peel potatoes if desired.  I skipped that.  Slice into bite-sized pieces about 1/4" thick and uniform size, so they cook evenly.  I chose to set the cut potato in water because I didn't know how long it would be sitting around.  Not a necessary step.  Add to skillet and turn up heat to medium-high.  Lightly fry potatoes with the onions until cooked, stirring every 5 minutes or so.  This will take up to half an hour.  Once easily pierced with a fork, remove from heat and allow to cool 5 minutes, or refrigerate as a do-ahead.

4.  Stir together potato mixture with its oil and the chickpea batter.  Season with salt and pepper.  I used about half a teaspoon of salt and 1/4 tsp pepper, but these are the only seasonings.  Use your best judgment.

5.  Place the skillet back over medium heat and lightly coat the bottom with more oil.  Add potato batter and arrange in a neat layer.  Cover and cook until set, about 10 minutes.  The top can still be a little uncooked.

6.  Use a spatula to loosen the pancake from the bottom of the pan.  Keep going until you can shake it.  If it's really stuck, it probably isn't cooked yet.  Set a plate on top of the pancake, commit to the flip, and turn everything over.  Place the skillet back on the stove, coat with a touch more oil, and slide the tortilla back into it.  Cover again and cook another 6-8 minutes.

7.  Transfer to a serving pate and cut into wedges, with anything from sour cream dip to hot sauce as a dressing.

Difficulty rating  :)

Tomato and Avocado Quesadillas

These turned out prettier than I expected, so they're getting a post.  I also realized that the relatively bland guacamole from the previous post was exactly what I wanted on them, so that made me happy.

Quesadillas are an easy 10-minute meal.  I usually just throw some shredded cheese on a tortilla, toast it in a dry pan, and slice up an apple for a balanced lunch or afternoon snack.  For dinner, I went to a little more effort and had beans on the side to up the protein and veggie factor.  I wasn't very hungry and only made one the day I took the photos.  They were small tortillas, and other days I made two for a dinner.  For the sake of the recipe and quantities of ingredients, we'll pretend that there are two 6" fajita tortillas per serving.

*8 6" flour tortillas
*1 C guacamole
*2 C shredded "Mexican" cheese
1 C diced Roma tomatoes
1/2 C cilantro leaves, chopped (optional)

1.  Preheat skillet or griddle over medium-low heat while you top the tortillas.

2.  On a work surface, lay out as many tortillas as fit on the griddle.  Spread 2 Tb of guacamole on each, like it was pizza sauce.  Sprinkle evenly with about 1/4 C cheese, then a generous sprinkle of diced tomatoes on one half.  It will make it easier to fold later.  If using, scatter with cilantro.

3.  Place topped tortillas on griddle.  Toast until cheese melts and underside of tortilla is lightly crispy, about 5 minutes.  Fold over into a half-moon shape (non-tomato half over tomato half), press lightly to make sure all the cheese is melted, and remove to a cutting board.

4.  Cut quesadillas into wedges and serve hot.  Optional to have salsa and/or sour cream on the side.

Difficulty rating  π