Sometimes life is so fast paced that you need to just maintain a certain level of nutrition and comfort. So a few ideas to share for quick but still "real" food.
Congee: About 5 cups of stock to 1 cup of rice. Bring to a boil and simmer over low heat until you have a nice porridge consistency. At this point add some finely diced vegetables, a few cubes of tofu, some finely chopped left-over chicken, chili flakes, some sliced green onions, sesame oil, whatever sounds good. Improvise to your own tastes. On a well organized night, I put out bowls of goodies and let everyone add to their own. If time allows a tablespoon each of ginger and garlic to start in a little oil before the stock goes in gives you more flavor.
Oven quesadillas: This may be obvious, but it didn't dawn on me until a few years ago that you can make a half dozen half moon quesadillas on a cookie sheet in the oven all at once. A light brushing of butter or olive oil and few seconds under the broiler gives them a nice crispness once they're good and hot.
What we call snacky dinner: a big bowl of popcorn (after all, it's wholegrain) a bunch of sliced cheese, some sliced fruit and sliced veg. Even five year olds can eat this in the living room and chill without causing too much damage.
Fuller Hash: Get out an onion, dice it up. Get it into a nice sized pan with some oil, over heat, and start chopping up everything else that seems compatible that's lurking unloved in the fridge. Fling it in, stir it round now and again, When that gets to be nice and crispy, but a nice handful of cheese on top. Cover until it melts and serve.
I'd love to hear other people's tired/hurried night dinners in the comments, if you're game!
Friday, November 19, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Savory Squash
I've been following Francis Lam on Salon.com and read this article with interest recently:
http://www.salon.com/food/francis_lam/2010/10/29/sausage_fat_roasted_butternut_squash/index.html
I think he brings up a good point that healthy nutritious food can sometimes taste a little bland and virtuous without a smidgen of something or other to enhance flavor and savoriness. And yep, that smidgen often is fat, in the form of cheese or nuts or even meat.
I liked his approach, frying sliced squash in the sausage drippings left in the pan, and told myself I'd try it soon. Then yesterday, upon opening the fridge, I realized my lunch choices were pretty minimal but we did have a heap of cooked acorn squash and a moderate of sausage gravy. I combined the two, figuring they'd be tolerable together, if not completely my first choice, and headed to work.
The work lunchroom can be a dismal place--wilted sandwiches, frozen dinners unmindfully reheated in little plastic trays, soggy vegetables, cottage cheese, leftovers grabbed out of expediency. We eat out of necessity and not for pleasure. Yesterday was a welcome change. It turns out the combination of sausage gravy and winter squash hits several prime spots on the palate--sweet, salt, savory--the smooth vegetable goodness of the squash interspersed with the crispy meaty savor of sausage crumbles. I had assembled my container thinking I would have two meals out of the concoction and ended up having a second helping instead.
Ain't it lovely when practicality turns out something that would have been good enough to have been created intentionally.
http://www.salon.com/food/francis_lam/2010/10/29/sausage_fat_roasted_butternut_squash/index.html
I think he brings up a good point that healthy nutritious food can sometimes taste a little bland and virtuous without a smidgen of something or other to enhance flavor and savoriness. And yep, that smidgen often is fat, in the form of cheese or nuts or even meat.
I liked his approach, frying sliced squash in the sausage drippings left in the pan, and told myself I'd try it soon. Then yesterday, upon opening the fridge, I realized my lunch choices were pretty minimal but we did have a heap of cooked acorn squash and a moderate of sausage gravy. I combined the two, figuring they'd be tolerable together, if not completely my first choice, and headed to work.
The work lunchroom can be a dismal place--wilted sandwiches, frozen dinners unmindfully reheated in little plastic trays, soggy vegetables, cottage cheese, leftovers grabbed out of expediency. We eat out of necessity and not for pleasure. Yesterday was a welcome change. It turns out the combination of sausage gravy and winter squash hits several prime spots on the palate--sweet, salt, savory--the smooth vegetable goodness of the squash interspersed with the crispy meaty savor of sausage crumbles. I had assembled my container thinking I would have two meals out of the concoction and ended up having a second helping instead.
Ain't it lovely when practicality turns out something that would have been good enough to have been created intentionally.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Dinner with Friends
Often during the work week I daydream all day long about cooking, peruse recipes online at lunch hour and break, fantasize about just calling it a day and going home to my kitchen. Often by the time I do get home, I'm beat and there's homework, yardwork, laundry to all take up my time. It's another round of grilled cheese or quick pasta--the new recipes shelved for another time.
But . . .every once in a while there is a day where I finally had the time and the opportunity to try out some new things. Whenever I have extra adventurous souls round the table it's a wonderful opportunity to finally give those recipes a whirl. Tonight we had lentil salad tossed with a Georgian cilantro sauce, a quinoa salad with balsamic vinagrette, some wonderful roasted squash and apples ala Mario Batali and to finish, an apple frangipane tart. ( I realize re-reading that I should give credit where credit is due to some wonderful braised beef and grilled chicken that John prepared too)
I first heard this tart recipe on NPR, and it sounded amazing. However, when I printed out the full instructions off their website it ran to three full pages and took a little over two days to make. I simplified because dinner was in three hours. This is what my version came down to:
Start with a simple pastry crust, pressed into a 8-9 inch tart pan--I used the basic version from the old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Blind bake this for 8-10 minutes, until it starts to look palely golden, but nowhere near cooked.
Fill that up with this, which has a lot of ingredients but is pretty dang zippy in a food processor:
1 cup (4 ounces) blanched slivered almonds
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup crystallized ginger, minced
1/4 cup dried cranberries, minced
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces and softened to room temp.
I used whole almonds with the skins on, which made a more nubbly sort of texture but all in all did give me an epiphinal "aha" moment. This stuff is darn close to what you might have inside a good quality almond croissant. Start with the almonds and the sugar, reduce those to a nice sandy texture, and then keep adding a couple more ingredients and incorporating them until you have a nice uniform paste. Spread this into your tart shell.
At this point, I topped this all with a pretty layer of sliced apples (about two small apples worth), but I think one could easily use plums or apricots. Bake all this in the oven until it looks pretty and browned up nicely--20-30 minutes. The almond filling will puff around the fruit a little.
Definitely a nice "ta-da" kind of dessert to bring out for a party, and probably one to save for a good sized party at that, because I do suspect there may be a calorie or to lurking there.
But . . .every once in a while there is a day where I finally had the time and the opportunity to try out some new things. Whenever I have extra adventurous souls round the table it's a wonderful opportunity to finally give those recipes a whirl. Tonight we had lentil salad tossed with a Georgian cilantro sauce, a quinoa salad with balsamic vinagrette, some wonderful roasted squash and apples ala Mario Batali and to finish, an apple frangipane tart. ( I realize re-reading that I should give credit where credit is due to some wonderful braised beef and grilled chicken that John prepared too)
I first heard this tart recipe on NPR, and it sounded amazing. However, when I printed out the full instructions off their website it ran to three full pages and took a little over two days to make. I simplified because dinner was in three hours. This is what my version came down to:
Start with a simple pastry crust, pressed into a 8-9 inch tart pan--I used the basic version from the old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Blind bake this for 8-10 minutes, until it starts to look palely golden, but nowhere near cooked.
Fill that up with this, which has a lot of ingredients but is pretty dang zippy in a food processor:
1 cup (4 ounces) blanched slivered almonds
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup crystallized ginger, minced
1/4 cup dried cranberries, minced
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces and softened to room temp.
I used whole almonds with the skins on, which made a more nubbly sort of texture but all in all did give me an epiphinal "aha" moment. This stuff is darn close to what you might have inside a good quality almond croissant. Start with the almonds and the sugar, reduce those to a nice sandy texture, and then keep adding a couple more ingredients and incorporating them until you have a nice uniform paste. Spread this into your tart shell.
At this point, I topped this all with a pretty layer of sliced apples (about two small apples worth), but I think one could easily use plums or apricots. Bake all this in the oven until it looks pretty and browned up nicely--20-30 minutes. The almond filling will puff around the fruit a little.
Definitely a nice "ta-da" kind of dessert to bring out for a party, and probably one to save for a good sized party at that, because I do suspect there may be a calorie or to lurking there.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Dahl and Diwali
I told myself when I started this blog that I would do my best to publish once a week, which I am not quite managing. Last weekend our family celebrated Diwali (the East Indian festival of light--about the equivalent in importance as Christmas might be in the West) and the anniversary of our oldest boy's arrival from India, and this week there was Halloween. We so love holidays but they do put a dent in the schedule.
This week's recipe is a simple one, the East Indian lentil dish called "dahl". For those who are not familiar, I often describe it as quite similar in texture to refried beans and it does fill that purpose, creating a simple filling for chapatis (similar to tortillas) or eaten alongside rice. There are hundreds of variants on dahl--one can use different types of beans, lentils and peas and add in all sorts of variants--spices, vegetables and even meat.
I often make a double recipe and freeze the extra for a tired night when making a pot of rice and a salad sounds about my speed.
This week's recipe is a simple one, the East Indian lentil dish called "dahl". For those who are not familiar, I often describe it as quite similar in texture to refried beans and it does fill that purpose, creating a simple filling for chapatis (similar to tortillas) or eaten alongside rice. There are hundreds of variants on dahl--one can use different types of beans, lentils and peas and add in all sorts of variants--spices, vegetables and even meat.
I often make a double recipe and freeze the extra for a tired night when making a pot of rice and a salad sounds about my speed.
Dahl
1 1/2 cup red or brown lentils, yellow or green split peas, or split, hulled, mung beans (I use red lentils)
4 cups water
2 dried chilies, whole
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons ghee(clarified butter) or vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 cup chopped onions
1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon garam masala or more to taste
salt to taste
4 cups water
2 dried chilies, whole
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons ghee(clarified butter) or vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 cup chopped onions
1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon garam masala or more to taste
salt to taste
Wash the lentils, peas, or beans in several changes of cold water. In a medium pot, cover them with the water and add the whole dried chilies, turmeric, and salt, Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, stirring often, until very tender. This will take about 30 minutes for red lentils, 45 minutes for peas, or an hour or more for mung beans. It may be necessary to add more water to prevent sticking, but only 1/2 cup at a time, because the final consistency should be fairly thick.
When the lentils are almost cooked, heat the ghee or oil in a small pan, add the cumin seeds, and cook for 10 or 12 seconds. Stir in the onions and ginger and cook until the onions begin to brown, about 5 or 10 minutes.
When the lentils are tender, remove and discard the hot peppers. Stir in the onion mixture, lemon juice, garam masala, and salt to taste. Serve, passing additional garam masala to sprinkle on top, if desired.
Variations:
Spinach Dahl: Add 4 cups of chopped, fresh spinach to the onions after they have sauteed for about 5 minutes and then cook for 5 minutes more.
When the lentils are almost cooked, heat the ghee or oil in a small pan, add the cumin seeds, and cook for 10 or 12 seconds. Stir in the onions and ginger and cook until the onions begin to brown, about 5 or 10 minutes.
When the lentils are tender, remove and discard the hot peppers. Stir in the onion mixture, lemon juice, garam masala, and salt to taste. Serve, passing additional garam masala to sprinkle on top, if desired.
Variations:
Spinach Dahl: Add 4 cups of chopped, fresh spinach to the onions after they have sauteed for about 5 minutes and then cook for 5 minutes more.
Potato and Chicken Dahl—a real one pot meal. Add 2 cups diced raw potatoes towards the last 10 minutes of cooking and simmer til tender. Add 1 cup chopped cooked chicken or turkey.
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