Monthly Archives: August 2011

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Recipe: White Bean Salad

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Today, I have for you, a salad.

What the heck?

Indeed, a salad.

Yeah…sometimes…I gotta eat stuff that’s relatively good for me.

I can’t just eat cookies.

I want to, but I can’t.

Also, I just like to eat lots of different stuff.

That’s okay right?

This salad has been making weekly appearences in our dinner rotation.

It’s mighty tasty, bright, and fresh.

At it’s simplest it’s just white beans, a little onion, and a homemade vinaigrette. Sometimes I add basil, or parsley, or cilantro. Sometimes I add some Israeli couscous and it becomes a salad with carbs.

My favorite.

I’ve even added roasted red peppers and/or tomatoes.

Those are both lovely additions.

Basically, you can add whatever you fancy.

This salad is totally adaptable that way.

It’s nice as a side to some grilled protein or perfect for lunch. Sean loves this homely little salad. It actually shocked him how good it was. I like when I shock him with my humble cooking skills. Makes me feel like a champion.

I like that.

White Bean Salad

This time I added spinach to the mix. I suggest adding the spinach right before serving as the dressing will make it all wilt-y. I used a combination of lemon juice and cider vinegar for the acid part of the dressing. I just really like those two things and always have lemons and cider vinegar lying around. The dressing, like the salad, is totally adaptable to your taste. I like to grate the garlic and let it mingle with the acid so the raw edge is tamed a bit…or else you might just have highly corrosive garlicky dragon breath, as opposed to the regular kind of garlicky dragon breath.

1 can drained, rinsed white beans, such as cannelini or great northern

1/4 cup finely chopped onion (I used white, red or sweet are nice too)

1 small clove garlic

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1-2 teaspoons maple syrup or honey

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

salt and pepper to taste

3 tablespoons olive oil

2+ tablespoons fresh herbs, if you have them

1 cup washed, baby spinach leaves

Place beans and chopped onion in a medium bowl. Set aside and make the dressing

Grate garlic with a microplane or mince finely, place in a jar with a tight fitting lid. Add lemon, vinegar, maple syrup/honey, dijon, salt and pepper, and olive oil. Screw on lid and shake it up! Taste the dressing and adjust seasoning as necessary.

Pour the vinaigrette over the beans, mix well. Fold in the herbs (if using) and spinach leaves. Serve. If you don’t use the spinach or don’t add it in at this point this salad is wonderful after it has had time to chill in the refrigerator–anywhere from a few hours to 2-3 days.

 

 

 

 

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Recipe: Gingery Carrot Tea Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

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Raisins.

I hate ‘em.

They are one of the few foods I just really don’t like. I won’t go into the texturally reminiscent reasons why I don’t like them, lest I gross you out…so, I’ll leave it at that.

For all of my childhood and well into my adolescent years, I thought carrot cake required raisins. So, naturally, I avoided it…despite all the other goodness carrot cake packs, the thought of a sneaky raisin hidden in that spiced, moist crumb, deterred me for years.

Finally, I know better.

Finally I can enjoy the ultra moist, spiced, sometimes nut studded, cream cheese frosted, deliciousness that is carrot cake.

Thank goodness!

Carrot cake don’t need no raisins, girl!

I now L-O-V-E carrot cake, however, I don’t make it that often because many recipes just make too much.

Too many layers, too much commitment, too much temptation.

Then, I found this recipe via Martha, and it was like fate.

Carrot tea cake.

Not even with raisins.

Make it in a loaf pan…

or…

Make it in a medium/smallish bundt pan.

Have a slice in the afternoon with a nice cup of tea and you might just feel like a fancy lady…or guy. Whatever.

Don’t even bother with the raisins, unless you want to…then go for it! Eat those raisins, be braver than me, it’s cool.

Gingery Carrot Tea Cake with Lemony Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from Martha Stewart

I added quit a bit more spice to this cake than the recipe called for, plus a bit of candied ginger for good measure. I just really like ginger + carrots.

1 stick (4oz.) of unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup finely grated carrots

1 1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 cup chopped, candied ginger

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 6-cup loaf or bundt pan and set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, dry spices, and candied ginger.

Beat together butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating and scraping bowl after each addition, until well combined. Add vanilla and carrots, beat well. Fold in flour mixture until combined well, scrape into prepared pan and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting.

Lemony Cream Cheese Frosting

1, 8oz. package cream cheese, softened

zest of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 cup confectioners sugar

Beat cream cheese with lemon zest and juice until combined. Add sugar and beat until combined, light, and fluffy.

 

 

 

 

 

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Recipe: Barbecue Sauce

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I think we all know refrigerator space is a precious commodity. I am always shifting containers around, trying to use up leftovers to free up space, and keeping chilled beverages to a minimum. The one thing that we always have room for is our crazy collection of condiments. We usually have a few kinds of mustard, some spicy horseradish, the requisite ketchup, ranch dressing, a few kinds of hot sauce, and any other number of specialized condiments in our refrigerator door…not to mention a variety of pickled things and yogurt. Sean’s a dipper and needs a lot of options, plus, I can never resist an interesting condiment at the store. One of our faves is BBQ sauce and it is one of the things that I rarely purchase these days.

My mom is a fan of doctoring up store bought bottles with a little sugar and spice. I often just go the fancy ketchup route, small batch style. Lately, though, I’ve been thinking of making barbecue sauce entirely from scratch.

So, this rainy weekend, I did, and it was so, so good.

I don’t know what I was waiting for.

The thing is, it is exactly to my taste. I know there are about a billion different specialty sauces I could buy, but I always find those are either missing tang, heat, or sweet, and I personally need a specific balance of all of those flavors. So, I set out to make my own, and guess what? It wasn’t even difficult.

I felt like a champ.

I, actually, still do.

You can too, with a few pantry items and a little time!

I made it sweet, spicy, tangy, with a little bitter edge from the instant espresso.

Guess what else?

You can totally adjust all of the elements and make this sauce your own.

Want more cumin or spice?

Less sweet, more tang?

Go for it!

It’s all you.

Your signature sauce….

Something all your own…

That, is a a beautiful thing my friends.

You can dip fries into your sauce, barbecue up some chicken, or slather it on a burger. You could even replace the tomato sauce on a pizza with some of this BBQ goodness and make it something really special.

Basically, do what you want with this sauce, whatever you see fit.

This is your signature sauce, after all.

BBQ Sauce

You can make this recipe beginning with 2 cups of ketchup instead of the tomatoes. Just reduce the cider vinegar, molasses, and maple syrup by half. You can use even less sweet stuff if you’d like, we like our BBQ sauce on the sweeter side with some spice for good measure. I used home-pickled jalapeños–which were super spicy. You can reduce or multiply jalapeños and sriracha to your taste. 

1 medium onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons pickled jalapeños

1 can whole tomatoes, crushed with fingers

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, plus 3 tablespoons, divided

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup molasses

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 + teaspoons sriracha

1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon instant espresso granules

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1/4 teaspoon each:

cinnamon

ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon each:

allspice

chinese 5 spice

nutmeg

cumin

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper to taste

In a large saucepan saute onions until transluscent in a bit of olive oil. Add garlic and jalapeños, saute until garlic is fragrant. Add whole tomatoes, crushing with fingers, and simmer over medium for about 20 minutes.

Remove the pan from heat and using either a blender or an immersion blender, puree tomato mixture. Press through a mesh sieve if desired, to remove seeds and any solid bits.

Return pan to medium heat and add 1/2 cup cider vinegar, lemon juice, molasses, maple syrup, sriracha, soy sauce, worcestershire, espresso granules, and all dry spices. Stir everything together until completely combined and continue to cook at a low simmer for about 1 hour, until sauce is reduced, thickened, and dark burgundy in color. Add remaining 3 tablespoons of cider vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and allow to cool a few minutes before ladling into jars. Allow jars to cool to room temperature before placing sauce in the refrigerator. Sauce will keep a few weeks properly stored.

 

 

 

 

 

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Recipe: Ricotta + Hazelnut Brownies

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I don’t know about you, but I like to do a whole lot-a-nada on the weekends.

There is always some eating, maybe a little antiquing, maybe a lazy walk with the dogs, definitely some couch napping, and sometimes a cooking/baking project if I’m feeling ambitious.

I’m not saying that brownies are ambitious, because they totally aren’t. Brownies are easy and chocolatey and that is why we like ‘em.

Making your own ricotta isn’t even ambitious, it just sounds that way.

If you make these brownies the people you share them with might think you’re some sort of kitchen wizard. The kind that spends all weekend conjuring up baked goods just for their enjoyment.

Thing is…

You don’t have to be a wizard to make these.

Not at all…I sure don’t know any spells.

Even if you make the ricotta from scratch.

But, you can let people believe you labored away over your cauldron all weekend.

They don’t need to know that you in fact, did not, and that maybe you napped on the couch with the TV on mute, cuddled up with your dog.

That you are in fact, NOT an alum of Hogwart’s, you just wish you were.

..and that you definitely weren’t talking horcruxes with your friend in a vintage shop or finding potato mashers so gigantic they could only be fit for Hagrid.

They don’t need to know that you’re just a total geek and a half.

No one needs to know that.

All they need to know is that you’re a whiz in the kitchen because you made them these crazy brownies.

Let them believe it.

You are a whiz.

Ricotta + Hazelnut Brownies

Again, I used Tracy’s recipe for ricotta. It’s just so dang easy guys! Make it, it will change your view on ricotta forever.

The brownies were adapted from Saveur.

Filling:

4 oz. ricotta, softened to room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

a pinch of salt

1 egg

2 teaspoons fresh orange juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup finely ground, toasted hazelnuts

Brownie:

1 cup bittersweet chocolate, chopped

4 Tablespoons butter

3/4 cup flour

2 Tablespoons cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup coarsely chopped, toasted hazelnuts

For the filling, beat together ricotta with sugar + salt until combined and smooth. Add egg, orange juice, and vanilla and beat until combined well. Fold in hazelnuts and cover with plastic. Set in refrigerator while you make the brownie batter.

Preheat oven to 350F

Grease an 8×8 pan and line with parchment, leaving an overhang on two sides. Set aside.

Set a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water and melt chocolate and butter. Stir to combine and remove from heat. Set aside.

In a medium bowl sift together flour, cocoa, and salt. Set aside.

Using a mixer, beat together the eggs and sugar until smooth, pale yellow, and thick. About 2 minutes. Beat in chocolate mixture to combine. Beat in vanilla. Fold in flour/cocoa mixture to combine. Fold in hazelnuts.

Spread half of the batter into the bottom of the prepared pan. Drop spoonfuls of ricotta mixture over the batter. Try to spread it out, this didn’t really work for me, so I just spread it as best as I could. Spread the remaining batter over the top and using a toothpick, marble the brownie batter with the ricotta mixture. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few sticky crumbs. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack before cutting. You can cut these small because they are RICH and delightful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Recipe: Pickled Jalapeños

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I love pickles.

I’m Korean, so my love for pickled-fermented vegetables is just inherent. Sean’s love of pickles has been a slow, gradual romance. He claimed for years that he didn’t like pickles–yet he would eat kimchi and nacho jalapenos. It wasn’t until I pointed out that, ahem, both of those are pickled things, that he became more open minded about pickles.

In the last year his appetite for pickles has become pretty voracious.

He devours pickles with voracity. It’s true.

Now that we both love pickles, we eat and purchase them with abandon. We both love a crunchy dill, a sweet + spicy bread and butter, and the best bar snack ever, deep fried pickles (OMG), kimchi of all sorts (my moms is our fave), but the pickled thing we eat most is the jalapeño. We make this pizza that has bacon, spinach, and pickled jalapeños.

It is simply delicious. Seriously, so so good. We always eat the whole pizza.

Bacon + spicy, pickley jalapenos were made to be friends.

We add spinach to the party so we can feel healthy about eating an entire pizza.

So, when I heard about the Pickling Party, I knew I needed to finally make my own pickled jalapeños.

We love them, we eat them all the time, it just made sense.

Pickled Jalapenos

I did a little research, browsed the internets for pickle recipes and I came up with my own with what I had on hand. Pretty much equal parts vinegar + water, plus seasonings and spices. Sean and I generally like a little sweet with our spicy, so I added a little more sugar than most of the brines called for. I think it turned out really well and I am interested to see what other spice and vinegar combinations I can come up with! This will make enough liquid for a quart jar that has been packed full of jalapeños, onions, and garlic. The jalapeños I found were gigantic. If you have regular sized ones, maybe use 20.

10-15 large jalapeños

1/4 of a large, red onion

5 cloves of garlic

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1 cup water

3 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 Tablespoon kosher salt

2 small bay leaves

1 teaspoon whole, black peppercorns

1 teaspoon dried, mexican oregano

Using a mandoline, or sharp knife skills, slice jalapeños, onion, and garlic cloves. Fill jar with vegetables. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan bring vinegar, water, sugar, salt, and spices to a boil. Make sure that sugar and salt are dissolved and pour the hot liquid into the jar of sliced vegetables to cover.

Cover the jar with lid and allow to cool to room temperature on counter. Place jar in the refrigerator and let it hang out for at least 24 hours before eating.

 

 

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Recipe: Crepes with Homemade Ricotta, Lemon, & Sugar

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Crepes are just so dang good, right?

I mean, have you ever heard anyone say, “Meh, crepes…” shrug…

No, I don’t think you have. I haven’t anyway.

Crepes are like fancy pancakes that you can fill with just about whatever you want. You can make them dinner, or dessert, or breakfast…even brunch or lunch.

Crepes are versatile that way. They’re laid back, they do what you wanna do.

As I tasted the first one, I thought, “WHY DON’T I MAKE THESE ALL THE TIME????”

My thoughts were yelling they were so good. All caps.

Then I figured out why…

…I CAN’T STOP EATING THEM.

Seriously, I just shoved like 6 in my face.

Roll one, take it’s photo, devour.

That’s what I did.

I wrapped up the rest and stowed them in the far reaches of the refrigerator.

I mean, I do want to save some for Sean…plus I want to save me from myself and my insatiable need to eat ALL OF THE CREPES EVER.

I have a problem.

A delicious problem.

Crepes

So, I was definitely watching Mad Hungry on TV the other day and saw Lucinda Scala Quinn make these. Then, I saw that Deb from Smitten Kitchen made crepes too. Then, I needed crepes. That is the story of these crepes…super thrilling. I used the Smitten Kitchen recipe, except less honey. 

As for the ricotta, I made it! I used Tracy from Shutterbean’s recipe. It is solid as cheese curds…which is to say, mighty solid. I used fancy-glass-bottle milk and cream from Calder Dairy here in Michigan. I am so glad I splurged on it, that stuff is darn good pre-cheese AND post-cheese. 

To fill, I just spooned some of that crazy-good ricotta into the crepe, sprinkled with a little plain-old granulated sucre, squeezed a little lemon over it, and rolled it up. I did this 6 times before I, painstakingly, stopped myself.

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

1/2 cup milk

2 large eggs

1/2 cup flour

big ol’ pinch of salt

a few gratings of nutmeg

2 teaspoons honey

Using a blender, an immersion blender (my choice), or your sick whisking skillz, combine all of the above ingredients and mix until you have a smooth, thin batter. Place batter into a vessel and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour to 2 days.

Heat a medium non-stick skillet over a medium flame. If you have a crepe pan, use that. Brush the heated pan with oil or butter and pour in about 1/4 cup of batter. Swirl the pan to coat thinly and evenly. Allow the crepe to cook for about 2 minutes, flip, and cook another 10 seconds or so. Transfer to a plate, repeat until all the batter is gone.

Crepes can be eaten immediately, smeared with whatever is edible and delicious, OR you can wrap them up and store in the refrigerator for a few days. Just reheat in a skillet.

 

 

 

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Recipe: Blueberry Frozen Yogurt Pops + the Giveaway Winner!

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Okay…

It’s what you’ve been waiting for…

We have a giveaway winner!

It is:

Jessica! With the comment:

My summer obsession is trying new things in the kitchen. I just baked a cake from scratch for the first time ever. Joy the Baker and Tracy from Shutterbean are giving me a TON of inspiration and the boy is enjoying the influx of homemade goodies.

I’m going to have to say, and I may be biased here, but I think trying out new things in the kitchen is a totally amazing thing to be obsessed with this summer! Also, homemade cake is just the best. It really is. Also, it has been my experience that boys really like homemade edibles. They just do.

So, Jessica, girl, I am going to send you an email to confirm. Then…I’ll be sending your little bundle of polish goodness your way!

Yay!

Everyone else, thank you for entering! And coming out to comment, WOW…I didn’t know there were so many of you out there…lurking.

You’re all awesome.

For reals.

I wish you could all win.

But, alas, you cannot.

Sorry for that. Really, truly. But…

…I made you blueberry yogurt pops to make up for it.

I hope that’s okay.

These pops are a really tasty treat.

Creamy and fruity and cold.

Just perfect for late summer.

They are made of blueberries, greek yogurt, and sugar/maple syrup/honey. You choose.

Simple.

Delightful.

Blueberry Frozen Yogurt Pops

I used greek yogurt because I pretty much always have it on hand, as it is my preferred yogurt. It’s extra thick, creamy, delicious, etc. I used the 2% kind from Fage. If you have the regular kind, go ahead and use that. It will be just fine. If you don’t have blueberries or don’t like bluberries…like my weirdo best friend…then, use another berry. Raspberries would be tasty! Strawberries too! Also, use whatever you like to sweeten these up, since the yogurt is plain. I used granulated sugar and a little maple syrup. I just like blueberries and maple, but honey is greek yogurts best friend…so basically, do whatever feels right to you.

1 cup blueberries

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/4 cup sugar

2 cups plain greek yogurt

2-4 Tablespoons maple syrup (the real deal please)

In a medium saucpan heat berries over medium with lemon juice and sugar, simmer for a few minutes until berries release their juices and mixture thickens slightly. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

In a large bowl mix together greek yogurt, blueberry sauce, and maple syrup (to taste) and stir. Spoon or pour mixture into popsicle molds and freeze.

Eat ‘em when you’re hot and the pops are cold. It will be a good idea, promise.