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Black Bean Burgers: all the burliness, none of the beef

26 Apr
So much easier than I expected!

I’m pretty pleased with myself, because finally, FINALLY, I soaked beans from dry and was very happy with the results!

I’ve never had that happen before; every other time I have tried, the texture has always been grainy and awful and not worth the trouble. This time, I rinsed a pound of beans (from a store that seems to move a lot of dried beans – one of the problems is that if the beans are old, they will never soften up nicely), soaked them in two quarts water overnight. Changed the water and went to work. After work I simmered them for two hours and holy legumes, Batman, I had 1.5 quarts of beans to play with.

And talk about cheap: a pound of dried beans costs about the same as a 15.5 oz can of them and you choose how much sodium you want with it.

I did my usual black beans and rice and black bean nachos (loads of cheddar/Monterey Jack cheese), but with two cups I made black bean burgers! They were tasty hot out of the oven and tasty (and not messy!) again at a picnic at the zoo the next day at room temperature. You definitely want to dress them up with creamy avocado and/or another creamy condiment-y sauce (try my Sweet Roasted Red Pepper Dipping Sauce https://hotcheapeasy.wordpress.com/2011/04/23/roasted-asparagus-and-sweet-red-pepper-dipping-sauce/) and all the trimmings!

 

Black Bean Burgers

2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 stalk celery, minced (about 2 Tbs)

1 onion, peeled and finely minced (about ¾ Cup)

3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

2 cups black beans

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 Tbs ground cumin

1 Tbs oregano

½ Cup plain bread crumbs

½ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375°. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and grease lightly.

Warm oil in a large skillet at medium-high until rippling. Add celery and onion and coat, then lower heat to medium and sauté until translucent and tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté another minute.

In a bowl, mash beans into a thick paste (use a fork, potato masher or ricer). Add cooked vegetables, egg, cumin, oregano and breadcrumbs and season with salt (and pepper if desired). Shape into four generous burgers with your hands (don’t mess with it too much) and then place on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes on one side, 10 on the other and then a five on the first side. Serve with thinly sliced red onion, sliced avocado, sliced tomato and Sweet Roasted Red Pepper Dipping Sauce, if desired. https://hotcheapeasy.wordpress.com/2011/04/23/roasted-asparagus-and-sweet-red-pepper-dipping-sauce/

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5-minute Meatless Chorizo Quesadilla? Try this!

7 Apr

 My book club has reunited after a winter hiatus. Our first get-back-together was at mine after work and while I wanted to put on a nice spread for these women I adore, I also didn’t want to work too hard. I remembered a puff pastry snack I learned from a Spanish friend, Rosa Cassano. The combination of smoked mozzarella and sundried tomatoes in a melty package tasted astonishingly like Spanish chorizo with pimentón. I didn’t have time for puff pastry, but I figured I could melt them together in a flash on the stovetop in flour tortillas. It worked deliciously as a finger food, as the smoked mozzarella firms up very well after melting. And there truly is no meat in them, though no one will believe you…

 ¡Sabroso! ¡Olé! 

Sundried Tomato and Smoked Mozzarella Quesadillas

Four 8-inch flour tortillas

8 oz smoked mozzarella cheese sliced thin

4 oz sundried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped

Spritz of olive oil or cooking oil spray.

Heat a small amount of oil in an 8-inch nonstick skillet. Place a tortilla in the skillet. Cover half the tortilla with a layer of cheese and a generous sprinkling of tomatoes, leaving a bit of a margin at the edge. Fold the empty half over, press down and heat through, turning several times during cooking. When the tortilla is just turning golden and stiffening, it’s done. Repeat with remaining tortillas and allow to cool just enough for the melted cheese to firm up for cutting into triangles. Serve with guacamole/salsa/sour cream.

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Skagen Salad; Scandinavian Shrimp Salad (dill-icious)

25 Mar

 

Creamy, sweet, tangy, chunky, light

 

 This is how the stars aligned. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo got my friend, Ashley, in the mood for Scandinavian food. I had a couple of bags of frozen shrimp and prawns in the freezer and a hankering for dill. It was the third Friday night of Lent  (which I take to mean that God wants me to be creative with seafood). My Swedish sister-in-law has instructed me in the mystical art of extracting relatively authentic Swedish flavor from American ingredients (yes, IKEA plays a critical role). Thus, the following shrimp salad became the basis for a minimalist Swedish tapas night.

We also had brie on pumpernickel toast topped with lingonberry preserves (like I said, IKEA is crucial here) and, since this is being written in real time, there may be some herring and smoked salmon later on, although as there is no more sauvignon blanc to accompany it, maybe not.

This is really quick to make and yet is cool, unhurried and elegant. Maybe one day I will start playing around with the sour cream and mayo proportions and use plain nonfat yogurt, but virtue is not one of my virtues at the moment, so here it is in all its lush glory.

Scandinavian Shrimp Salad

4 Cups peeled, cooked and deveined shrimp (your choice of size*), chopped into small chunks

¾ Cup sour cream

¼ cup mayonnaise

½ cup red onion, minced

½ cup dill, finely chopped

3 Tsp lemon juice

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl, leaving lemon juice for last, salt to taste and serve with toasted pumpernickel , crisp crackers or atop a salad.

*My sister-in-law Annika, who is actually Swedish, was the one who found the original recipe that this is based on. For her, the flavor is not authentic unless you use those tiny, coldwater cooked and peeled Greenland Prawns that she gets in frozen 500g bags from IKEA. It is true, they have a distinctive sweet tang that regular bagged supermarket shrimp don’t, but I don’t like their texture thawed. So I use a strainer to dip them in the same water the rest of the shrimp are cooking in for just a minute which tightens them up without losing too much flavor. I use one bag of the tiny prawns and about a pound of other bagged shrimp (works out to half and half), but you can use whatever you have on hand.

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Tuna and Caper Salad (quick Lenten lunch)

10 Mar

A different take on tuna salad; zippy for lunch during Lent!

In a bit of a hurry to make my brown bag lunch, I banged together some tuna salad, but without mayonnaise (although a dab of mayo would go well too!). This is one of my favorites for a picnic lunch any time, but as a Catholic during Lent, when fish is de riguer for Fridays, this is a true friend. I usually have it on salad, but you can sandwich it, wrap it, stuff it in a pita, mound it on crackers…very flexible! If you have ripe avocado, slice it up and add it to whichever way you are serving the tuna. The cool blandness plays well with the tangy tuna.

Tuna and Caper Salad

1 5 oz can tuna (whichever you prefer; because I am a maniac, I buy sustainably-caught), drained

2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbs red wine vinegar

1/8 tsp your favorite prepared mustard

1 Tbs red onion, chopped fine

1 Tbs capers, drained

1 Tbs roasted red pepper (optional)

Whisk oil and vinegar together with a fork until blended. Stir in mustard. Pour over tuna, add red onion and mix well. Stir in capers and red pepper, if desired. Serve over green salad with chunks of avocado, or in sandwiches, with avocado slices.

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Roe, roe, roe your eggs: Eating Right after Girls’ Night In

2 Mar A Fitting Finish to Fab Festivities

A Fitting Finish to Fab Festivities

Kendra, Adriana and I go back to luscious and lively Puerto Rico days many years ago. Many miles separate us now, but we still manage a reunion a couple of times a year, tucking children into bed and drinking and talking long into the night, a night which gets progressively sillier with every glass of wine.

Children, however, are relentless and have no respect for a woman’s need to get some recuperative sleep after such festivities. 

There is only one solution and it has three parts.

One part is the remote control, which the children should have free rein of (even if it means hours of Scooby-Doo, the Care Bears and whatever else they choose to be hypnotized by).

The second is mimosas – one part orange juice to 3 parts prosecco (Italian bubbly that is softer on tongue and wallet than champagne, which shouldn’t really be wasted on fruit drinks anyway) and some ice (it’s gotta be refreshing, after all). Forget using champagne flutes; you are going to need more than a thimble-ful to reset your buttons.

The third part of the solution is some kind of decadent breakfast. You might be bleary-eyed, wearing sweats and feeling hellish, but you need to carry over the glamour of the previous evening, when for a few hours at least, you were once again a fetching and feckless babe with nothing better to do than have sparkling conversation with equally fab friends until the wee hours.

Thus, Adriana’s solution: blinis topped with scrambled eggs, salmon roe and – O.M.G. creme fraiche. No, it’s not cheap, but it is very hot and super easy!

Blinis topped with scrambled eggs, salmon caviar and crème fraiche

5 – 6 eggs

4 oz crème fraiche

1 Tbs light cooking oil or fat for scrambling

Several teaspoons salmon caviar (use a plastic or wooden spoon to scoop it as metal changes the taste)

Packet blinis

1 tsp chopped dill

Warm the blinis (as many as you think you need; we did six for two people) either by heating the ungreased skillet or in a toaster oven. Scramble the eggs lightly, folding in a teaspoon of the crème fraiche. Salt isn’t really necessary, considering the saltiness of the roe, but that’s up to you.

Heat the oil in a skillet and cook the eggs gently, swirling and moving with a spatula until cooked through.

On nice looking plates, place the blinis, pile eggs on each, followed by a dollop of crème fraiche and a half tsp of  salmon roe. Sprinkle with dill and serve, with prosecco or prosecco mimosas.

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Egg Salad: Classic Comfort in No-Time-Flat

28 Feb
I’ve been on a bit of an egg kick lately. While eggs can do marvellous food-science type things if separated and whipped just so and folded in just right at just the right temperature, right now I am celebrating their simplicity.

 

When was the last time you had a light and easy egg salad? This version is creamy and light and a bit tangy, thanks to the yogurt and the mustard. I took it to a friend’s for a playdate, where it met with success! It makes a good addition to any party buffet table too.
Egg Salad (makes four generous sandwiches or four big scoops to top green salad)

Eight fresh eggs*

3 Tbs mayonnaise

1 Tbs non-fat or low-fat plain yogurt

1 Tbs your favorite mustard

Pinch of salt/pinch of cayenne pepper/sprinkle of parsley/grating of pepper, if desired

Place eggs in a pot with cold water to cover. Bring the water to a boil. Lower heat to simmer for five minutes, then cover and remove from heat. Leave covered for ten minutes, then drain and soak in ice water.  The yolk turns green from overcooking, so if you find that your yolks are turning green, next time skip the simmer, remove from heat and let sit covered for 15 minutes.

When the eggs are cooled, crack them and peel. Chop roughly and place in bowl. Add mayo, yogurt and mustard and mix well. Play around with the amount of wet ingredients until you get it the way you like. Season to taste and serve on crackers, toast or salad.

*(if you are not sure whether your eggs are fresh, put them in water to cover. A fresh egg will sink. A fresh-enough egg will float up on one end while the other end stays on the bottom. A rotten egg will float.

Also, I purchase organic eggs regularly and farmer’s market/friend’s eggs when I can get them. Large-scale egg production in this country is way out of scale with what is safe. I don’t want to be the heavy on this one, so if you are interested, you can visit food expert Marion Nestle’s blog and read it for yourself. http://www.foodpolitics.com/tag/eggs/  In any case, if you are buying conventional/supermarket eggs, please cook them thoroughly )

 

 

 

You are just four ingredients away from happiness.

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Roasted Eggplant, Feta and Sundried Tomato Sandwich

23 Feb

Roasted eggplant and friends on whole wheat English muffin. Don't worry about the verticality; it smushes down to a reasonable, biteable size.

Take Back the Lunch (a poem)

There are those who enjoy

spending money they don’t have,

to wait with time they don’t have,

for a food order that they don’t really love,

cooked by people who don’t love them,

to choke down

during what remains of their precious lunch hour.

I am not one of those.

Are you?

Yeah your takeaway order may be tasty and juicy, but do you really know what you’re eating?

Yeah, a $6.99 lunch special may seem like a good deal, but does it tell you how special and important you are, the way a home-cooked meal does? Of course not.

So at least once this week, try to make yourself a home-cooked lunch that gives you a nutritional hug (or make enough of it for dinner that you have leftovers the next day).

I make this pretty often in winter; it’s a cross between an antipasto and a sandwich and is pretty cheap! I am admittedly not great at crunching numbers, but if I get a pound of eggplant at $3; a 1/2 lb. of feta at $1.80 (Costco bulk); and 8 sundried tomatoes at Fairway for about $2 – I’ve paid about $7 total (plus a bit for side stuff) and then I make four meals for myself out of it…well you do the numbers and tell me it doesn’t beat the bejesus out of the steak and broccoli lunch special at Asian Kitchen…

So please, please, please…show yourself some love and try this really, really, really easy and delicious sandwich/wrap thing really soon. You can skip the bread if you are watching carbs!

Roasted Eggplant  with Feta and Sundried tomatoes

1 lb eggplant (or two if you want to make extra for the week), wiped clean and sliced into ¼ inch rounds*

2 Tbsp olive oil per pound eggplant

8 oz feta cheese, sliced fairly thin

8-10 sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil. Drain slightly and slice into thin strips

(optional – if your sundried tomatoes don’t come with seasonings, use a tsp or more of dried herbs – oregano, basil, thyme, or other Mediterranean flavors are best)

Wrap-style bread, pitas or hearty thick toasted bread slices

Preheat oven to 350°. Dip eggplant into (or brush with) olive oil until well-coated. Lay eggplant as flat as possible in oven dishes and bake for 20-30 minutes, turning occasionally, until eggplant is tender (I consider this a craft that is best learned by experience. Fortunately for me, I like my eggplant slightly browned, ‘cause I always seem to cook the hell out of it before it’s truly done. Don’t worry about a bit of overcooking.)

When the eggplant is done, place a layer of rounds on your chosen bread. Top with feta and sundried tomatoes (and herbs, if desired). Roll up, if using a wrap-style bread. Toast for a few minutes in a toaster oven or under the broiler and serve (reheats well with a blast in the office microwave).

*Notes: if you have time, sprinkle the slices with a pinch or two of salt, put in a colander and put a weighted bowl on top to squeeze out extra moisture – it becomes less absorbent that way – 15-30 minutes. This step is not really necessary with really tight-skinned, firm, fresh eggplant).

I do a lot of eggplant at a time and either eat it this way all week, or strip the rounds of peel and stir into hummous or just eat it out of the fridge when I need a snack. Can be chopped and added to red sauce for pasta! You can also substitute other roasted veg.

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