One Year Of Meatless Mondays

On November 3, 2011, I wrote and posted my very first blog entry.It explained why I was making a commitment to observing Meatless Mondays for one year and why I felt the need to blog about it.Well, here we are a year later and I'm happy to report I did it!

For those of you unfamiliar the Meatless Monday movement, it is a global initiative to eliminate meat products from their diet one day each week (or about 15%). There are lots of reasons to consider going meatless one day each week. Some do it for health reason, others to promote a better environment and others still for ethical reason. In my case, I'll readily admit that my reasons were different (and maybe even more trivial) compared to the others. Very simply, I wanted to see if I could do it. Nothing more, nothing less. It sounded interesting and I wanted to challenge myself. If you want to know more about Meatless Mondays and the global movement, click here.

As I stated in my first post, I'm not a vegetarian. I don't particularly want to be a vegetarian (yeah, that bacon thing). I do however, like vegetables, so the idea of eating more of them one day a week didn't seem that daunting. What I didn't immediately consider a year ago was that I was essentially committing my wife, Cynthia, to a year of vegetarian cooking on those Monday nights were ate at home together. I travel in my job some, so there were probably a dozen Mondays that I was away from home. There were something int he range of another ten when we ate out locally on Monday. That still leaves about 30 Mondays that Cynthia willingly and expertly made vegetarian meals at home. Thanks for being such a willing an supportive partner.

So, you may ask what did I get out of this grand experiment?

First and absolutely foremost is the satisfaction of having made a commitment to do something that I didn't have to do and required a change in behavior and sticking to it for a full year. Secondly, it exposed me to a pretty heretofore unexplored variety of foods that, as it turned out, I liked a lot. During the year, we ate meals that included quinoa, farro, tofu, forbidden black rice, adasi and falafel. (If you haven't figured it out, each of these links will take you to the original blog post on the topic).

Another curious outcome of the past year is that I simply ate less meat - not just on Monday, but in general. There was a higher level of conscious thought about what constituted a "meal". When we ate meat, we both seemed to eat less of it. Instead of two steaks, we would cook one and split it (after all the recommended portion of protein for an adult is around 4 oz). The makeup of our dinner plates morphed in a way that the meat was more of a side dish and the vegetables were more of a main course. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that this is some path (for me) to vegetarianism - it's not. It is however, a redefinition of how a meal is constructed. For those of you that worry that this type of diet is protein deficient, don't. We ate lots of beans, lentils and other protein rich non-meat foods.

So, after a year, I have decided to stop doing Meatless Mondays. Why? It's not that I have lost my faith in their overall goals. I haven't. In fact, I strongly support what they promote. For me, however, the goals have not only been achieved, but have been integrated into my routine - every day. I eat less meat (more than 15% less than I did before) while still enjoying it when I do eat it. I've discovered that there are plenty of vegetables, grains and fruits that can add taste, texture and enjoyment to meals. I feel like I'm eating a more balanced diet - every day. Institutionalizing it to Mondays no longer seems necessary for me.

If you're interested in reading about some of the other Meatless Monday meals I ate during the year, both at home and out, head on over to A Reluctant Foodie and explore. Thanks for reading!

The Trouble with Tribbles, err, Zucchini

OK, if you're not a geek like me or aren't old enough to remember the classic Trouble with Tribbles episode of the original Star Trek, that title line probably confused you. You see, Tribbles were these cute little furry pets that were brought aboard the Starship Enterprise and began to reproduce at a rate that would make rabbits look lazy. If you've ever grown zucchini, you know that they're kind of like Tribbles. Well, we had the typical bumper crop this season so we're still working hard at finding new ways to feature them in our Meatless Monday meals.

Our most recent use of zucchini was as a pistou, a cold sauce typically made from garlic, basil, olive oil, nuts and cheese.

Ingredients

• 4 tsps extra virgin olive oil, divided
• 2 1/2 cups zucchini sliced 1/4" thick (about 3/4 pound)
• 1/2  cup packed basil leaves
• 2 tbps pine nuts, toasted
• 1/2 cup (2 oz) shaved parmigiano-reggiano cheese, divided
• 4 garlic cloves (2 minced, 2 whole)
• 2 cups chopper Vidalia (or other sweet onion)
• 6 qts water
• 1 3/4 tsps kosher salt, divided
• 8 oz. uncooked penne
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 2 hot peppers, thinly sliced (optional)
• Handful yellow wax or green beans (optional)
• Halved cherry tomatoes for garnish

 Preparation

• Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a large skillet on medium high. Add zucchini and saute until tender and starting to brown (about 10 mins).
• Remove to a bowl and allow to cool slightly.
• place 1/4 cup cooked zucchini, basil, 1/4 cup cheese, and 2 whole garlic cloves in a food processor or blender and mix until finely chopped (keep mixture in processor).
• Heat remaining oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add onion and saute for about 10 minutes until golden. Add remaining cooked zucchini to pan. Add hot pepper and minced garlic, saute for about 1 more minute. Remove from heat. 
• Combine water and 1 tsp kosher salt in a large pot and bring to a boil.
• Add pasta and cook until almost aldente. Add beans and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Fish out pasta and beans
• Add 1/3 cup of the pasta cooking water to the food processor, process until smooth.
• Add the onion and zucchini mixture to the pasta and beans
• Add the basil/zucchini pistou to the pasta. Add heavy cream, salt and pepper. Stir then top with remaining cheese and cherry tomatoes.

This summery pasta dish is perfect for any vegetarian or Meatless Monday meal. The zucchini lends a refreshing element to the classic pistou components.

Summer Pasta with Fried Zucchini Flowers and Radicchio

My last post was called Here Come the Zucchini. Well, they're here -- in full force, and like many of you, we're always looking for great new ways to use them. This week for Meatless Monday, Cyn put together a wonderful pasta dish using not only the zucchini but garlic, Greek oregano, Tuscan rosemary, Thai basil, Italian parsley, chives and zucchini flowers all from our garden!

If you've never cooked with or had zucchini flowers you really need to give them a try. If you grow your own zucchini, you will have these beautiful yellow flowers on every vine.

They're used in a variety of ways in Italian cooking and we've done one of the simplest but most delicious preparations here -- a light batter deep fry.




Ingredients 


Pasta

• 3 tbsp butter, divided
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2-3 tbsp shallots, sliced thin (half a medium)
• salt
• 2 big pinched of crushed red pepper (or to taste)
• 5 cloves of garlic, sliced thin
• 1 cup of white wine -- we used an un-oaked Chardonnay
• 1 medium zucchini, whole and unpeeled
• 1/2 pound linguine (or other long pasta of your choice)
• 1/2 cup Better than Bullion "no chicken" chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
• 1/2 small head of radicchio julienned
• good squeeze of fresh lemon

For Fried Squash Blossom

• 2/3 cup AP flour
• 1 cup carbonated beverage (we used Pelligrino water but beer, soda, seltzer or tonic would all work)
• Vegetable oil - at least 1/2" deep
• 9-12 zucchini blossoms, stamen snipped out of middle

Preparation (the sauce)

• In a small saucepan, reduce the white wine to 1/2 cup
• On a mandolin with thick julienne insert, slice the zucchini the long way to make 'linguine', stopping before you get into the seeds

• Combine the herbs and chop roughly (finer - more taste)

•  Add 2 tbsp of butter and the 2 tbsp EVOO to a saute pan on medium low heat

• Add garlic and shallots, cook slowly until transparent and just starting to brown, add red pepper
• Add reduced wine and stock to garlic and shallots -- simmer while stirring for 1-2 minutes 
• Keep warm while cooking pasta

Preparation (the zucchini flowers)

• Heat the vegetable oil to 350 degrees F in a deep fry pan
• Prepare a light batter by mixing the flour and carbonated beverage together with a whisk. Important: the carbonated beverage MUST BE COLD. You are looking for a consistency just slightly more thick than heavy cream.
• Drag each zucchini flower in the batter and fry immediately. They will take no more than 30 seconds per side

• Remove them from the oil as they finish and drain on a rack above a pan or paper towels. Salt immediately as they come out of the oil.

 Final Preparation

• Cook the pasta about 3/4 of the way done
• Remove the pasta from the water, add to the reserved sauce
• Add about 1/2 cup of the pasta water to the sauce and zucchini
• Simmer until pasta reaches your preferred level of doneness
• Add chopped herbs, sliced radicchio and simmer for another minute
• Finish with a squeeze of lemon juice and the remaining 1 tbsp of butter
• Top pasta with zucchini flowers
• Salt to taste

 

The creamy pasta combines perfectly with the slight bitterness of the radicchio and the crispiness of the zucchini flowers. Together with the garlic and wine sauce, this dish screams summer. Buon appetito!

Cyn's Summer Pasta Salad

It's been hot in Northern Virginia this Spring and early Summer. So far in July we've had 6 days over 100F (38C) and the prediction is that we will end this month as the hottest ever on record for the Washington DC area. This past Monday was no exception, very hot, humid and sticky. When it's that uncomfortable, the thought of eating something hot just isn't that appealing. So I was pleasantly surprised when Cynthia told me we were having a cold pasta salad for our Meatless Monday dinner. Here is her recipe for this delicious and refreshing dish.

Ingredients (the dressing)

• 2 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 cup white balsamic (can substitute white wine vinegar or champagne vinegar)
• heaping tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup oil, I like EVOO

 Ingredients (the salad)

• about 1 cup corn, cut from two ears or cheat and use a can of corn, we grilled our corn before use here

•  1 1/2 pounds zucchini, julienne, placed in colander and tossed with 2 tsp kosher salt.  Let sit an hour, squeeze excess moisture out and pat dry. Do not skip the salting, your zucchini will create a water bath in the salad and the salad will be highly under seasoned. 

• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, torn or shredded, your preference
• 8 ounces fresh mozzarella, cubed or purchase bocconcini or ciliegine (small fresh mozzarella balls and smaller fresh mozzarella balls, respectively)
• optional, used here: oil cured black olives and fresh chives
• 1/2 pound of pasta, one with curls and/or ridges to catch and hold the dressing, Campanelle from Barilla was used in this recipe.  (I find Barilla brand pastas tend to hold their shape very well in a cold pasta preparations.)

Preparation

•  Cook your pasta a minute or two less than package instructions, or until it's just tender.  Dump into a colander and pass under cold running water just until it's cool enough not to melt your mozzarella, but still warm.

• Whisk all dressing ingredients together and throw in the mozzarella and tomatoes to marinate while you deal with the zucchini and pasta. 

• Once pasta and zucchini are ready, mix everything together and serve.  

 
If you want, you can make this a couple of days ahead, but let it sit out for half an hour or so and wait until just before service before adding the basil.  This recipe doubles well, and makes a fantastic base for grilled shrimp that has been marinated in garlic and lemon on those non-meatless days of the week. Served wit
  h a nice roll or even better yet, garlic bread, this makes a perfect hot summer night meal.

Meatless Monday (and lots more) in Las Vegas

My first trip to Las Vegas was in 1972. Yeah, I'm that old. There are a lot of things to remember about that trip; playing blackjack in Caesar's Palace, even though I was under age, going to Hoover Dam for the first time and even seeing Elvis perform at the Hilton. Yes, THAT Elvis -- he wasn't even fat yet. Looking back, I find it hard to believe I actually saw Elvis perform live. I also remember you could get a full breakfast for 99 cents at any casino in town and most had all-you-can-eat dinner buffets for $3.99. It was all about getting you into their building to gamble. The food was plentiful but unspectacular.

I've been back to Las Vegas more than 20 times over the past 40 years and, needless to say, a lot has changed. Many of the hotels I saw on that first trip are gone, replaced with shiny new ones like the Wynn, the Cosmopolitan and the Palazzo. Over the years, Vegas has reinvented itself several times, including a failed attempt to portray itself as "family friendly." Now Vegas is back to its roots with the "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" campaign. But what has changed more than anything, at least in my opinion, is that Las Vegas is now an extraordinary food city.

Something happened in 1992 that changed the food culture in Las Vegas forever. That year, Wolfgang Puck opened a branch of his very successful Los Angeles restaurant, Spago, in the Forum Shops of Ceasar's Palace. Most people thought that the Vegas crowd, who had been trained to eat anything as long as it was cheap, would ignore the upscale and pricey interloper from California with the funny name. Wrong. It seemed that people on vacation and in town on business with expense accounts were more than ready to embrace a higher level of dining. Since then, every celebrity chef you've ever heard of and some that you haven't has opened one or more restaurants in town. Las Vegas is now THE destination for foodies that want to be able to eat the culinary stylings of everyone from Robuchon to Lagasse, from Flay to Keller and from Batali to Ramsey, all without leaving the Strip.

I recently spent 7 days in Las Vegas. Before you get all jealous -- it was (almost) all work. I did, however, get to three restaurants worth writing about, including one on Monday night, which presented a small challenge with stick to my Meatless Monday commitment.

The first of the three was Carnevino, (there must be some sort of cosmic irony that had me eating at a restaurant called Meat and Wine on Meatless Monday) one of the several restaurants that are partnerships of Mario Batali of Iron Chef fame and Joe Bastianich who has created quite the wine empire for himself. (I could be unkind here and say of his Mother Lidia's fame, but I won't).  I've been to several other Batali restaurants and have always come away happy, so I was looking forward to something good. Since this was a group dinner, we weren't ordering off of the regular menu.

The appetizer was set for everyone as a classic Caprese salad. I'm not a big fan of either fresh mozzarella or tomatoes but I will admit I ate most of it and really enjoyed it. The three main choices were a beef, a chicken and a fish -- all off the table for me since it was Monday. I spoke to the wait staff when we first arrived and asked if hey could accommodate a vegetarian meal. Without any hesitation they offered me several choices, all sounding great. I settled on a garganelli pasta with a ragout of mushrooms cooked in a brown butter sauce. When they served my dish, it was the sauce as advertised but on tagliatelle. I didn't particularly care and dove right in. About 3 minutes later, the waiter showed up with another full serving of the dish, this time on the garganelli. He apologized profusely and said he just wanted to make it right. Nice -- each of my five other table mates got a decent sized serving of the pasta from the extra dish. At least two of them told me they wished they had asked for a vegetarian meal! The wines were, as you would expect, spectacular, the pasta was made fresh and the mushroom sauce was perfect.

The second of the three was the Palm Steak House in Caesar's Palace. The Palm is  a national chain, founded in NYC in 1926 and is widely recognized for excellent steaks and seafood. Again this was a group dinner, although small enough this time to be able to order from the regular menu. I don't eat a lot of red meat these days, but when I do, I typically order a NY Strip steak. When we eat it at home, our usual portion size is 4-6 ounces, so when I saw that most of the steaks at the Palm were 16 oz and bigger, I defaulted to the only one that wasn't, the 9 oz fillet, not my favorite cut, but usually reliable. When I ordered it cooked medium, I told the waiter that it would be fine if it was a little on the medium rare side, knowing most fine steak houses will miss in that direction rather than the other. After having one of the finest wedge salads I've ever had (super crisp lettuce, tangy blue cheese crumbles and crispy fried onion straws), my steak arrived looked nicely charred on the outside. But when I cut into it, there was no pink warm center, it was medium well to say the least, and that may be being kind. Since I was sitting right next to my dinner host, I decided not to make a a big deal of it by sending it back, I didn't want to cause any sort of scene, so I just picked at it, eventually eating about a third of the steak. I know that every kitchen makes errors, but come on, this wasn't even close. Honestly, it was a waste of of good piece of meat. Although the classic side dishes were good, lyonnaise potatoes and creamed spinach, there is no making up for a badly cooked steak at a restaurant of this reputation. Dessert was served family style -- huge pieces of chocolate cake and carrots cake that were big enough to serve a family of 6 each. I sampled each, they were good, but I was pretty disinterested at that point. I really have no more to say about the Palm. On to a much better experience....

The last of my "big three" was another Batalli and Bastianich restaurant, aptly called B&B and located in the Venetian, my favorite hotel in Vegas. This time I was fortunate to have dinner with a friend who appreciates fine food and wine. We had great service, a great wine recommendation from the sommelier and pretty amazing food. Since this was a less business oriented dinner, I was able to spend a lot more time choosing and enjoying my meal. An added bonus was that my dinner companion felt, like I did, that sharing was a good thing.

There were so many good things on the menu that it was difficult deciding. After discussing it for a while we both decided to pass on the antipasti course and move right to the primi list of pastas. That is, until a guy walking by our table on his way out, told us to have the octopus appetizer. That's right, an unsolicited recommendation with the following words, "the best appetizer I've ever had, bar none, and I eat at a lot of restaurants." This was said as he pointed to his, shall we say ample stomach. So, how could we resist, we ordered the grilled octopus to share. The menu describes it as being served with borlatti marinati and a spicy limoncello vinaigrette. OK, I don't know who the guy was, but I wish I knew where to find and thank him. The octopus was perfectly grilled, succulent without a trace of rubbery texture and the borlatti beans were flavorful and al dente, the way beans should be served. The vinaigrette was a perfect foil for both.

Back to the original plan....we each ordered a pasta dish from the primi selections. I picked the bucatini all'amatriciana with guanciale and hot pepper and pecorino cheese. My friend picked one of the house specialties, Jose's Pyramids. The waiter explained these were named after the guy in the kitchen whose only job was to make these every day. Apparently the entire preparation takes six hours! Basically they was a hand made pasta, hand formed into a pyramid shape and filled with the creamiest, most savory short rib mixture ever. By this time, the waiter had figured out we were in it for the long haul and made the recommendation that he split each pasta dish into two, allowing each of us to have half of each. He further suggested that we do the pyramids first since the subtlety would be less appreciated if we were to eat the more aggressively flavored bucatini first. We liked this guy and took all of his suggestions.

Just about this time, the sommelier showed up asking if he could be of any help in choosing a wine. If you are a regular reader, you know I like red wine but don't really know it in depth. No fear - my friend did and he launched into a long and involved discussion about the merits af several reds from the amazing wine list. When he asked about a particular bottle of Barolo, the sommelier pointed out that, in his opinion that particular vintage would be better off with 10 and maybe 20 more years of aging. Yikes! Having a better idea of what we were looking for, he recommended a different Barolo saying that the 1996 was perfectly ready to be enjoyed. Um, he was right. To my uneducated tastes, this was a fantastic bottle of wine and paired perfectly with the pasta and main courses we told him we were considering.

At this point we were both pretty damn happy and were developing some high expectations for the main courses. Good news -- our expectations were met!

I had the grilled veal chop served with rhubarb mostarda and collard greens. I've eaten many a veal chop over the years and I'd have to say this one was the best. Cooked perfectly, this exceptional piece of meat was also presented beautifully with the greens placed just so on the chop. The slight bitterness of the greens and the little bit of sweetness of the rhubarb worked together to both complement and offset the richness of the veal.

 
 My friend had the rabbit porchetta with "vignole" and rabbit confit. The meat from the rabbit leg had been de-boned and made into a roulade. He was kind enough to share a bite with me (as I did with the veal for him) and it was pretty amazing. The meat was almost tender enough to cut with a fork! The surprising element of the dish was the sweet red pepper sauce that elevated the rabbit to a whole new place.

Finally, with our main courses, we shared a side of De Cecco broccoli served with peperoncino and garlic.

The waiter offered us the dessert menus, but I'm sure he wasn't at all surprised when we took a pass. I'm sure it would have been excellent, but we decided enough was enough. All in all a great meal. Good food, good service and good company makes a great combination. If you're in Las Vegas and have only one "special" dinner on your schedule, you won't go wrong by having it at B&B.

(I'm hoping my friend Brock will chime in in the comments section with his impressions, particularly of the rabbit)

P.S. I know this post is long -- I hope you made it all the way through to the end. If you did, thanks.

Where does she find the time??? Cynthia rants -- in a good way!

 A Guest Post from the real talent behind A Reluctant Foodie - my wife

I'm often accosted with the phrase, "Where do you find the time to cook?  I could never do what you do!"

Well, frankly, bullshit.  Pardon my bluntness.  With a little foresight, planning and help from the diners, you too can have an interesting and exciting meal, at least once a week. Here's how my system works: planning for Meatless Monday starts the week before, when we're eating the current MM. We discuss flavors we like, things we haven't had in awhile, new things we'd like to try, and what needs to get used in the pantry. Your food becomes very personal when you have a conversation and consider.

Then the implementation of ideas begins.  Recipes are looked for, remarked upon, perused and discarded. It can be as simple as a 'search' for 'tamarind' on the epicurious.com site or opening one of the cookbooks and looking at the vegetable and/or pasta/side dish offerings. It really shouldn't take more than a half an hour or so to narrow down what you'd like to make, and you could spread that out to ten or fifteen minutes here and there, when you have a moment. You must eat, why not make it as fun and tasty as possible?

During the week or weekend proceeding MM, get your necessary shopping list together. Find a cool new ethnic store -- walk around. Go on a Saturday and try the kimchi that's being forced on you by a Korean grandma, so pushy but so adorable you can't say no. Not close to a asian/indian/hispanic supermarket? Go online! There are a ton of options out there, all ready, willing and able to sell you something delicious. Heck, your local supermarket probably has what you need, and most of them now deliver. (Thank you Peapod!)

"I can't cook" IS NOT an excuse. Can you read? I betcha you can if you're here. Pick up a simple cookbook, read, follow directions. One of my favorite food websites, Chow.com, has a list of ten cookbooks for newbies, buy one. Read, gather ingredients, follow instructions. You can cook, don't make me call you out.  "I choose not to cook" is much more accurate if you're a Can't Cook Person, and I'll buy that.

Please don't forget, Meatless Monday suppers can be as simple as grilled cheese and tomato soup. Who doesn't love that? You can always add some spinach to your grilled cheese, or sauteed broccoli rabe, a couple of pieces of sundried or fresh tomato, basil, chutney, use a new cheese, piggyback multiple cheeses, you get the idea. Make your tomato soup from scratch, or add herbes de Provence to your can o'soup, use milk instead of water, a little Worcestershire sauce and garlic powder, spring onions and queso fresco, wild rice from an instant bag-o-rice and a little tofu.  Too out there? I went over the line with the tofu? It's a perfect pairing with the tomato, trust me ;)  You'll hardly know it's there.

As for getting the diners involved, ask your kids to come up with some ideas. Get them in the kitchen, put them in front of a food website, ask them what they'd like to try. Make them wash their hands and get in the kitchen with you -- give them a knife, that usually works! A butter knife and some green beans for tykes 3+. I believe any kid over the age of 5 or 6 should have had supervised experiences with paring knives, but I come from a foodie family and may be slightly biased toward knowing how to feed yourself and others well. My favorite Chef Cousin had a knife in his hands at 3. His father freaked out. His mother supervised and Nick learned. No more father freak out, Nick is training to be a Chef. I'd like to think my cooking with him strapped to my back when he was a wee young Buddha may have had something to do with it - don't burst my bubble.

So you have a plan, you've gone shopping, you've made your meal and eaten well.  Clean up is the bane of most cooks, and I'm no exception.  I do try (after many years of being harangued, pleaded with and cajoled) to clean as I go. But there's a rule in our house --- He Who Doesn't Cook, Cleans. Team effort and all. So train your support staff accordingly, or become the cleaner yourself and hand over the reins to the Cook in your family.

If you have a plan and a team on board, you are on your way. Meatless Monday shouldn't be difficult or time consuming, unless you want it to be. Of course, you can always go out!  We're always open to hosting a couple of new cleaners, ummmm, I mean diners, at our home on Monday nights.

Grilling on Meatless (Monday) Memorial Day

I committed to observing Meatless Mondays back in November, it didn't occur to me that some holidays, like Memorial Day, would be Mondays.  I'm not sure why this simple fact escaped me, since Memorial Day is always a Monday. So, there we were, talking about the high holy day of grilling and needing a menu that was...... meatless. Sure, we've grilled our share of vegetables in the past, but they were side dishes. We needed a main course!

Some number of months ago we made a vegetarian version of stuffed peppers that turned out great. I love stuffed peppers and it occured to us that we had grilled peppers before so off to the Google machine we went. It wasn't long before we found a promising one at the seriouseats.com website. In the spirit of full disclosure, they referenced their version as being adapted from one they had seen on chow.com. As always, we are grateful for the inspiration and wanted to credit both of these sources for inspiring our version.

Stuffed Poblanos with Black bean and Cheese

Ingredients

Cojita Cheese

• 1/2 cup uncooked short grain rice
• 3/4 cup water (rice) + 1/4 cup water (beans)
• 4 tsp salt
• 6 medium poblano peppers
• 1 cup canned black beans, rinsed
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup grated Cotija cheese (approx 3-4 oz)
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 4 fat scallions, chopped 
• 1 jalapeno, finely chopped (keeps seeds and membrane if you'd like more heat)
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tsp tomato paste
• 1/2 large white onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp cooking oil

Preparation

• Saute onion in cooking oil until translucent and soft
• Add 1/2 jalapeno and cumin, saute 1 additional minute
• Add black beans and tomato paste, saute 1 additional minute
• Add 1/4 cup water (or stock, or beer), saute 5 minutes
• Let cool and reserve this mixture.

• Add rice, 3/4 cup water and 1/2 tsp salt to a medium sauce pan
• Bring mixture to a boil
• Cover pan and reduce heat to low
• Cook until water is fully absorbed (about 10 minutes). The rice will be slightly undercooked - this is good.
• Remove from heat and allow to cool.

• Place  the bean and onion mixture in a bowl
• Using the back of a fork, lightly mash about 1/2 of the mixture
• Add sour cream, cheese, cilantro, scallions, remaining jalapeno, and pepper into the beans
• Gently fold in cooled rice
• Taste and season if necessary with additional salt and black pepper

• Cut out tops of peppers, reserving caps.  It works best if you jig jag your knife around the top to create a cap that works only with the pepper it came from.  Flat cuts don't hold as well, even with toothpicks.
• Remove ribs and seeds as best you can without breaking the sides of the peppers.
• Fill each pepper loosely, as the rice will expand some during cooking.  We used a chopstick to help move the rice mixture into the nooks and crannies of the poblanos.
• Replace caps and seal them with toothpicks.

•  Cook the peppers for 25-30 minutes on low heat on the grill, turning on each side every 6-7 minutes
• The skin will blister and blacken some -- this is a good thing.
• Serve hot!

The filling was creamy and delicious but I'll admit I was expecting more from the jalapeno. What's up with jalapenos these days? Seems like they have bred most of the heat out of them. Even leaving in the veins and seeds doesn't help that much. We did what any spicy food lover would do -added our favorite hot sauce, Cholula.







Earlier in the weekend we had visited one of our local Farmer's Markets and scored some great seasonal produce; early corn from down south, sugar snap peas and a couple of baby zucchini. As you can see from the picture above, we grilled the corn at the same time as the peppers. It was a perfect match, 30 minutes on low heat right in the husk. One of the advantages of grilling corn this way is that the corn silk comes off really easily when it's done. No fuss, no muss, no silk all over the kitchen floor.

We sliced the baby zucchini the long way and brushed on an herbed olive oil. Then grilled it very briefly, directly on the grates, just enough to give it some marks and get it hot all the way through.

Lastly, we cooked the peas by using one of our favorite tricks. After cleaning them we simply put them in a wrap of parchment paper, seasoned them, added a couple of pats of butter and a few ice cubes. We sealed the whole thing in heavy duty aluminum foil making sure all the edges were tightly closed. The ice cubes melt once on the heat and provide the moisture that steams them inside the foil pack.


Less than five minutes on the grill on high and they were perfectly steamed and delicious.  Our pups, Jack and Cooper, love steamed pea pods of any type, so I always try and add a few extra for 'treats'.

While I did miss my big once-a-year-on-Memorial-Day treat of a Martin Rosol hotdog and kelly dog, the creamy rich filling of the fruity (with a little bite)poblano was a fine substitute.  Very satisfying in the way only rice and beans can be.  I'll just have to order my dog and kelly for the Fourth of July.  Luckily, not on a Monday this year!

Four Seasons Food hosted by Delicieux and Chezfoti

Sweet Pea and Ricotta Tortellini Won-ton Style

It's spring here in Northern Virginia and we enjoy that our Meatless Monday dinners reflect the changing of the seasons. Later this summer we'll start using freshly picked vegetables from our garden and local farm stands more and more. One of the rites of passage each spring is the arrival of fresh peas and when we saw them in the store, Cyn decided to feature them in our dinner. That lead to her making Sweet Pea Tortellini -- Wonton Style.

But before we go there, I need to give you the background on our first course -- parsley root soup. Yes, there is background, bear with me a bit.

Six or seven years ago we had the pleasure of eating an amazing meal in Philadelphia at Studio Kitchen. At the time, Chef Shola Olunloyo was offering a private dining experience for 10 people 4 nights per week in a converted townhouse in the Powelton Village section of Philly, not far from the historic Philadelphia Zoo. The first course that evening was a parsley root soup and, after talking about it on and off since then, Cyn decided to try to recreate it. Here is her version....

Ingredients (the soup) - enough for 2 first course portions

• 2 tbsp shallots
• 2 tsp butter
• 1 bunch parsley root - about a pound or so, tops removed and root peeled and cut into rounds (you could alternately scrub the roots well and forgo the peeling -- adds more flavor)

Preparation (the soup)

• Melt butter in 2 qt saucepan and saute shallots until translucent.  (You could, as I inadvertently did, allow them to brown while you clean up the mess that was made when the cornstarch tried to commit suicide by diving from the third shelf in the pantry.)
• Add parsley root and enough water to cover.  Bring to simmer and cook until a fork inserted into root comes out easily - very tender.
• Add cooked root to VitaMix/blender/food processor/tamis-- your choice of pulverizer --- and blitz until smooth.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish (the soup)

Shola's garnish and presentation was pretty awe inspiring to a cook -- the underbowl had a touch of lemon oil in it and hot water was poured in to release the lemon 'air' as you enjoyed the soup.  I don't have that kind of time or patience, or dishwashing staff, so I settled on a 'home' presentation.  I also didn't want to get too lemony and pull a Pledge moment.  Shola got it just right.  I could go right to a cleaning moment.

• Melted scallions (pan on low heat, scallions, little water, some butter, cook low and slow), a lemon oil (Shola used Sicilian Lemon Oil, I used lemon zest steeped in EVOO with a little Boyajian backup), and chopped roasted and salted pistachios, the last a deviation from the pecans in the original.
• Soup first, scallions, lemon oil drizzle and then pistachios.  Truly wonderful.  Eat more parsley root.

Onto to the tortellini.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp butter, unsalted, preferably the best you can afford, je t'aime Plugra
• 1 medium shallot, finely chopped (couple tbsp)
• 1/2 c white wine
• 1 1/2 cup baby peas
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups ricotta
• 1/4 c each romano and parmigiano
• 2 tsp chopped tarragon
• couple of grates of nutmeg
• s/p to taste
• package of pre-made Wonton Wrappers
• egg wash (yolk with a couple tsps water)

Preparation

• Melt butter in small saute pan, cook shallots until translucent.  Add wine and reduce to about 2 tbsp.  Add peas and cook for 2 minutes, tops.  Peas should be bright green and just warmed through.  If you're going to cheat and use frozen peas (not that there's anything wrong with that), defrost first.  Remove from heat, dump on plate and allow to cool completely.
• While you wait, in mixing bowl combine ricotta, romano, parm, tarragon, nutmeg and s/p.  Taste it.  Adjust seasoning.  Gently mix in peas.  Taste again.  Adjust seasoning.
• Put a big pot of water on to boil.  Salt as you would for pasta.

• Now for the fun, making tortellinis from wonton wrappers.  On a clean dish towel, layout four wrappers, leaving the rest in the package (they dry out easily).  
• Brush entire wonton lightly with egg wash, making sure edges are covered well (I'm too busy to play with just the edges, it goes faster when you just brush the entire wrapper). 
• Place a teaspoon of the pea filling in the center of each.  Fold over into a triangle, pressing out air from the center out as you close it up.  Be sure edges meet well and seal tight.  An extra pinch won't hurt here.
• Place a little dab of egg wash on the two 'wings' of your triangle, one on the top side, the other on the opposite bottom side.
• On the long side of your triangle, push it in a little. Then take your wings and press them together.  We realized this would be difficult to describe, no Pulitzer in the family,  So we made a little video of this which you can find here:

• Once the first four are done, transfer to a clean dish towel on a sheet tray and continue until all filling is gone or you've reached your fussy work limit.  (You'll note I served a soup first so the number of tortellini I had to painstakingly fold was limited.  Although it does go fast once you've got the hang of it.)  
• Keep completed tortellini covered with another dish towel until you're ready to cook.  (You could freeze them at this point as well)  Couple of minutes in boiling water does the trick -- be sure to stir these as they do have a tendency to stick.

Preparation (the sauce)

You could go for a straight dip in the butter pool, a beurre blanc would be lovely, or pump up the pea and use a puree of that as a sauce.  Carrot puree would be divine as well and the parsley root soup would be an ab-fab sauce.  I wanted to boost the tarragon flavor so I created a Pernod Cream Sauce.

• One medium shallot, finely minced and sauteed in a tbsp or so of butter (are you getting the shallot love yet?). 
•  Add 1/4 cup Pernod and reduce by half. 
• Add 1 cup vegetable stock or water, reduce by half again.  
• Over low heat, whisk in 1/4 to 1/3 cup heavy cream and a fat tbsp of chopped chives.  
• Season to taste.  Easy peasy!

Plating

On a warm plate, place a small amount of sauce.  Typically I would finish the tortellini in the sauce, allowing the pasta to soak up a little more flavor.  These are delicate and must go right to the plate.  Top with a little more of the sauce, a quick saute of snow peas cut on the bias, a sprinkle of parm or romano, and a little chive or green onion is a nice touch.  Chive blossoms top this dish.  Bon appetit ya'll!

What do you do when your spinach bolts?

A while back Cynthia posted this about our cold frame. Well, the weather is changing here in Northern Virginia and the cold weather greens are very near the end of their cycle. In fact, the Red Cardinal spinach was on its way to bolting and we needed to do something with it before it sent all its energy to seed production. The spindly red stalks still had plenty of tender green leaves on them -- we just needed to come up with the a good way to use them.  (Many thanks to the mighty Margaret Roach of the uber garden blog A Way to Garden for suggesting Red Cardinal spinach.  It's easy to grow, beautiful, and doesn't turn bitter when bolting.)   

So, where does a creative cook go for Meatless Monday inspiration, when the cook actually has a little time to ponder such on a Monday? In Cyn's case it is often to one of her favorite cookbooks devoted to vegetables, the aptly titled Vegetables, by Charlie Trotter. What she found was a recipe that included, polenta, greens, and portobello mushrooms as the main components. It also contained pomegranate seeds and a pomegranate vinaigrette made from the fruit's juice. Since pomegranates are not in season here, it got Cynthia thinking about how she might modify the recipe both to our tastes and to use what was seasonably available to us. In the end, the recipe she created was certainly inspired by Chef Trotter but is, in fact, her own.

Ingredients (the polenta) 

• 2 cups water
• 12 oz can of 2% evaporated milk
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tso Better than Bouillion No Chicken base (can sub water)
• 1 cup polenta
• 1/2 cup whole kernel corn, frozen works better than canned
• handful (to your taste) of cheese, grated (we used sharp cheddar)
• chopped chives to taste (optional)

Preparation (the polenta)

• Add water, evaporated milk and bay leaf to a sauce pan and bring to a boil
• Whisk in polenta, cook for 10 minutes stirring regularly
• Add corn, cook until polenta is done (taste it!)
• Add cheese and chives
• Turn out mixture onto a plastic wrap lined 1/4 sheet pan and shake to level, smooth with spatula if necessary
• Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour  
• When fully chilled, cut circles from the polenta sheet
• Fry on each side in a light coat of butter until golden brown, med high heat

Ingredients (the vinaigrette)

• 1/2 cup POM Wonderful juice
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• ~1/4 c Extra virgin olive oil
• salt
• pepper

Preparation (the vinaigrette)

• Combine POM juice and vinegar in a sauce pan and reduce on high heat to 1/3 original volume
• Whisk in about 1/4 c olive oil a little at a time to emulsify, salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients (the greens)

• 4 good handfuls of spinach leaves (you can certainly use other greens if you like), Chef Trotter uses mizuna and tatsoi
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp butter
• salt

Preparation (the greens)

• Add water to a saute pan and bring to a boil
• Add butter and spinach
• Reduce heat to medium high
• Stir constantly for 1-2 minutes (this will depend on how wilted you like the greens)
• Salt to taste

Ingredients (the portobellos)

• 2 large portobello mushrooms, gills removed and washed clean
• 1 ttbsp butter
• salt
• pepper
• 1/4 cup-ish port wine (sub any tasty wine or omit this step)

Preparation (the portobellos)

• Cut potobellos into 1/4 - 1/3 inch strips
• Season with salt and pepper
• Butter grill pan and heat with medium high heat
• Grill about 1 minute on each side
• Deglaze pan with port wine

Ingredients (something a little extra)

• 3 shallots quarterd
• salt/pepper
• EVOO

Preparation (the shallots)

• Toss ingredients together in shallow roasting pan
• Roast at 350 degrees until wilted, tender and slightly golden, about 15 minutes

Assembly (the final dish)

• Plate greens first
• Layer on polenta cakes
• Top with portobellos 
• Drizzle vinaigrette around greens
• Add shallots as garnish (Cyn also hit the dish with chive and thyme blossoms)
• Serve hot

Just as a frame of reference, here is the picture from Charlie Trotter's cookbook.  Clearly we were much hungrier!

2008 was a very good year....

...for tomatoes in Newburgh, NY. That's where we lived then and where we grew, roasted and canned tomato sauce. We actually did that every year but there was something magical about the quart mason jars full of that 2008 vintage. Last night, as part of Meatless Monday dinner, we opened the last one.  Nearly 4 year old tomato sauce you say? Isn't that, um, dangerous? Not at all if the jars are initially prepared correctly, the canning process is carried out properly and the seal remains intact. It was both exciting and a little sad to crack open that seal, but the finished meal made it all worth it. Cynthia's original recipe was a perfect use for that special vintage.

Herbed Crepes with Ricotta, Spinach and Chard Filling

Ingredients (crepes)

• 1 cup AP flour
• 1 cup + 2-4 tbsp liquid of your choice, could be stock, milk, beer, water or any combination thereof - I used 1 cup Better than Bouillon No Chicken and 3 tablespoons of Duck Rabbit Milk Stout beer
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tbsp unsalted quality butter melted and cooled or same amount EVOO
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/3 cup minced herbs, I used a combination of chervil, chives, rosemary, dill and basil

Ingredients (filling)

• 4 big handfuls spinach and swiss chard
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• olive oil
• salt
• crushed red pepper
• 8 oz. ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup grated parmigiano, romano or grana padano cheese
• 1 egg
• generous grating of nutmeg
• black pepper

 Ingredients (finished dish)

• tomato sauce -- ours is from garden grown plum tomatoes, roasted with whole garlic and olive oil -- to this we added a pinch of sugar, 2 oz. red wine, a pinch of salt and a few stems of basil, crushed (later this summer I'll write a whole post about our roasting/canning process)

• grated parmigiano
• peas (fresh or frozen/thawed)

Preparation (crepes)

In your favorite blender blitz everything but herbs for 5 seconds on high speed.  Add finely chopped herbs and let sit for 1 hour.  Batter should be about as thick as heavy cream, add a little more liquid if too thick, otherwise you'll have pancakes and not crepes.

To make crepes, heat at least an 8" skillet over medium high heat.  If it's a regular surface (not non-stick) be sure to melt a little butter in the pan to insure easy crepe release, using a pastry brush to evenly distribute over the cooking area.  Add 1/4 cup of stirred batter to pan for each crepe, swirling the pan to evenly distribute batter.  Cook for about a minute on the first side, use spatula to loosen edges and using your fingers, two hands please, flip crepe to other side for another 30 seconds or so.  Perfect circles aren't necessary as you'll be filling and rolling, which hides a plethora of mistakes.

Preparation (filling)

• saute spinach, chard and garlic in olive oil on medium heat until fully wilted, adding salt and crushed red pepper to taste
• remove from heat and allow to cool
• combine ricotta, grated cheese, egg, and cooled greens in a bowl and combine thoroughly
• add nutmeg and pepper to taste

Preparation (finished dish)

• fill each crepe with two generous tablespoons of the blended filling, placing it in a line along the lower third of the crepe 
• begin rolling the crepe then fold the edges of the crepe in and continuing to roll until you have enclosed the filling completely
• layer the bottom of an oven safe dish with tomato sauce
• lay stuffed crepe in dish
• cover with additional tomato sauce
• dust with grated cheese

Three stages -- pre-sauce, sauced and "cheesed"

• cook in preheated oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes
• remove from oven and add sprinkling of peas
• serve hot

The finished dish is reminiscent of a good cannelloni but the crepes are much more tender than a typical pasta. The mouth feel is almost silky and the cheese and greens become the stars. 

We will miss the 2008 tomato sauce. There is some 2010 in the pantry -- a good but not great year -- our first here in Virginia. With have some high hope for 2012 based on some soil amendments we've made this spring. Is it almost August yet?

Going Persian for Meatless Monday

Recently I've been trying to infuse our Meatless Mondays with ethnic dishes from all over the world. Last week we made falafel, a typical Middle Eastern dish based on chickpeas. This week we decided to go Persian, thanks to a suggestion from my Twitter friend, Leila J. @PersianLiving. Leila is of Iranian decent, living in the UK and writes a wonderful food blog called, of all things, Persian Living!

When I asked her to recommend a Meatless Monday dish that was truly Persian, she immediately told me to make adasi. The main ingredients are lentils and potatoes and her wonderful recipe can be found here. We were inspired by her recipe, but ended up going in a slightly different direction. Leila's recipe called for green lentils which tend require a longer cooking time and break down less. Since we had red lentils in the house we decided to use them, knowing they would break down during cooking more and create more of a stew like consistency.

Here's how it came together.

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups of red lentils (soaked for 4-8 hours)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp fenugreek seed (best to be ground from seeds as needed for freshness)
• 2 small potatoes, peeled, washed and cubed to 1/2 inch or smaller
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tbsp sherry vinegar (can substitute lemon juice)

Preparation

•  In a large pot, heat cooking oil to medium heat and saute onion and two cloves crush garlic until golden brown.
• Add pepper, turmeric, fenugreek, 1 tbsp Better than Bullion No Chicken and a big pinch of crushed red pepper and 4 cups of  hot water.
• Bring to a boil
• Add lentils, lower heat and simmer covered 15-20 minutes until the lentils are tender and starting to fall apart.

•  Add potatoes, tomato paste and remaining garlic (crushed). Continue simmering for another 15-20 minutes until potatoes are tender, stirring regularly to prevent potatoes from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

• The dish should be fairly thick when finished. If it becomes overly thick you can add up to 1/4 cup more water.
• Add vinegar and cook for 5 minutes more. 
• Remove from heat and serve.

We served ours with a simple salad of cucumber, yellow pepper, purple cabbage, radish, onion and tomato dressed with olive oil and sherry vinegar, salt, pepper and parsley.

This delicious and simple meal has sparked an interest in knowing more about Persian foods. I'll be spending more time reading the Persian Living Blog. Thanks Leila!