Tag Archives: food

Smoked Salmon Spread: No-Fuss Festive Appetizer!

11 Nov

Now that the holidays are coming in with the speed of a freight train, the panic begins. How do I entertain (or get a dish together for a potluck) in between work, activities, housework, paying bills, kids, parents, pets and all the other stuff, stuff, stuff that consumes our rapidly diminishing daylight hours?

Here’s one easy solution that takes just 5-10 minutes to prepare (factor in an hour of chill time), looks creamy and luscious, and can travel tidily with you everywhere! It makes about a pound of spread, so you can divide it up for different events. Mine has capers; I am riffing off an Ina Garten recipe that uses dill instead.

On a cracker, dressed up with some capers...

On a cracker, dressed up with some capers…

I made it this weekend for my Single Mothers by Choice meet-up and it went over very big with chips and crackers. And then I parked a bowl next to my dad (who is OFF the crazy-ass veganplus diet — by doctor’s orders — and is becoming a fun person to cook and eat with again, Hallelujah, Hallelujah) as he was recovering from his successful cancer surgery in a big chair in front of all the sports a man could care to consume…will he ever want to leave the living room? Continue reading

Chick Pea, Sausage and Winter Squash/Calabaza Stew

9 Nov

Soup and stew season is upon us!

Funnily enough, I was working on a story on Indian food for Edible Long Island when I spotted my kind of calabaza in the pumpkin section of Patel Brothers (a nationwide chain of Indian/South Asian groceries stores) in Hicksville, and made sure to buy a big hunk on the way out after my interview with the manager.

Calabaza

Calabaza

I say “funnily”, not just because I found Caribbean calabaza in an Indian shop — which in and of itself has some sort of sardonic Christopher Columbus karma about it — but that because of immigration patterns, i can no longer find the Puerto Rican variety in Latin groceries where it belongs. All the Puerto Ricans have married out or moved out and been replaced by Central Americans who use kabochas or some other varieties which are not quite right for me!

(For more on calabaza and a classic Puerto Rican rice and beans recipe, click here!)

This smells ever so good bubbling up on the stove....

This smells ever so good bubbling up on the stove….

So, the calabaza inspired me to soak some garbanzos, dig out some chicken andouille from Aidell’s that was in my freezer and get busy making stew. I brought some to my colleague Jainy, who is from India and was my guide through the research for the article, and she loved this different treatment of pumpkin. So did her mom, apparently, which is high praise indeed. They had them with parathas…I love New York and our jumble of cultures!

Thick and delicious and packed with interesting textures!

Thick and delicious and packed with interesting textures!

Chick Pea, Andouille and Winter Squash Stew

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 Cup onion, chopped

1 Cup green pepper, chopped

1-2 Tbs garlic, chopped

1 small tomato, chopped

1 Cup andouille or other spicy heat and serve sausage

4 Cups cooked squash or pumpkin in the cooking liquid

2 Bay leaves

1 tsp oregano

2 Cups garbanzos, drained

Salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed soup pot until fragrant. Saute the onion for a minute at medium, then add the green pepper, cook another minute, then the garlic, cook another minute, then add the tomato and allow it all to cook at low for another five minutes, adding a bit of oil if you need more moisture.

Stir in the sausage and raise the temperature to medium high. Add the sausage and sauté for 2 minutes or until it stats to brown. Then add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer for ten minutes. Serve with rice or couscous.

 

Amazing Escarole and White Bean Soup (with tiny meatball option)

5 Nov

My friend Marianne and I cook together most Sundays, putting together at least one big dish that we can pack for lunch a few days of the following week. My lentil soup is a regular feature of Sunday night cooking, as are roasted vegetables, But a glorious head of escarole at a recent end-of-season Restoration Farm pick-up proved inspiring and nostalgic.

The veggie version

The veggie version

For Marianne it was all about her Italian nana who Marianne swears made this soup out of a handful of leaves, a pinch of ground beef and water. Grandmothers from those days were like that…they somehow conjured the most memorable, intoxicating flavors out of thin air like fairy godmothers.

Me, I need a good stock to help me out. Especially because my own abuela never made anything like this that I can remember, so I don’t know where I first had escarole soup, or why it provokes such sighs of nostalgia in me, or how I knew that mine has to have white beans, even though Nana Manone doesn’t seem to have included them in hers. And I wasn’t planning on meatballs, but since Nana used them….(which might explain the water instead of stock) Marianne’s big brother Peter will have to shed some light on this one, if he remembers.

The meatball version...with a handful of pasta in my lunch

The meatball version…with a handful of pasta in my lunch

In the meantime, I defrosted my prize homemade chicken stock in the fridge and softened the beans and grudgingly defrosted some raw but seasoned ground beef and prepared myself for battle. Continue reading

Short Cut Ham and Veggie Fried Rice

26 Oct

The Race to Nowhere is on at my house…soccer, violin, Spanish school, Cub Scouts, catechism, writing, teaching, giving workshops, and of course making lots of food!….It has been tough to find time to catch my breath (and clean the bathroom). When we do have down time, we dial it waaaaay down, and I haven’t wanted to interrupt our relaxation with blogging, but of course when you are a writer and a teacher by nature, there is only so long you can go without reaching out via the written word.

I just like taking pictures of eggs. I think they are so very, very beautiful and perfect.

I just like taking pictures of eggs. I think they are so very, very beautiful and perfect.

So I am back, with a recipe that saves my butt when I don’t have a menu plan, want to use up bits and bobs, and want it all to come together quick. Cooking the egg separately is definitely an added step, but well worth it in the final result. The egg looks nice because it hasn’t got all yucky with the stir fry sauce and holds its own flavor and texture nicely. I add an extra bit of honey for the little guy that I might not have used for me, but I have come to really appreciate.

autumn muttontownI hope everyone’s autumn is going well; the weather has been spectacular by us and so today’s two-hour Cub Scout hike in the Muttontown Preserve was fantastic. And now we are shot and hunkering down for Saturday night…so enjoy the rest of the weekend!

A bowl that will make you feel good

A bowl that will make you feel good

Short Cut Fried Rice with Ham and Vegetables

1 Tbs oil

2 eggs, beaten with a pinch of salt

1-2 Tbs chopped onion

1 clove garlic, minced

¼ Cup diced ham steak or sandwich ham

1 Cup mixed vegetables (carrots, broccoli, etc)

Pinch sugar (optional)

1-2 tsp soy sauce (preferably low sodium)

1-2 tsp honey

1 Cup or more leftover cooked rice

Heat a teaspoon of the oil in a skillet. Pour in the egg mixture and allow it to cook at medium-low, flipping once or folding in half and flipping a couple of times until cooked through (about 4 minutes). Remove from skillet and set aside to cool before cutting into small rectangles.

In the same skillet, heat the remaining oil at medium, then sauté the onions until tender. Add the garlic and ham and cook one minute, then add the mixed vegetables and optional sugar and sauté, stirring occasionally, until vegetables begin to soften. Make a space in the center of the skillet by pushing aside the sautéed ingredients and add the soy sauce and honey. Stir to combine all ingredients and then add the rice and stir till covered in sauce and heated through. At the end, add the reserved egg and stir to combine. Adjust seasoning and serve.

I have no idea what these plants are, but the color of the leaves was spectacular!

I have no idea what these plants are, but the color of the leaves was spectacular!

 

Almost Instant Bruschetta (Quickie tomato spread)

18 Oct

Got a tomato and some day-old bread?

Swirl around to soften and Bob's your uncle!

Swirl around to soften and Bob’s your uncle!

Use it up deliciously and look fab doing it.

A lovely way to start a meal (or grate some cheese over and call it a movie snack)

A lovely way to start a meal (or grate some cheese over and call it a movie snack)

Ingredients:

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil (plus more for drizzling)

A few ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped

1 or two cloves garlic minced

Day-old bread, sliced and lightly toasted

Salt to taste

Directions:

Heat oil in a skillet. Toss in tomatoes and garlic and stir around at medium until skins begin to separate. Spread on toasts. Sprinkle with salt. Serve.

Glow!

Glow!

Summer Tomato Recipe (or just chop fresh tomatoes over warm pasta and you’re done!)

16 Oct

We won’t be eating this light and fresh summer way much longer.

The little man and I pulled out the tomato plants today. They could have stayed in a bit longer and we might have had a few more vine-ripened tomatoes, but he took off all the little greenies (“39, Mom! I picked 39 tomatoes!”), holding up his shirt hem to make an impromptu bag for them, while I folded the netting (okay, attempted to fold the netting and then just balled it all up because it was making me crazy) and then he pulled out all the plants (about ten) I threw them in the leaf compost and we called it an afternoon. After a summer of garden disasters, the pounds and pounds of tomatoes we got from our ten plants was a true joy. And I have several quarts of sauce and puree in the freezer for later!

Light and beautiful, any kind of tomatoes will do, as long as they are garden fresh!

Light and beautiful, any kind of tomatoes will do, as long as they are garden fresh!

My dad (he of the crazy-ass mostly vegan diet) just had surgery for bladder cancer last week, so we’ve been very, very busy with other things, not least of which is preparing food for everyone so that we all continue to eat well and keep up our strength while we work on his recuperation and everything else (like work — fullltime and freelance — and school and soccer and violin — and on and on). So yes, the healing and kitchen are going great guns, but the writing is not.

So this is not even a recipe, but a solution. Boil pasta in generously salted water and drain, reserving 1/4 Cup of pasta water.. Chop up fresh tomatoes and toss them into the pasta with a splash of olive oil, a splash of pasta water, a couple of basil leaves if you’ve got and maybe some finely minced garlic. Serve with grated cheese/a sprinkle of salt, Or not. Eat. Move on to the next thing and try not to mourn the end of the summer tomatoes. Save your seeds and plant more next year!

From my garden. I love this moment of the harvest season, when you realize it's almost over and therefore appreciate these flavors that much more.

From my garden. I love this moment of the harvest season, when you realize it’s almost over and therefore appreciate these flavors that much more.

Provenςal Vegetable Tian (a magnificent summer vegetable send-off!)

12 Oct

It was a recipe I’d been saving for just such a moment. It was stuck to the fridge with a magnet, getting spotty with splashes and splatters from the sink, wrinkly from the vapors of steaming pots and sizzling pans.

The olives provide proper punctuation to the vegetables.

The olives provide proper punctuation to the vegetables.

It was one of those tear-out recipe cards from a Martha Stewart magazine, so of course the picture was luscious and perfect in that casual, unstudied, flooded with natural light, Hamptons kind of way that makes you want to chuck out all your furniture and start over with a fresh new color scheme that changes with every season so that your perfect children are filled with wonder and delight every time they come back from their posh boarding school for a long weekend with their equally perfect friends.

Ergo, when the moment came and I had my opportunity to emulate those graceful denizens of the airy heights of impeccable style in my own small way, well of course I had to seize it!

From my garden. I love this moment of the harvest season, when you realize it's almost over and therefore appreciate these flavors that much more.

From my garden. I love this moment of the harvest season, when you realize it’s almost over and therefore appreciate these flavors that much more.

Piles of late summer vegetables were languishing (I think this new world of mine needs to “languish” a lot, don’t you?) on the counter, in need of some using. And as it happens, they were just the vegetables I needed for that bloody vegetable tian Martha recipe that has been languishing on my fridge for two years like an accusation. And as it happens, the recipe was pretty easy, as long as you are somewhat competent with a knife. It didn’t require anything odd or fashionable. Continue reading

And another award-winner: My Banana Bread (with Chocolate Chips)!

3 Oct

I shared with you the great news of Leandro’s first place win for Oatmeal Walnut Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies at the Long Island Fair. Now I will share my more modest triumph…my banana bread took second place in the adult class!

Chocolate chips give it that extra prize-winning appeal....

Chocolate chips give it that extra prize-winning appeal….

My banana bread is very moist and banana-y, because I take any bananas that have gone too ripe for pleasant eating (as in the peel is black and the flesh is mushy and getting brown), peel and freeze them in a resealable bag until I have enough for banana bread. So the sugars are really present and there is quite a bit of juice.

I have been terribly busy — too busy to sit down and write something more substantive — so I’ll keep it short and give you the recipe, which is sure to become a go-to for you!

Slice and freeze for great lunchbox stuffers

Slice and freeze for great lunchbox stuffers

Banana Chocolate Chip Quick Bread

6 overripe bananas

1 Cup sugar (1/2 light brown and ½ white)

2 eggs, beaten

½ Cup vegetable oil

2 Cups flour (1/2 whole wheat, ½ white all purpose)

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

1 Cup bittersweet chocolate morsels

Preheat oven to 350°. Mash bananas in mixing bowl. Add sugar, eggs and oil, one at a time, mixing well with each addition. Sift dry ingredients together and add to banana mixture. Fold in chocolate morsels. Pour in four greased mini- loaf pans and bake 55-60 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Second place for me

Second place for me

Entomophagy (or I Ate Crickets for My Birthday)

28 Sep

Eighty percent of the world’s countries include insects in their diet. Yes, even you, although it might be more by accident or ignorance than design!

Entomophagy is the ingestion of insects for food (deliberate as opposed to the odd bug that flies down your throat when you are riding a bicycle, I suppose).

For more incidental entomophagy, try this HuffPost article on some of the more common bugs that are allowed in your food. Or read this Insects As Food blog post for more on what bugs people eat on purpose. Bugs are also recommended as an alternative food source by the U.N. (although something tells me they weren’t serving crickets on a stick at the recent General Assembly in N.Y.)

So when one of the contestants at a recent Latino Lover magazine ceviche throwdown I attended offered crispy crickets as a ceviche topping, the girls from Puerto Rico – Ada, Jocelyn, Paola, and me — looked at each other for about a half-second and dug right in.

Don't judge 'em 'till you've tried 'em

Don’t judge ’em ’till you’ve tried ’em

They were crunchy! They were salty! They were good!

They perfectly set off the watermelon in the ceviche and they were pretty good plain too, washed down with a fresh Albariño as per Paola and I…Ada and Jocelyn went for the beer instead. So yes, we ate crickets and liked them a whole lot (admittedly, we had to set aside the ones whose antennae/leggy bits were just too, well insect-y to actually put in our mouths).

So, what did I have for dinner on the eve of my birthday? Bugs! Hurray for an old dog being fearless about new tricks!

Me and Maricel...planning a trip to Zafra/Cucharamama in Hobeken very soon!

Me and Maricel…planning a trip to Zafra/Cucharamama in Hobeken very soon!

The winners of the contest were not at all the ones I liked…Toloache was tops for me…and yes, that was the one with the crickets and watermelon. Thanks to the girls for a great birthday…highlighted by running into my dear friend Maricel Presilla — restaurateur and food historian (see her books on chocolate and Latin food or visit her artisanal, pan-Latino Hoboken restaurants: Cucharamama and Zafra!).

Finally! A Quicky and Easy Falafel Recipe Worth Sharing!

24 Sep

Falafel is one of my favorite dishes in the world. These fried Mediterranean chick pea (we call them garbanzos in Spanish) balls are not supposed to be hard to make, but I have struggled mightily with one recipe after another, unable to get one that was crunchy outside, creamy yet nutty inside, that would hold together nicely for me in the pan.

Into the frying pan....

Into the frying pan….

Until now.

I freely admit that I used beans from a can. I have tried and tried to make them by soaking dried chick peas. I hated the grainy texture of the few that didn’t completely disintegrate in the skillet. Using canned chick peas is a small defeat on the path to greater victory. I didn’t even riff off any particular recipe…I just combined flavors that had worked out in the past with techniques that had sort of worked out, and went for the can opener for my main ingredient.

Sometimes spelled felafel, I like mine golden and very creamy inside.

Sometimes spelled felafel, I like mine golden and very creamy inside.

Pedro of the “mostly vegan except when it’s not” crazy-ass diet loved them. Leandro of the “I hate garbanzos because I don’t like the way they look” declaration loved them. My unpredictable mother, Myrna, loved them. And I loved them too (and I was really the one that mattered in this pursuit of perfection). I hope you will too! This is a recipe for a small amount…so you can give them a shot if you’re new to falafel and then double the recipe once you are hooked! Click on for fabulously simple recipe….plus a quickie tahini sauce for topping Continue reading