Ravings of a Textual Deviant

After an interesting day at work, I decided to fall back to one of my favorite, simple meals.

It started with a basic green salad, using the smaller head of lettuce and both cucumbers from the CSA box, as well as some tiny tomatoes I had picked up at the farmer’s market. (Hey, it’s a quick solution for adding vegetables to a meal.)

I had some refrigerated pierogi from Trader Joe’s, which only needed a few minutes in boiling water, and a sauce. For that, I sliced up the mushrooms from the CSA share and sauteed them in a mix of butter and olive oil on medium heat. While they were cooking, I chopped up some crab-flavored surimi (usually I prefer lobster-flavored for this dish, but both are good, or you can skip it altogether and add extra mushroomsfor a vegetarian version) and added it to the mushrooms. As soon as it was warm and blended, I deglazed the pan with vermouth, and let the alcohol cook off. I added some alfredo sauce from a jar, stirred everything together, and reduced the heat. Finally, I stirred in some dried parsley. The sauce thickens up very nicely on low heat, and is also good on pasta, mashed potatoes, and rice.

I had an eggplant and some spinach already in the fridge that I needed to use, and pile of zucchini. I wanted something with a lot of vegetables in it, but didn’t feel like fussing around with a ratatouille or lasgana noodles.

So I skipped the noodles. I sprayed down my usual lasagna pan with olive oil, and got to work.

I sliced the eggplant and zucchini into planks, sliced up an onion and some mushrooms, and pulled a bag of baby spinach out of the fridge. Using the veggie planks in place of noodles, I layered everything with tomato sauce from a jar (told you I was feeling lazy) and some various odds and ends of cheese; fresh mozzarella, shredded parmesan, and an Italian four-cheese blend. (I seem to end up with a lot of odds and ends of cheese, but never enough of any one kind to use up on its own.) I covered the pan with foil to keep the cheese and onion on top from burning.

It went into the oven at 375 degrees (Farenheit; I’m an American, after all, and we can’t be bothered with that metric nonsense) and it’s there even as I type. After 40 minutes of baking time, I’ll take the foil off and let the top get brown and bubbly. Maybe by then, I’ll have gotten of my lazy behind and cooked up some gnocchi or whatever to go under it.

And I still need to figure out what to do with a rather substantial amount of cabbage.

ETA: Shouldn’t have skipped the noodles. This tasted pretty good, but was very watery.

ETA: I ended up putting the lot of it in a blender with some tomato paste and canned, diced tomates. After several hours on low heat and the addition of some Italian sausage meatballs, it turned out very well indeed…sort of, but not quite, a Bolognese.

I had three yellow summer squashes of various configurations, and no idea what to do with them. After thirty minutes of looking through cookbooks ranging from Janet Kessel Fletcher’s Fresh from the Farmer’s Market to Dale Carson’s New Native American Cooking, I still didn’t have a recipe that struck my fancy.

I decided to wing it. I started off my sauteeing chopped onions in olive oil, for the sake of making a decision that left me a lot of options. As soon as the onions started to turn translucent, I added some cubed pancetta. I cut the squashes into something approximating bite-sized cubes, and added them to the pan after the onions started to turn golden-brown. The squash took a while to cook down and soften up, but when it did, I added some dried basil and oregano, then deglazed the pan with a splash of white wine.

To go with it, Spouse roasted a chicken on top of some potatoes, onions and carrots, so we ended up with lots of veggies, and I suspect I am going to be making chicken soup in the not-too-distant future.

Last night’s dinner was sauteed mixed greens from the CSA box, with duck, water chestnuts, and mushrooms.

The beet greens from the box were not in great shape (it’s been a very buggy season so far here, what with all the rain), but there was plenty of cabbage to fill out. I cut the greens into fairly large shreds, as they shrink down a lot when you cook them. The pickup point for the CSA produce is a lovely little neighborhood market that had some duck breast, which I always have a hard time turning down. Half a pound was fine for two servings, with a little bit left over. I also had some shiitake mushrooms that predated the CSA muchrooms, so I sliced them up.

I started the mushrooms in the pan first with a little bit of olive oil, then added the duck, cut into bite-size chunks. I probably should have added the greens earlier than I did, as the cabbage was fairly robust stuff, but it came out quite edible despite that. The diced water chestnuts went in next, and as soon as they were warm, I poured some of Trader Joe’s Five-Spice sauce over the lot. The saute went over plain rice, and was absolutely delicious.

Before I knew I could get the duck, I was planning to do this as a vegetarian dish with tofu. Next time, perhaps. I still have a lot of cabbage left over.

Yesterday, Spouse picked up our first CSA distribution. We have one head each of two different kinds of lettuce, the most beautiful head of cabbage I have ever seen, a small bunch of beets with the greens still on them, two small cucumbers, an assortment of five small summer squashes, and about half a pound of mushrooms. I was hoping for tomatoes, too, but it was not to be.

I see salad (lots of salad) in our future, probably some Asian-style sauteed cabbage and beet greens, and maybe mixed squash gratin if I can find or invent a recipe.

I’m in a mood to do some cooking and baking this weekend…anything could happen!

This was a big hit at the impromptu 4th of July party we were invited to. It’s a variation on the very similar recipe in the Cooking with All Things Trader Joe’s cookbook I picked up last month.

• 1 single-shell pie crust (make your own or buy)
• 1/2 C heavy cream
• 1/4 C sugar
• 8 oz mascarpone cheese (let it come to room temp)
• 1/2 t vanilla powder or 1 t vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• 1 T finely grated lemon zest
• 3 pints berries (or other fruit in equivalent amounts; I used a mix of blueberries and raspberries)

Heat the oven to 450 degrees F. Gently press the pie crust into a 10″ tart pan, or a pie pan. (Personally, I have better luck in this situation when I line the bottom of the pan with baking parchment.) Resist the temptation to cram the crust into every last corner of the pan; it’ll expand when it bakes. Also, the original instructions state that one should trim the excess crust from the outside of the pan. if you choose to do so, be conservative. Prick the crust several times with a fork in order to let steam escape. Bake the crust according to your recipe or manufacturer’s instructions. Let it cool completely before filling.

Combine the heavy cream, vanilla, and sugar, and beat until stiff peaks form. I recommend using an elextric mixer for this. Fold in the salt, lemon zest, and softened mascarpone cheese. Spread the dairy mixture evenly (more or less; it doesn’t need to be perfect) into the crust. Arrange the fruit on top of the filled tart.

This recipe is blatantly ripped off from Nigella Lawson, with only minor tinkering. The original is in the “kids” section of her book, and uses about 1/3 milk chocolate and 2/3 dark chocolate. Personally, I like this ever-so-slightly more grown-up version better, and the grown-ups I served it to seemed to enjoy it also.

1st Layer

• 3/4 C + 2 T creamy peanut butter - use unsweetended peanut butter only; the kind that’s 100% peanuts. I found that it didn’t really need salt, either.
• 1/4 C brown sugar
• 1 1/3 C powdered sugar
• 1/4 C softened butter (unsalted)

2nd Layer

• 11 oz dark chocolate (or cut the dark chocolate with some milk chocolate as described above, if you must)
• 1/4 t vanilla powder - I don’t recommend substituting liquid extract, because it can make your chocolate seize up. If you haven’t got the powder, just skip it.
• 1 T butter (unsalted)

Combine all the ingredients for the first layer until you have a smooth, doughy concotion. This works best if everything is at room temperature. Following Nigella’s suggestion, I used the paddle blade on my mixer and it was a snap. Press the mixture into a more-or-less even layer in a greased square cake pan. If you spent a lot of time using playdough, the texture will be quite reminiscent.

Break up the chocolate. Melt the chocolate and butter together. I did this in the microwave at 50% power; it took about three minutes, and I stopped and stirred at one-minute increments. Add the vanilla powder if you are using it, and stir well to make sure that the chocolate is nice and smooth. Pour the chocolate mixture over the peanut butter layer.

Chill the entire thing until the chocolate is firm. Turn out onto waxed paper, then flip again (carefully) so that the chocolate is once more the top layer. (I had a bit of trouble with this part; the chocolate shrank away from the edges of the pan beautifully, but the peanut butter didn’t want to release. Next time, I am going to try lining the pan with baking parchment.) Slice in squares, rectangles, triangles, or whatever. Don’t let it get too cold, though, or the chocolate layer will crack when you slice it. After it’s cut, either serve it immediately or put it back into the fridge, as both the chocolate and the peanut butter will get squishy quickly at room temp. If you stack it for storage, even temporarily, it’s probably best to put waxed paper or parchment between the layers.

Last year, for Passover, my pal Sean came up with an awesome gefilte fish recipe.

Yes, I did just use the word “awesome” to describe gefilte fish.

If you’ve only ever had the kind from the jar (or like me, one whiff of the jarred stuff puts you right off your matzah ball soup) then just let the trauma wipe it from your mind and start over. As Sean says, “if one has a food processor, there is no reason not to make it oneself”.

And so, without further ado, the recipe, as emailed to me by the chef…

“The recipes (I used more than one) say the it requires about 1/2 lb of fish per person.
1. Basically - 1 part salmon to two parts whitefish (I used tilapia and cod)*
2. enough broth (fish) to cover (I used 2 quarts in the pan I have and cooked the fish in two batches.)3. 3 tsp. salt (or to taste)
4. 3 onions
5. 4 carrots
6. 2 Tblsp sugar
7. 1 parsnip
8. 3-4 eggs
9. pepper to taste
10. 1/2 cup cold water
11. 1/3 cup matzah meal

1. In large saucepan bring broth to boil. Add 2 tsp. salt, slice 1 onion and 3 carrots, place into broth. Add sugar cover and simmer about 20 minutes while preparing fish.
2. In cuisinart chop remaining onions, carrots and parsnip - set aside in large bowl.
3. Grind fish in cuisinart (if you want the fishballs softer use more whitefish) - mix fish and chopped vegetables.
4. Add eggs one at a time to mixture, then the remaining salt, pepper, and cold water. Mix thoroughly.
5. Add enough matzah meal so that the fish can be formed.
6. Form fish into oval patties about 3 inches long.
7. Remove stuff from the broth. Place fillets into simmering stock. Cover and cook for 20-30 minutes. Shake the saucepan on occasion to keep the patties from sticking.
8. When done - carefully remove remove and place on platter. Allow to cool at least 15 minutes. May be refigerated until needed.”

*There is a fish called “whitefish” that my mother thinks the recipe is referring to, and carp is also more traditional than salmon; however Sean’s version is sufficiently tasty that I would not recommend changing anything.

You don’t necessarily think of a kitchen as a room with a lot of ergonomic problems…unless, like me, you are under five feet tall and find yourself reaching up to stir pots on the stovetop. My mom, who is a good cook when she puts her mind to it, is two inches shorter than I am, and has to reach up to get into her kitchen drawers.

Both mom and I have been known to climb onto the counter top and stand there, heads well clear of the ceiling, to reach the back of the lowest shelf in an upper cabinet. I remember well the first time Fiancé found me standing on the counter; I got the look, as if what I was doing was weird, or something. I don’t think it’s weird at all—my aunt and at least one of my cousins have also done it. I wouldn’t be surprised if my brother did too, although he’s the only one of us who could easily vault up there, acrobat that he is.

But I digress.

At any rate, a standard-sized kitchen can quite literally be a pain when you’re petite. One of my shorter (but not that short) male friends solved the problem by putting in a bank of bathroom cabinets, which are a couple of inches lower than kitchen cabinets, when he redid his kitchen. It’s a good idea, but I am nowhere near a kitchen remodel, nor is mom.

Mom solved the problem in her own, inimitable way, though. She went out and got an inexpensive pair of 4″ platform, wedge-heeled espadrilles, which she now wears to cook. She found that it made a huge difference, and she was so enthused about her cooking shoes that I thought I’d give it a try.

Now, anyone who knows me is probably thinking something along the lines of “any excuse for a new pair of shoes, eh?” Not this time; my tastes run pretty much opposite to the platform, wedge-heeled, and espadrilles families of shoes. Partly because I think that large, awkward, clunky shoes look even more awkward and clunky on small feet, but mostly because most platform, wedge-heeled, and espadrille shoes are just ugly.

Be that as it may, I ended up with a pair of 3″ wedge-heeled sandals that are not only comfortable, they are aesthetically acceptable, even though I’m not really a blue-plaid-shoe person. Still, they make such a big difference in being able to see what I’m doing, reach things, and use the countertops comfortably that I’m will to overlook their stylistic shortcomings. I highly reccomend the idea.

2 C peanut butter
2 C brown sugar
3 eggs

Combine ingredients. Chill the batter until it’s not too sticky. Drop teaspoons onto greased or lined cookie sheet; flatten with fork. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees.

I haven’t tried this variation yet myself, but I bet they’d be absolutely devastating with chocolate chips, too.