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Quickie Tomato Spread for Bread Pizzettes or Bruschetta

15 Apr

Yes, you can freeze delicious summer tomatoes and use them for sauce the following April!

I had cored, blanched and frozen (but not peeled) about 1.5 lbs of San Marzano tomatoes (click for more specific how-tos  of what I call “Lazy Preserves”) from Restoration Farm last summer when I just couldn’t figure out what to do with all that lycopene bounty and was — gasp! — almost sick and tired of summer tomatoes.

Last summer's investment in this spring's good eating

They were in the back of my freezer in a freezer bag (suffering a bit of freezer burn, I must admit) and I decided that now was the time to see how they had fared.

The other day I knocked off some — but not all — the ice crystals that had formed and put them in a soup pot and simmered them down to about a pint that was more paste than liquid, removing the peels as they separated from the flesh. Today I took that pint to a friend’s house and we used it for the base of a bruschetta/pizza toast dish that pleased adults and kids alike. It was dense and sweet with a balance of acidity — in short, everything you want from tomato sauce — and since it was organic and local — there was nothing you don’t want in it (even the freezer burn didn’t matter).

Here is the quickie recipe with tinned tomato substitute:

Tasty Tomato Paste Topping

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

1 pint homemade tomato paste (or a 28 oz canned of pureed tomatoes)

five large fresh basil leaves

1 Tbs dry red wine (or whatever you have open, really)

Salt to taste

Warm the oil in a saucepan. Add the smashed garlic and cook at medium low turning cloves until they are uniformly golden brown. Remove cloves and discard (or rub the insides on toast for bruschetta), Add tomato paste or puree and basil leaves. Bring to a simmer and add the tablespoon of wine and salt to taste. Simmer until the sauce reaches desired thickness (at least 15 minutes to incorporate flavors). Serve over pasta, or on toasted bread. Top with olives, grated mozzarella or parmigiano reggiano, minced fresh basil, or other pizza-loving ingredients.

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Brussels Sprouts – Sautéed and Sassy

8 Apr

If you love Brussels sprouts, you’ll like this easy Spanish recipe which we will be enjoying today with our big Easter meal for a little family.It’s something my dad likes to do when he is in charge of the vegetables, as he is today.

Don’t be put off by the fact that you boil the daylights out of them; the red wine vinegar lifts them from being ordinary overcooked vegetables to something surprising and tangy!

Happy Holidays to all.

Sauteed Brussels Sprouts (Inspired by Penelope Casas; modified by Pedro)

1-1.5 lbs Brussels sprouts, bottoms trimmed and old leaves removed

1.5 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled (not chopped up)

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

2 Tbs red wine vinegar

Place the sprouts in salted boiling water to cover and cook at a lively bubble for 10-15 minutes, or until tender (this is a personal taste thing; some people like mushy, some like firm, so play around with it)

Heat the oil in a skillet. Add the garlic cloves and sauté at medium heat until dark gold on all sides. Remove and discard. Add the sprouts and saute over medium high for five minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and stir in the vinegar. Cook until the vinegar evaporates, stirring constantly.

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Let the (Gardening) Games Begin!!!!!

5 Apr

I have my garden! I have my garden!

My dad (Pedro) and I have been plotting (haha) to do some raised beds in our yard, now that some of the trees had to come down and there are a few sunny spots. Last year I did some container gardening in those spots as a sort of reconnaissance mission and this week, Pedro and his buddy, Tommy, put together some raised beds from instructions from Organic Gardening magazine (April/May 2012). I can’t find a link to the instructions right now, but visit their Beginner’s Guide to Organic Farming and poke around in there and you’ll find loads of good info to get started.

So, we made a garden chart and yesterday in went the pea seedlings (I had started some indoors and some outdoors a couple of weeks ago – you’re not supposed to start peas indoors, but we’ve done it before, with good results, plus it helps Leandro follow their progress more easily). The mesclun lettuce and arugula seeds went in also.

Today we’ll be stopping by a local nursery for more seeds, now that we have a plan: spinach, radish, beets, chard, and eggplant. We’ll be buying organic, as I mistrust the whole Genetically Modified thing and the chemical stuff.

My tomato seedlings (seeds saved from last year’s tomatoes, aren’t I the little homesteader?) are looking well, but will stay indoors for now, as will the ají (sweet cooking pepper from P.R.) from my cousin Josie’s garden in Mayagüez. I’m starting basil from seed too – feeling really productive and busy and probably boring the hell out of you with my laundry list of planting, but so be it. I am excited to finally be embarking on a vegetable gardening adventure!

I am eager to know what you all are planting and planning for the summer months…I don’t really know what I am doing, but Pedro and I have agreed that this will be a year of more learning than producing (nice to have the Restoration Farm back-up, no?). Mind you, we are both demanding of ourselves, so that is perhaps not going to work out and we will agonize over every mistake, insect infestation, browned and spotted leaf or low yield…We’ll have to take good notes!

More helpful links:

What to Plant Now zone charts from Mother Earth News (it only considers the Lower 48 – no Puerto Rico either, sorry!)  How-To-Grow primers from Organic Gardening magazine

Find out your growing zone here.

Happy Planting!

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A Mediterranean Party Snack Buffet with DIY Tahini Dressing

25 Mar

The parents have returned from their winter in Puerto Rico and that gives me a chance to make things that are a pain in the neck to do up for one adult, but seem like no work at all for a lavish spread for three grown-ups and a kid who likes couscous (especially seasoned with pesto) and asparagus. Plus, make loads and leftovers are guaranteed and you know I love that!

This sudden inspiration came straight from the pantry: jarred artichoke hearts and roasted red peppers, black olives, garbanzos from a can, that type of thing. From the fridge: feta, tomatoes, cukes, asparagus.

How fun would it be to lay out mezze (Mediterranean small dishes) with a variety of salad ingredients and sit all together for a change?

So I did and it was fun and crunchy and creamy and delicious.

“Look how pretty mine came out!” said the moms, who is a bit relieved to be eating with us again (because yes, the dad is still on that cockamamie up-and-down vegan diet that I want nothing to do with – although enabler that I am, I did make him some alternative tahini dressing with no garlic, since sesame seeds — the main ingredient of tahini — grow above ground and garlic grows under…seriously? Anyway, not worth discussing; the REAL recipe below is lovely and garlicky, as God intended)

Roasted asparagus: Rinse and break off bottoms of a 1 lb. bunch of asparagus. (They break naturally at the woody part; or break off one and slice off the rest at around the same place) Smear with two teaspoons of olive oil and roast at 450 for 10 minutes (skinny spears) to 15 minutes (fat spears). Finish with flaky sea salt.

Roasted eggplant: Rinse and cut a large eggplant into one-inch chunks (for older eggplant that feels a bit soft to the touch, put in a colander and sprinkle with salt. Put a weighted bowl on top and another bowl to catch the drippings. Leave for a half hour and pat dry before the next step). Smear with a tablespoon or so of olive oil and roast at 450 for 15 minutes or until cooked through and soft, turning once with tongs.

Garbanzos (chick peas) in tahini: Rinse and drain a 28 oz can of chick peas. Add a tablespoon chopped red onion. Add two or three tablespoons of tahini dressing (below) and serve.

Tahini Dressing

3 Tbs tahini (mixed ‘till relatively smooth)

¼ Cup fresh lemon juice

1 large clove garlic, minced fine

Pinch or two of salt

Cold water to thin

1 tsp chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Mix all ingredients except water and salt in a bowl (deeper is better to avoid splashing) or mixing cup. Salt to taste and thin with water to desired consistency. Add chopped parsley if desired. Thin for use as salad dressing. Leave it thick to use as dip for vegetables. Leave it medium dense and creamy as a sauce  sauce for falafel.

Couscous with (prepared) pesto: prepare one half cup couscous (Israeli or fine) according to package directions. Add two tablespoons prepared basil pesto (or your favorite) and serve warm.

Additional stuff: chunks of feta, black olives, halved or quartered cherry or grape tomatoes, cucumber slices, avocado and mixed greens, as desired. Try hard-boiled eggs. A drained and flaked can of tuna would be great too, with a bit of chopped onion if you are not into the vegetarian thing.

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Found Stock (Waste Not, Want Not)

20 Mar

Hate throwing things out? Me too!

(I am trying to work through a tendency to clutter in all areas of my life, but right now I am referring to the kitchen exclusively).

We are just starting to compost over here – actually, my dad is doing it with lawn clippings and autumn leaves so I can’t claim any credit — and haven’t sorted out how to approach the whole food waste thing. In the meantime, with a freezer bag you can make good use of vegetable trimmings by making a very nice, low sodium stock for soups. No two ever taste the same (and I admit to taking out some of the celery and adding extra carrots or onions for sweetness), but since this is not a professional kitchen – who cares? I like to think of home-cooking more as live theater than a DVD of a movie – full of surprise flavors, new interpretations, flubbed lines and quick recoveries, and the occasional revelatory performance by an understudy. The fact that I don’t have to make it exactly the same every time takes a lot of the pressure right off!

So, here’s an easy and cheap way to reduce your waste stream and have a terrific stock on hand for spontaneous outburst of homemade soup!

Found Vegetable Stock (makes about a quart)

8 to 10 cups of vegetable trimmings (about a gallon* freezer bag full – just keep adding to a freezer bag or other container in your freezer till you have enough!): carrot tops, onion peels, garlic peels, pea pods, celery bits, stems ends of squash, tomato cores. DO NOT include cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower.

½ – 1 whole head garlic, broken in half, unpeeled

1 onion, quartered and unpeeled

Enough water to cover

1-1.5 tsp salt per quart of water

Bring all ingredients to a boil in a generous pot. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer gently for about an hour. Cool to lukewarm, then strain (I used a colander lined with paper towel) into a fridge or freezer-friendly container and store in fridge or freezer.

*This post has been corrected! The original suggested a quart freezer bag and has been corrected to a GALLON freezer bag. Thanks to my sharp-eyed, keen-witted reader Kendra for catching the error!

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Grilled or Roasted Tomato Pasta Dressing (so light! so bright!)

12 Feb

The temperatures here in New York have started to drop some, but so far 2012 is The Winter That Hasn’t Been (I like the present perfect tense here rather than the past tense “wasn’t”, because there is still time for some apocalyptic winter weather to strike).

That means that many of us have been firing up the grill as if it were summer. If you are one of those people, here is a fresh, uplifting recipe that will brighten up the day and feel easy on the digestion.

I made it the other day from tomatoes grilled the night before at our friends’ house during an impromptu and convivial burger night (more on the amazing sauteed onion and mushroom topping soon!).

A glimpse of the salad the same night - with grilled asparagus and sun-dried tomatoes! Heaven.

The tomatoes (Campari’s which I bought out of season because I couldn’t resist the clearance price) had none of the rich acidity and fullness of a summer tomato, but grilling and roasting add some depth of flavor and the garlic and vinegar give a very pleasant tang. So, should you succumb to a good price or simply the need for a tomato that didn’t come out of a tin during the winter months, this recipe will enhance a lackluster product. To my surprise, Leandro really dug this pasta and ate the extra serving I had intended for my own lunch the following day.  I should have been totally pleased and delighted and flattered, but this imperfect Mommy was kind of annoyed. And frightened. If he eats like this at four, how much is he going to eat as a teenager?

Grilled or Roasted Tomato Pasta Dressing

(Special tools: about six BBQ skewers. If using wood, soak the skewers in water for about 20 minutes)

1 lb medium length pasta such as penne or rotini

1 pint small tomatoes: grape, cherry or Campari, preferred

2-3 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1-2 tsp red wine vinegar

3 cloves garlic, minced

(optional: 1 tsp chopped fresh basil or parsley)

Salt, to taste

Heat grill and skewer tomatoes, leaving ample space between tomatoes. Grill tomatoes for about five minutes, or until beginning to wrinkle and just beginning to brown (or preheat oven to 350° and scatter tomatoes on a baking sheet or foil and cooking for 15 minutes or until beginning to wrinkle and brown)*. Smaller tomatoes will cook faster. Do not char. Chop tomatoes roughly. Do not discard liquid or seeds.

In the meantime, prepare pasta according to package directions. Keep the pasta warm after draining.

While the pasta is boiling and the tomatoes are grilling, whisk olive oil and vinegar together until blended in a large bowl. Add garlic, tomatoes with juices, and still-warm pasta. Add optional herbs, salt to taste and serve with your favorite grated cheese.

*You can grill or roast the tomatoes while firing up the grill or oven for something else, place cooked tomatoes in a tightly sealed container in the fridge, and make the recipe the following day.

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Lentil Soup/Sopa de Lentejas (with vegetarian/vegan option); Snuggly, Spicy Winter Soup

22 Jan

If you do not have a bag of dried lentils in your larder at all times, you’ve got some explaining to do. These little cuties are about $.80 a pound, keep for a year, are full of good stuff for you and don’t need to be pre-soaked. They are fast, convenient, filling and ever so tasty. How could you not?

Lentil Soup has got to be the best comfort food ever. It is rich and hearty and slurpy and — this version at least – just a bit spicy. You can use whatever scraps you’ve got around. You can give it a Middle Eastern flavor or Italian flair by varying the spices. Use a different type of sausage – like kielbasa – and some sage or rosemary for a more Eastern European style. Use no sausage at all and a dash of liquid aminos or veggie steak sauce and some red hot pepper flakes or chipotle for a vegetarian/vegan version. It will keep in the fridge for several days and packs up really nicely for an office lunch that will make you feel loved and valued.

This is a slightly modified version of a previous lentil soup recipe…I make this all the time and I vary it to my mood. This time I included celery and just added a teaspoon of oregano; the vegetable stock I used (Nature’s Promise Organic, from Stop and Shop) really punched up the flavor so much that it didn’t need much added seasoning.

A dollop of plain nonfat yogurt or sour cream or creme fraiche makes it creamy!


Lentil Soup (Sopa de lentejas)

2-3 Tbs olive oil

1 baseball size onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced or diced to fingernail size (approx 1 Cup)

2 stalks celery, chopped

(1/2 cup chard stems, chopped – optional – I just happened to have some left over from a previous chard leaf dish)

3-4 oz chorizo (Spanish dry hot sausage), peeled and sliced into 1/4-1/2 inch rounds (I use Palacios Hot; vegetarians can omit it entirely and add liquid aminos, steak sauce or snoky chipotle to taste)

1 medium potato, peeled (if you like) and chopped into 1.2 inch cubes (approx. 1 Cup)

1 Cup (8 oz) dry lentils, rinsed, picked through and drained

4 – 8 Cups chicken or vegetable broth (you may use water as well)

15 oz can diced tomatoes (optional)

1 tsp each – ground cumin, turmeric and oregano OR 1 tsp each – oregano and marjoram OR Tbs dry Italian herbs

Heat oil until it runs quickly and is fragrant. Add onions and stir to coat. After a minute, reduce heat to low. After five minutes start adding, garlic, then carrots, celery and optional chard, then chorizo. When chorizo begins to release its color,  stir in lentils, potatoes, broth/water and tomatoes, if using. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low and simmer, covered for 20 minutes or until lentils and vegetables are tender, adding water a cup at a time, if desired. Add spices at the end and salt to taste.

Serve as soup with crusty bread, or over rice. Finish with a dollop of plain yogurt, sour cream or creme fraiche!

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Black Bean and Quinoa Burgers (Baked!)

20 Jan

In my other life I am a full-time college professor teaching intensive academic English to immigrants and foreign students who need a bit more English to be able to make it in the mainstream of our local community college.

I don’t make a whole lot of money (although there are other perks to living the higher education life!) and until my son enters kindergarten, I have a big fat daycare bill every month, so I am not dropping $10 a day on going out to lunch. No WAY.

I try, as much as possible, to prepare three wholesome, homemade meals a day for me and my son (and they are not always the same meal  — my kingdom for a dishwasher….) and do it on the cheap. I triple recipes and freeze portions for greater efficiency. And I am always searching for new takes on standard ingredients.

So here is a new recipe for black bean burgers, inspired by Vegetarian Times. This addition of quinoa — a super-grain that is super-easy to prepare — creates a phenomenal texture and you can really substitute whichever spices you like; here I used adobo powder to good effect. ATTENTION VEGANS: the quinoa holds everything together, so there are NO EGGS needed!

You can also freeze the extra; a great plus. I did them from dry beans, soaked overnight with a bit of salt, then simmered for a couple of hours, but I include the measurements for using canned beans too.

Full disclosure: Leandro loved the texture and did not like the taste AT ALL. So I will get to pack them for my lunches for the next few weeks and next time I make these, I will fiddle around with flavors. VegTimes suggests steak seasoning (which is vegetarian) so maybe I will go that route.

Here’s to a delicious and healthy Spring Semester, starting now at a college near me!

Black Bean and Quinoa Burgers

1.5 Cups cooked quinoa (prepared according to package directions)

1 small onion, chopped fine (about 1 Cup)

6 sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained indifferently and finely chopped

1.5 Cups cooked black beans (or 15 oz. can black beans rinsed and drained, divided in half)

3 cloves garlic, minced (about 3 Tbs)

2 Tbs adobo

(Optional: Burger fixings – buns, sliced onion, cheese, mustard, ketchup, sliced avocado, etc)

Saute onion and tomatoes in a large nonstick skillet and cook over medium heat (you probably won’t need additional oil as the tomatoes will have enough).  Cook 5 minutes, until onion is well-softened. Stir in black beans (half if using canned), garlic, adobo and 1.5 Cups water and simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated and the beans are softened (you may need more water if using beans from dry). Season with salt and pepper if necessary and allow to cool.

Transfer bean mixture to food processor. Add half the quinoa and process until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl and mix in the remaining quinoa (and remaining beans if using canned).

Preheat oven to 350°F and coat baking sheet with cooking spray. Shape bean mixture into ½ Cup patties (8-9) and place on baking sheet. Bake 15-20 minutes on each side until both sides are crisp and brown and serve with fixings of your choice.

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Inside-Out Guacamole

16 Jan

I invented this recipe for my beloved Single Mothers by Choice support group; we meet up once a month at someone’s home and our kids go mental playing, while we bring snacks — often home-made — drink tea and coffee, and discuss — among other momentous questions — whether a date for Valentine’s Day is possible, do-able or desirable (Some women have married out, so the answer might just be yes).

I joined the group when considering embarking on single parenthood and started going to the local meetings when I got pregnant(!), so it’s been about five years, and let me tell you, there is nothing better than a supportive and understanding peer group to help you navigate your ups, downs, and angst. Leandro considers some of the kids among his best friends and we share times with them outside regular meetings, so it is really important to us.

So thus inside-out guacamole – a speedier way to the same great flavor.

And this guac without the mashing is not just for single chicks…It’s got NFL cred…try it on Sunday when Big Blue shows that team from San Francisco where they can put that candlestick….

Inside-Out Guacamole (can be doubled or tripled)

2 ripe Haas avocados (unpeeled flesh should give a bit when pressed with a finger), peeled and chunked

Juice of half a lime

½ Cup grape tomatoes, sliced in half

¼ red onion, sliced very thin

1 clove garlic, minced or pressed

¼-1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/8-1/4 tsp salt (to taste)

Place avocado chunks in a bowl and sprinkle with lime (for flavor and to prevent browning)

Add the rest of the ingredients, mix gently and serve with large tortilla chips or tortilla scoops.

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Breadfruit – Panapén – High Seas History (and a rant)

13 Jan

Fried Pana – Nirvana!!!!!

We are just back from almost three weeks in Puerto Rico with my parents at the home of my late grandmother, during which I ate loads of classic Puerto Rican Christmas food — perníl, pasteles, morcilla, arroz con gandules — O.M.G. I am fat and happy to have my food fixes fixed!

However, I did not do a lot of cooking! I thought my dad and I would take the opportunity to mash it up in the kitchen for the duration, but….my dad, who has a history of embarking on new eating plans that — for better or worse — consume the rest of us, chose THE HOLIDAYS IN PUERTO RICO TO START THE CRAZIEST DIET OF THEM ALL!?! Did he have to purge now!?! Are you kidding me!?!

It’s okay that he became a vegan overnight, it’s okay that additionally, sugar and things like bread, rice and pasta are not allowed, but in this version of vegan there is a whole ‘nother complication: you can’t mix food grown under the earth in the same meal as food grown on top of the earth. So you want to saute garlic with your leafy greens? No. You want onions in your chayote salad? No. It’s a big old pain, and while this diet has had great effects for our cousin and other people we know and I hope it resolves whatever my dad hopes it resolves, I just wish he could have put it off until we had had a lot more fun in the kitchen. And I did guilt the churrasco recipe  out of him finally!

Rant over.

Let’s talk about my single most favorite starchy produce item in the whole wide world: breadfruit, or panapén or pana (as we call it in Puerto Rico).

Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) is a very tall, lusciously-leafed relative of the mulberry. It originates in Southeast Asia and it prolifically produces canteloupe-size green-peeled starchy fruit that is denser and sweeter than potato. It can be boiled, roasted, fried…anything.

Credits to Wikipedia for this image!!!!

Remember The Mutiny on the Bounty? Well Captain Bligh was trying to bring breadfruit to the Caribbean from Tahiti (as a way to feed the increasing numbers of slaves) when he was set adrift by his mutinous crew. He eventually succeeded — but legend has it the slaves refused to eat it.

Anyway, breadfruit was not supposed to be in season during this holiday, but my admirers (yes I have some) — the LeBron brothers of the Plaza del Mercado of Mayagüez — managed to obtained some for me and in their desire to please, peeled and sliced it for me before I had a chance to photograph it (thus the borrowed image).

Anyway, the recipe is simple:

Salt an abundant amount of water in a large pot, bring to a boil (either with or without the peeled, sliced breadfruit already in), reduce heat and boil gently for about 15 minutes until tender. Drain and serve with olive oil and salt (and salt cod in vinaigrette, if you’ve got, but that’s a recipe for another day).

I mash mine up on my plate with abundant oil, but the pictures didn’t come out very well so a I could not include them.

The following day, I took the leftover boiled pana and sliced it into flat squares that I fried in a small amount of vegetable oil. The insides were so creamy…just thinking about it makes my mouth water…And that you can indeed see in the picture.

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