Last Night's Nums: Mediterranean Mac and Cheese

Anyone who knows me well (or has simply had a conversation with me about food) knows that I'm an annoying elitist about my mac'n'cheese recipe. Being a Southern Girl, mac'n'cheese is an important staple in my food repertoire. I'm not just an elitist about my recipe, I'm an elitist about how it's prepared at all (I'm sorry, but pouring cheese sauce over pasta does not count as "mac'n'cheese").

So you know that I'm not likely to give any other macaroni and cheese dish a chance unless it looks pretty damn good.

Enter Mediterranean Mac and Cheese. I discovered the recipe on Tumblr, an adaptation from a Martha Stewart recipe. Okay sure, why the hell not? Especially when it includes a cast of ingredients like this:

The result was a very tasty blend of Mediterranean flavors tossed together with a traditional macaroni and cheese. Pretty good, I must say, though a bit runny; I'll be sure to drain my tomatoes better next time and will probably add more cheese.

As always, I diverged from the recipe here and there. My trouble-with-authority moments are noted in italics after the original recipe.

You will need:

• 1 (14.5 oz) can fire roasted, diced tomatoes, drained well
• 1/3 cup chopped black or kalamata olives
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil, plus more for garnish [LOL, no. I used an entire handful.]
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano [Again, no. I likely added upwards of two teaspoons here.]
• 8 oz elbow macaroni pasta [I had whole wheat noodles, so that's what I used.]
• 2 Tbsp butter, plus more for baking dish
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup chopped red onion
• 1 large clove garlic, finely minced [Y'all know I always scoff at this notion of "one garlic clove." Nope, my recipe included no fewer than four, and I wouldn't recommend doing it any differently.]
• 3 Tbsp flour
• 2 cups whole milk [I used 2%]
• 4 oz crumbled feta cheese
• 4 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter an 8 by 8-inch baking dish or a 9-inch deep dish pie dish, set aside. Boil pasta to al dente according to directions listed on package. Drain pasta well and return to pot.
2. In a small mixing bowl, combine red onion, garlic, drained diced tomatoes, chopped olives, most of your basil, and dried oregano. Meanwhile, melt butter along with olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add mixture, about 3 - 4 minutes.
3. Lower heat to medium. Whisk in flour, and cook stirring constantly for about 30 seconds to a minute. While whisking vigorously, slowly pour in milk. Increase heat back to medium-high and bring mixture just to a boil, stirring constantly. Once mixture reaches a boil reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring constantly until mixture has thickened, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in 2 tbsp feta cheese and mozzarella cheese then season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Pour sauce  mixture over drained pasta in pot and toss to evenly coat. Spread into prepared baking dish. Sprinkle top evenly with remaining crumbled feta cheese. Bake in preheated oven 20 - 25 minutes until edges are bubbling and top is golden brown. Serve warm garnished with fresh basil. 

Enjoy!!

Last Night's Nums: Braised Coconut Spinach and Chickpeas

This was a very simple recipe that, while curry-ish, was a nice change from the constant legitimate curries we eat around here. It's very flavorful and goes well over brown rice (though any grain would probably work). What's more, it's made almost entirely from things we regularly stock, so it's a nice thing to throw together on those nights where you want to eat in but haven't thought ahead enough to go shopping.

You will need:

2 teaspoons oil or ghee
1 small yellow onion
2 cups red potato, chopped into 1" chunks
4 large cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
2 teaspoons turmeric
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1 large lemon, zested and juiced (about 2 tablespoons juice)
Dash of red pepper flakes
15-ounce can chickpeas, drained
1/2 pound frozen spinach
14-ounce can coconut milk
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon ground ginger

Instructions:

Complete with a view of the
utter mess that is my kitchen.

Heat the oil or ghee in a large, deep Dutch oven or heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and potatoes and cook for about 5 minutes, or until the onion is beginning to brown. Add the garlic, fresh ginger, sun-dried tomatoes, lemon zest and red pepper, if using. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the chickpeas and cook over high heat for a few minutes or until the chickpeas are beginning to turn golden and they are coated with the onion and garlic mixture.

Reduce heat to medium. Toss in the spinach and stir to blend. It will begin to look and smell seriously tasty. Let cook until all the ice crystals have melted off the spinach. (If using fresh spinach, toss in one handful at a time until the wilting makes room for more.)

When all the spinach has been stirred in, pour in the coconut milk and stir in the salt, ground ginger, and lemon juice. Bring to a simmer then turn down the heat and cook for 10 minutes or until the chickpeas are warm through. Taste and add more salt and lemon juice, if necessary.

Garnish with cilantro. Serve over brown rice with a side of nan or other tasty flat bread.

YUM!

Nums: The "Oh Dear God!" Bacon Apple Pie

I've received a fair number of requests to share the recipe for the bacon apple pie I made for Spectrum's benefit pie auction last month.  So here it is!

The first thing you should know about this pie is that my intention was to just make something ridiculous.  The boring vegan chocolate pie I made last year only brought in about $15 for our collective, so this year I decided to get creative.  I figured that a pie featuring everyone's favorite meat would gain at least a bit more attention (if not donation), especially since I knew that many benefit attendees would be vegan (for those of you not in the know, vegans absolutely love bacon).  But then I tried the "test pie" and decided that this recipe isn't just ridiculous... it's DELICIOUS.

The original recipe came from a cooking blog, but I tweaked the recipe enough that I'm now calling it mine.  Of course those of you who know me know that I like to feed people, so I'm not possessive about recipes.  In other words, take this recipe, tweak it, and feel your arteries harden as you make many, many bacony pies.

The "Oh Dear God!" Bacon Apple Pie

I should note that I make my own pie crust because I'm a friggin food snob.  My favorite recipe comes from Cooks Illustrated, which I of course tweaked a bit as well, mostly because I have problems with authority.  To make the crust, you will need the following:

• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp table salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 6 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/4 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into pieces
• 1/8 cup cold vodka
• 1/8 cup cold water

To make the crust:

• Process 3/4 cups flour, salt, and sugar in food processor until combined, about two 1-second pulses.  Add butter and shortening and process into homogenous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds; dough will resemble cottage cheese curds.
• Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade.  Add remaining cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl, about 4-6 quick pulses.  Empty mixture into medium bowl.
• Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture.  With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together.  Ball up and wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.
• After cooled, roll out on generously floured work surface to 12” circle, about 1/8” thick.  Roll dough loosely around rolling pin and unroll into pie plate, leaving at least 1” overhang on each side.

And now for the filling.  You'll need pretty much the "normal stuff" you'd buy to make a non-baconated apple pie:

•  5-6 medium tart apples, peeled, cored, sliced, then halved (Ida Reds worked beautifully)
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1/3 cup real maple syrup 

...and then the fun stuff:

• 4 strips bacon, fried to almost-crispy and torn into small pieces
• 6-7 strips raw bacon, halved lengthwise 
• 1 tbsp scotch (something smokey... I used Johnnie Walker Black Label)

Now for the preparation!

 

Preheat your oven to 350*F.  Sprinkle the cooked bacon pieces over the bottom of the crust.  These pieces will continue to cook up into the rest of the filling so that the whole pie has that delicious bacon flavor. 

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the apple slices, brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, cornstarch, and scotch.  I found that it didn't matter what order this was in, but you want to make sure the apples are coated in all the above goodness by this point, then toss the entire mixture with the maple syrup.  If you really want to get crazy, add up to 1 tbsp of bacon grease from the frying pan.

Empty the filling into the pie crust on top of the bacon pieces.

Now for the real fun... those of you who make pies fairly regularly may have noticed there is no butter in this filling.  That's because you don't need it... you will be building a bacon lattice on top of your pie!  This is where the halved strips of raw bacon come in.  As they cook in the oven, the grease will drip down into the filling, giving your pie even more of a gooey bacony flavor.  (Sidebar: if you need help making a lattice, YouTube has many how-to videos.)


 This is where the recipe may still need more tweaking.  On the test pie, I did not crimp the dough over the bacon pieces as pictured; I simply let the bacon pieces hang over the edge so that when they cooked they would simply shrink.  When I crimped the dough over, the bacon slices shrunk inward and came out a bit small.  You'll have to decide what you like better... the crimped dough looks prettier, but simply letting the long pieces of bacon hang over may be better once cooked.

Bake the pie about 1 hour, until the bacon pieces appear cooked and the apple slices are tender. 

Enjoy!

Last Night's Nums: Stir-Fried Curry Rice Noodles w/ Shrimp

As if I had any doubts about a recipe that involved the words "stir-fry," "curry," and "shrimp!"  And it did not disappoint.  Of course, in true form, I altered the recipe ever so slightly... only slightly, as recipes from America's Test Kitchen are usually perfect just the way they're published.

This dish is pretty easy and not very expensive, especially considering it's a whole meal on its own! I think I already had everything I needed except for the red bell pepper, the rice noodles, and the shrimp.  The shrimp were by far the most expensive ingredient, but I figure this recipe could easily be duplicated with another shellfish, tofu, or even just thinly-sliced potato chunks.  I wouldn't try it with chicken, as it's a pretty delicate curry and works really well with the shrimpy flavor.  Definitely worth the cost, and hey, you only need 12 ounces.

Additionally, this recipe is quick.  I usually shy away from curry recipes when I don't have a sous-chef, but I didn't want to wait until my husband's semester is over to make something like this!  The 20 minutes hot water soak is definitely the most time-consuming part, and the prep work took me less than 10 minutes... plenty of time to pour myself a glass of wine and check my email.  After that it's 2 minutes here, 2 minutes there, a few minutes to finish, and BAM!  Dinner's ready.


Stir-Fried Curry Rice Noodles with Shrimp

8 oz rice stick noodles (about 1/4-inch thick)
1/4 cup water
3 tbsp vegetable oil (You might need more if you're like me and don't use a non-stick skillet.)
3 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon sugar
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
12 ounces extra-large shrimp, peeled and deveined
4-5 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon red curry paste (Note: The original recipe called for 1 tbsp of curry powder, but I'm an idiot and didn't remember that we were out.  I loved the curry paste, however, and can see the powder method getting a bit "grainy" and dry.)
6 scallions, cut into 1-inch lengths, reserving greens for later
1/2 cups basil (This was my other addition.  Can't have curry noodles without basil!)

Directions

1. Cover noodles with boiling water in bowl. Soak until softened but not completely tender, about 15 - 20 minutes. Drain noodles.
2. Whisk water, 2 tbsp oil, fish sauce, lime juice and sugar until sugar dissolves.
3. Heat remaining oil in large nonstick skillet (I used a large saucier, worked much better because of the depth) over medium heat until shimmering. Cook onion and bell pepper until softened, about 3 minutes.
4. Stir in shrimp, garlic and curry paste. Cook until fragrant and shrimp are nearly cooked through, about 2 minutes.
5. Add scallions, softened noodles and fish sauce mixture. Cook, tossing constantly, until noodles are completely tender and shrimp cooked through, about 2 minutes.
6. Remove from heat.  Add basil and reserved greens (chopped), toss to combine.
7. Pour yourself a glass of white wine and ENJOY!

Last Night's Nums: Pesto Alla Trapanese

...or, Pesto with Tomatoes and Almonds.

This is yet another gem from the glorious pages of Cooks Illustrated.  Don't let the marinara-like appearance fool you: this is indeed pesto.  "Pesto alla trapanese" refers the Sicilian village of Trapani, where pesto is made with tomatoes in addition to basil, and with toasted almonds instead of pine nuts.  The result is robust and delicious: both savory and fruity with a little kick.

I'll start by saying that this recipe gets a bit expensive in the winter, as grape tomatoes aren't readily available from anywhere nearby.  This is not a recipe that you localvores could swing this time of year.  Though, I'm planning on having a grape tomato plant this summer, then making huge quantities of this sauce to freeze.  It's that good.

I tend to leave recipes from "the test kitchen" untouched... there's very little room for improvement with the bulk of their recipes!  However, there are some minor adjustments in my version based on personal preference.

You most certainly will need a food processor for this dish.  Which you should have anyway; it's one of the best investments for a cooking enthusiast. 


Pesto Alla Trapanese

¼ cup slivered almonds (I buy them pre-slivered, but if you buy them whole with the skins on, you need to remove the skins by blanching them for 2 minutes)
12 oz grape tomatoes, sliced in half*
½ cup packed fresh basil, coarsely chopped
2 large garlic cloves, pressed
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup Parmesan cheese
1 tsp red wine vinegar
½ tsp red pepper flakes**

1.    Toast almonds in small skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until pale golden and fragrant, 2-4 minutes.  Cool almonds to room temperature.
2.    Process cooled almonds, tomatoes, basil, garlic, red pepper flakes, vinegar, and 1 tsp salt until smooth, about 1 minute.  Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula.  With machine running, slowly drizzle in oil, about 30 seconds. 
3.    Add sauce and ½ cup Parmesan cheese to 1lb cooked pasta.  Serve immediately.

* Cherry tomatoes can be used, but we like the flavor of grape tomatoes better.  Still, this time of year cherry tomatoes seem to be a bit less expensive and are also good.
** I have used up to 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, which was the perfect amount for a spicy (less fruity) sauce.  It's important to remember that a few red pepper flakes go a long way.

Other notes: I like linguine for this dish, as recommended by Cooks Illustrated.  I can imagine one pound of any other pasta would also work well, however, the sauce coats and sticks to the long, flat noodles very well.  Cook's Illustrated also recommends reserving 1/2 cup cooking water from the pasta for adjusting the consistency of the sauce if it doesn't spread easily enough.  I've never had this problem, as it always comes out just right.

Also notice that, like all traditional pesto, the sauce itself is never cooked, though it does heat through with the pasta.  If you're not a fan of the mostly-raw garlic flavor of traditional pesto, simply cut the garlic to one clove.

Enjoy!

Last Night's Nums: Curried fall veggies with quinoa

My grandmother always says that if you had to choose one food to eat forever, you should choose sweet potatoes because of their superior nutritional value.  Personally, if there was one food I had to eat forever, it would be a grain, not because of its nutritional value, but just because I love grains!  Breads, rice, pasta, cous-cous... there's not a lot of grains I won't eat (except for grits... yes, I'm a pathetic southerner).

Last night's meal contained both grains and sweet potatoes.  I'd been wanting to try quinoa, a grain native to South America that's rich in iron and protein, two things my diet could really use more of.  So I did a Google search for good quinoa recipes, and came across a true gem that uses both in-season and frozen veggies: quinoa with curried vegetables.

This recipe is pretty easy and can be prepared over a short period of time.  Plus, depending on your family size, it will provide a slew of leftovers that reheat well.  As an added bonus, the combination of ginger, garlic, and fenugreek can provide a nice supply boost to all you lactating mothers out there!

Those who know my cooking habits know I rarely follow recipes verbatum.  Here's the recipe with my personal touches--

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quinoa, prepared according to package directions
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 tbsp minced or grated ginger
• 1 large yam or sweet potato
• 1 lb kale, washed thoroughly, drained well, stems removed and chopped coarsely
• 1 cup frozen green beans
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp ground fenugreek
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp cayanne pepper
• 1 tsp red curry paste
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 can coconut milk + 1/2 cup water OR 1 can light coconut milk

Directions:

1. Heat the oil on low in the 8 quart pan
2. Prep the veggies
3. Turn the heat up to medium, fry the garlic and ginger in the oil until the garlic starts to brown
4. Turn the heat up to medium-high, add the sweet potato. Sauté 5 minutes until the veggies are heated through. 
5. Add the cumin, coriander, turmeric, and cayenne if using, and stir 2 more minutes, until well mixed with the veggies.  *NOTE: Our cookware is not non-stick, so I added another 1 1/2 tbsp of oil with the spices.
6. Add the chopped kale and stir until the kale is wilted
7. Add the frozen green beans and stir until blended
8. Turn the heat down to medium, cover and cook for 5 minutes, or until the veggies reach the desired doneness. Add a sprinkle of water if the veggies are sticking
9. Add the coconut milk and red curry paste if using. Stir well, and cook another 5 minutes
10. Stir in cooked quinoa, enjoy!

Note that I upped the portion of most spices, except for the fenugreek.  Fenugreek is an extremely potent spice when bought fresh-ground, and if you use too much your entire dish will be overwhelmed by a distinct maple syrup taste.  If you don't have all of the spices listed above and don't want to buy them (let's face it... quality spices can be pricy), you can just purchase a good quality curry powder.  For this recipe, use 2 tbsp of pre-mixed curry powder.  Me, I love mixing my own!

I also used a Stokes Purple sweet potato.  Stokes Purples are native to the northwestern Piedmont area (mostly in Stokes County, hence the name), an area with unique soil components that makes this particular strain grow a lovely purple.  Not only are they local to my area, but they're also higher in anthocyanin (helps promote cardiovascular health) and rich in antioxidants that actually get more potent when cooked.  Plus, they're pretty.  (Exhibit A.) 


I'm sure this recipe would be good with other grains such as white or brown rice, cous-cous, maybe even in noodles, but the quinoa's flavor really seemed to complement the kale.  And the increased amount of cayenne pepper was of course wonderful next to the sweet potatoes and coconut milk.  Add more if you want an even bigger kick.

Enjoy!!