Baked Polenta

Polenta can be a time-consuming dish. Like risotto, it requires a lot of stirring. Or does it? No, it does not! You can bake it in the oven and it comes out perfect every time. It's so super-easy, I don't think I'll ever make it on the stove top again.

You can use all water or use ½ water and ½ milk. The polenta will be richer and creamier if you use whole milk.

Baked Polenta
(serves 4-5 as a side dish)

2 cups cold milk or water
1 cup yellow corn grits or dry polenta (I like Bob's Red Mill)
½ to 1 teaspoon salt (use the lesser amount if you are going to mix in cheese)
2 cups boiling water

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 10" x 8" baking dish with butter or non-stick cooking spray. For ease of entry/exit from the oven, place on a cookie sheet.

When oven reaches temperature, combine cold milk or water with corn grits in a large bowl. Combine salt with boiling water and whisk to dissolve salt. Add salted water to grits and stir. Gently pour into the greased baking dish. Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Stir before serving.

You can also embellish your polenta with cheese. Stir in ½ cup (or more if you like cheesy) at 45 minutes, then bake for another 5 minutes to melt the cheese. Stir again before serving.

Note: The original recipe said use a 9"x5" pan, which may work but I have never tried it that way!

Food Photos: The Bane of My Existence

Why do I use photos that clearly aren't a photo of the dish I'm writing about? Because I hate having to take photos of my food! Sometimes, it's my dinner. If I need to style the dish, I'm eating a cold dinner. No thank you! Sometimes, my dinner isn't particularly photogenic. As a blog reader, I'm annoyed by articles that have endless photos of the food from every angle along with many photos of the production. Overkill, I say. I also have no patience for scrolling over a bunch of photos to get to the recipe I am looking for.

But, a photo is important for catching a reader's eye in the overwhelming noise that is the internet. That's why I include interesting photos of food that I have found in Wikipedia Commons in my posts, when I don't like/can't be bothered to snap a gauzy, perfectly lit photo of my dinner (oh, wait, I never do that). Live with it. I cook and I write about food which is my passion. Photography definitely isn't my passion. I leave that to people who are way better at it than I am!

Now, I discover that the photos blow up my list of most popular posts. Ugh! As I said, photos make me crazy. [It's a bug in the widget from Blogger so I hope the thumbnails will reappear at some point.]

The photo above is mine. It's not all that pretty but that cauliflower sure tastes good! It's seasoned with tahini, lemon juice, and Aleppo pepper. Aleppo red pepper is slightly spicy - not nearly as hot as crushed Italian red pepper - and has a lovely fruity flavor. I think it's far more useful in the kitchen than crushed red pepper because it's more subtle. Find some. You won't be sorry. It's great on eggs, hummus, chicken, and right here in this cauliflower recipe.

Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini and Lemon
(serves 4-6)

non-stick cooking spray
1 large head of cauliflower
salt
¼ cup tahini
juice of 1 lemon
¼ to 1 teaspoon Aleppo red pepper

Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a large rimmed cookie sheet generously with non-stick cooking spray.

Trim off leaves and cut off the tough bottom of the stem on the head of cauliflower. Most of the stalk is edible so don't try to cut out all of it. It will cook up tender. Slice the cauliflower about ½" thick. The slices won't hold together; doesn't matter. Put the cauliflower, in a single layer, on the greased cookie sheet. Spray with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt. Roast the cauliflower in the hot oven for 30 minutes or until tender.

While the cauliflower is roasting, combine the tahini, lemon juice, and Aleppo pepper in a small bowl. Set aside.

When the cauliflower is done, remove from the oven and increase the heat to broil. Spread the tahini sauce evenly over the cauliflower. Return the cauliflower to the oven and broil until the sauce browns up. Serve hot.

Eggplant with Mushroom-Yogurt Stuffing

This is a delicious meatless entreé for 4 or a side dish for 8. The mushrooms give it a meaty texture and flavor. It's very hearty for a vegetarian dish, especially one that doesn't include any cheese.

I like to spray the bread crumb topping with non-stick cooking spray. It helps the crumbs brown up nicely while adding very little fat. If you want a richer, crispier topping, you can combine the crumbs with 2 Tablespoons melted butter before spreading them onto the eggplant.

You can stuff the eggplants ahead of time and bake them later. You'll need to bake them a bit longer to make sure the center is piping hot, however.

Eggplant with Mushroom-Yogurt Stuffing

(serves 4 as an entreé or 8 as a side dish)

2 large eggplants, 1 to 1¼ pound each, cut in half lengthwise

4 scallions, white and green tops, chopped

½ pound coarsely chopped mushrooms

1 medium carrot, grated
½ teaspoon dried thyme

4 Tablespoons butter

3 Tablespoons flour

¾ to 1 cup Greek low-fat or full-fat unflavored yogurt

1½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

½ cup panko bread crumbs

non-stick cooking spray

Spray a 9"x5" baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

Bring a couple of inches of water to a boil in a large pot with a steamer basket. Place the eggplant halves in the steamer and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from the steamer and allow to cool until you can handle them. Remove the pulp, being careful not to tear the skin. Chop the pulp coarsely, season with ¼ teaspoon salt and set aside. Place the eggplant shells in the baking dish and season them with ¼ teaspoon salt.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the scallions, mushrooms, and carrots. Sauté for 5 minutes until carrots are limp and the mushrooms have started to lose their liquid. Lower heat to low. Sprinkle with the flour and cook for another minute. Stir in the yogurt and chopped eggplant. Season with the rest of the salt and pepper. Taste for seasonings and add more salt if needed.

Fill each eggplant half with ¼ of the filling. Sprinkle 2 Tablespoons panko crumbs on each eggplant half. Moisten with a generous dose of non-stick cooking spray. Bake for 25-30 minutes until crumbs are browned and filling is very hot.

Adapted from The Good Cook: Vegetables, Time-Life Books, 1979.

Stir-fried Mustard Cabbage

Cabbage is going to be very cheap soon. Every year for St. Patrick's Day, cabbage drops in price. Cabbage isn't exactly expensive to begin with, but around March 17, you can often find it for 19 cents a pound! Who says you need to use it for corned beef?

Here's an Indian take. It can be served hot or warm.

Stir-fried Mustard Cabbage
(serves 8)

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
1 clove garlic, minced
a pinch to ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
¾ teaspoon salt
1 ½ pounds green cabbage (about ½ a medium head), thinly sliced
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
⅓ cup minced fresh or frozen cilantro
⅓ cup shredded unsweetened coconut

Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add the mustard seeds and immediately cover the plan. When they get hot enough, the seeds will start to pop and they will go shooting all over your kitchen. The cover keeps them contained.

As soon as they start to pop, add the turmeric, garlic, crushed red pepper, and salt. Stir for 10 seconds. Add the cabbage and toss with spices and oil to coat. Reduce heat to medium and cover. Cook cabbage until it starts to wilt, about 5 minutes. Add lemon juice, cilantro, and coconut. Toss to combine and serve.

Adapted from Moghul Microwave: Cooking Indian Food the Modern Way by Julie Sahni, William Morrow and Company, 1990.

Curtido Rojo: Guatemalan Fermented Cabbage and Beets

My friends Deb & John (you can visit their vineyard's website) really got into fermentation when they a) became farmers - grape farmers - and b) when they found themselves with a bumper crop of garden produce. Because of their success, I decided to try my hand at veggie fermentation too.

I found I too had a bumper crop of veggies when my friends Jenny (you can read her poetry blog) and Stephen left their dog and their CSA box with me when they went on vacation. What to do with all that produce??!!

Fermentation is an ancient form of preservation. You salt things and let them sit. Bacteria that like the salty environment start to multiply, producing lactic acid along with quite a number of other "stinky" compounds. Not only does all this bacterial action preserve the food, it makes it tastier too!

Wait, that's supposed to be edible? Yes, it looks (and smells) funky but it's definitely edible.

I won't tell you it looks pretty while it's happening - it definitely doesn't! But, the end result is seriously delicious.

I used a big crock (as you can see in the photo). You need something non-reactive. Acid is produced and crockery, along with glass, stainless steel, and some plastics, won't react under the acidic conditions. A crock is big, which means that when things get bubbling, your fermentation will be less likely to escape.

I selected this recipe rather than standard sauerkraut because I had cabbage and some HUGE beets. Come March, I'm going to give classic sauerkraut a try (as John will tell you, cabbage is super-cheap at St. Patrick's Day making that a great time to make your own sauerkraut).

This is where a food processor, for the shredding of the cabbage and beets, is a huge time saver. You can do it by hand, but it will take you a while. Beets are also pretty messy if you have to shred them by hand.

Fried eggs on toast with curtido rojo. That's a yummy breakfast.

This fermented cabbage is delicious with grilled or roasted meats and eggs. The funkiness does not carry over into the flavor. Mostly, it's pleasantly tart and spicy.

Curtido Rojo (Guatemalan Fermented Vegetables)
(makes enough to fill about 4 pint jars)

1 head cabbage, red or green (it will all turn red anyway)
2 large beets, peeled and shredded
1 large red onion, thinly sliced
½ pound green beans, cut into ½" pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 jalapenos, seeded and minced
½ Tablespoon whole cumin seeds
1 Tablespoon grated orange zest
1 Tablespoon dried oregano, crushed fine in your hand
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1-2 Tablespoons pickling salt
2 bay leaves

Remove any blemished leaves from the cabbage and discard. Reserve a couple of the next layer of leaves for covering the cabbage while it ferments.

To shred the cabbage, quarter, cut out the tough core, and shred, like for cole slaw.

Combine all the veggies, garlic, jalapenos, cumin seeds, orange zest, oregano, and red pepper in a large bowl. Sprinkle with 1 Tablespoon of salt to start. Massage so that vegetables start to release their moisture. Taste that cabbage. You should be able to taste the salt but it shouldn't be overpowering. If it doesn't taste salty to you, sprinkle on a bit more salt and repeat the massage and taste until you get to a spot that tastes pleasantly salty to you. Can't take the salt away once it's in there, so go slow.

Let veggies sit until you have a pool of brine in the bowl, up to 45 minutes.

Place the bay leaves in a large crock. Cover with the contents of the bowl. Pack down well to get rid of air pockets. When you press them down, they should be covered with the brine. Cover with the reserved cabbage leaves, place a small plate in the crock and weight it down to keep veggies under brine. Place on a baking sheet to catch any overflow while it ferments. For the fermentation stage, place in a cool place out of direct sunlight. Check daily to make sure the veggies are submerged. Press them down again if they aren't covered in brine. After a few days, it will start to foam and look pretty ugly (see photo above). That's normal. If any mold forms, spoon it off. It's also normal for yeast to start growing on top. Yeast is white and breaks into little bits when you disturb it. No need to remove it.

Taste the cabbage after about 4 days. It will just be starting to get a tang. I fermented mine for 2 weeks and it had the perfect amount of sour for me. Experiment and ferment it to the acidity that you like.

To store, pack veggies into pint jars. Cover top of jar with a small square of parchment or waxed paper, then cover with jar lids and screw down but not too tight. If you store it in the fridge, fermentation should stop, but it's best to give any gas a way out - so don't screw the lids down too tight. I found that after the jars went in the fridge, the cabbage absorbed all the brine. At this point you shouldn't have any trouble with mold so that's OK.

Adapted from Fermented Vegetables by Kirsten K. Shockey & Christopher Shockey, Storey Publishing, 2014.

Broccoli Crumble

I love broccoli, so I am always hunting for another interesting way to prepare it. Broccoli in cheese sauce is a classic. I wanted to lighten it up a bit but not in those kludgey 1980's ways, by using things like evaporated skim milk and low-fat cheese (really, low fat cheese?). I removed nearly all of the fat in the topping. Usually, there's a lot of butter, which coats the crumbs so they crisp as this bakes. You can crisp up the crumbs by spraying them with non-stick cooking spray. It's made of oil but the spray allows for even distribution and you end up using much less.

Here's a baked dish for your broccoli. Or your cauliflower. It would be wonderful with cauliflower.

Broccoli Crumble
(serves 6)

non-stick cooking spray

2 Tablespoons butter or vegetable oil
2 medium shallots, minced
2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
⅔ cup 2% or whole milk
½ cup water
1 pound broccoli florets
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ cup grated cheddar cheese

Topping:
½ teaspoon dried basil
2 slices fresh white or whole wheat bread, torn into pieces
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a medium baking dish (such as 8" x 8" x 3") with non-stick cooking spray.

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots and sauté for 3 minutes. Add flour and stir to coat shallots. Whisk in the milk and water. Bring to a boil, then add broccoli, salt, and pepper. Stir, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 5 minutes. Add cheese and stir. Pour into the prepared baking dish.

To prepare the topping, add the basil, bread pieces, salt, and pepper to the bowl of a food processor until bread is reduced to crumbs. Spread the topping over the broccoli. Spray the top generously with non-stick cooking spray. Bake for 20 minutes until topping is browned. Serve hot.

Red Cabbage plus more Red Stuff

Red cabbage makes me think of fall, and with falling temperatures here in Colorado, my mind is coming around to approaching nippy weather. Red cabbage has an affinity for apples, one of the best fall crops around. So, why not combine a bunch of red things: red cabbage, red apples, and red onion? This sweet and sour cabbage recipe isn't anything particularly new, but I have toned down both the sweet and the sour. Too many sweet and sour recipes are far too sweet for me. If you take down the sweet, you need to tone down the sour too, or the flavors get out of balance.

The long cooking is necessary for 2 reasons:

1. It takes quite a while for the cabbage to cook to tender. Traditionally, this type of cabbage is cooked under very tender.
2. The allspice is an aggressive spice and the long cooking mellows it. 

Red X 3 - Red Cabbage with Red Apples and Red Onion
(serves 6-8)

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil (I like sunflower oil)
1 medium red onion, peeled and sliced
½ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground mace
½ medium head of red cabbage, cored and thinly shredded
1 red apple such as Fuji or Gala, cored and medium diced
2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons maple syrup or brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Heat the oil in a large covered skillet or sauté pan over medium heat. Add onions until onions are very tender. If you have the time, keep cooking until they start to brown and caramelize because they taste even better with long cooking. Stir them often so they brown evenly. Add the allspice and mace, and stir to combine.

Add the remaining ingredients. Stir to combine. Reduce heat the medium-low, cover, and cook for 30-45 minutes until cabbage is very tender. Check to see that there is still some moisture in the bottom of the pan about ½ through cooking. Add a couple of tablespoons of water if it is dry.

Photo: By Thamizhpparithi Maari (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Finally, the end of Zucchini is in Sight!

Not exactly. I still have a bunch of it in the freezer. But, it does make a good tagline.

Because of that cache of zucchini in the freezer, I'm always looking for good zucchini recipes. Here's one I conjured up on my own. I had orange juice hanging around so I reduced that until it was a syrup. Since zucchini has so much moisture in it, I knew that the syrup would be diluted quite a bit after it was mixed with the shredded zucchini. The result was a little sweet, with a nice hint of orange.

The zucchini doesn't take a good picture, but it's still tasty.

Zucchini Kissed with Orange
(serves 4)

½ cup orange juice
4 small zucchini, shredded
1 ½ Tablespoons butter
1 clove of garlic, minced
salt and black pepper

Bring orange juice to a boil in a small saucepan and reduce to a thick syrup. You should have about 2 Tablespoons of syrup. Place the zucchini in a colander and squeeze out some of the moisture.  Heat butter in a medium skillet until it starts to foam. Add the garlic, and saute for a minute. Add zucchini. Saute for a couple of minutes, stirring to cover the zucchini in the garlic butter. Add orange syrup and stir. Season with salt and pepper.

Broccoli with Tomatoes & Coconut

Here's a quick pseudo-Indian broccoli dish - a dish where I look around the kitchen and see what's there to throw together. I had broccoli and cherry tomatoes that need to get used up before I head to France for 3 weeks. I was inspired by similar dishes made with cauliflower and green beans, but it doesn't replicate either one exactly. That's how cooking is supposed to work - get comfortable with the flavors of a cuisine, have a quiver full of basic techniques, and you can create something really tasty without a recipe.

Broccoli with Tomatoes and Coconut
(serves 4)

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil (coconut oil is delicious here)
1 medium onion, sliced
1 handful shredded unsweetened coconut
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1 bunch of broccoli, cut into florets and stems peeled and chopped
3 Tablespoons water
1 handful of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
½ teaspoon kosher salt

Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute until the onions start to brown. Add the coconut and cumin seeds. Cook for another couple of minutes. Add cumin seeds and broccoli. Stir, and add water. Cover pan, reduce the heat, and cook for about 5 minutes. The broccoli will be just about done. Remove the cover, turn heat back up to medium-high, and add tomatoes and salt. Cook for 1 more minute. The broccoli should be tender with a slight crunch and the tomatoes should be heated through but not mushy.

Fun with Eggplant

Eggplant was on sale this week. I wanted to make some baba ghanoush but I bought enough to make more than that. So, here are 2 recipes that use eggplant. In fact, they both start with eggplant broiled whole but after that, they go in totally different directions. There are no pictures of the dishes because neither of them looks all that interesting. But, they taste so good, each in their own way.

Baba ghanoush is a Middle Eastern eggplant dip enhanced with tahini and lemon juice. It retains the delicious smokiness that comes from getting the eggplant skin well-charred.

The other recipe is Indian, using a plethora of fragrant spices to transform the eggplant into something special. It's called Creamed Eggplant but the cream isn't that key to the dish. You could leave it out and it would still be awesome. The original recipe called for vegetable oil. I used butter instead and I do think it adds a depth of flavor. Use vegetable oil if you prefer. There is enough flavor here even if you use a neutral oil.

Both recipes came from Madhur Jaffrey's World of the East Vegetarian Cooking. I have added additional instructions on broiling the eggplants. She says to rinse them after peeling but I feel that is not necessary. Just be careful about removing all the skin because it would add a lot of bitterness, seeing as it's burned totally by the time it's done. It does take a while to cook the eggplant but it's worth it. The long broiling develops the smoky flavor that enhances both recipes.

Garlic Creamed Chard

There's a lot of swiss chard in my freezer. Swiss chard is one of those vegetables that I admire in my garden but don't eat very often. It is quite lovely, especially the Bright Lights variety that has red, pink, and yellow stems. But, come the first snows or that forecast of a stretch of temps in the teens, I decide it's time to pick it all. I separate the leaves and stems. I blanch them separately since the stems have to cook a little longer and I like to freeze them separately too. Drained well and into plastic bags for use through the winter. Which isn't such a bad thing, really. I like rich recipes for chard. Chard, like spinach and beet greens - in reality, chard is just a beet that lost its root - has a drying sensation on the tongue. It comes from the oxalates in the leaf. I don't really like that feeling much, but cooking greens with cream seems to mute this sensation. Sounds like a great reason to cook my swiss chard with cream!

This recipe is much simpler than your average creamed spinach recipe. No roux, no bechamel. It's still darn good. I'm sure it would work as well with spinach as chard.

Garlic Creamed Chard
(from Too Many Tomatoes, Squash, Beans, and Other Good Things)
4-6 servings

Really easy basic broccoli

I have been making this very tasty and easy broccoli recipe for years. I made it recently at my brother-in-law's house. My sister-in-law's niece said it was the best broccoli she's ever eaten and insisted on the recipe. I hesitate to call it a recipe because it is so simple. I imagine she isn't the only person who would love an easy week-night vegetable dish. In my house, 2 heads of broccoli feeds 4 people. Your broccoli mileage may vary. We love broccoli.

Simple Garlic Broccoli
(serves 4)

4 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
2 heads of broccoli, broken into florets and stems peeled and cut into slices
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 tsp salt, or more to taste

Heat 1 Tbl olive oil in a large skillet with a cover over medium heat.

Add garlic and saute until fragrant but not browned.

Add broccoli and toss to cover with oil. Add 2 tbl water,  which should immediately create a lot of steam. Cover and steam broccoli for 5 minutes, until crisp-tender. I like my broccoli not too crunchy and not too soft which takes about 6-7 minutes in high altitude Boulder. 5 minutes is about right at sea-level.

Remove the cover, turn up the heat to medium-high and cook another minute to evaporate most of the water.

Sprinkle with remaining 1 Tbl olive oil and salt. Serve immediately.

Oh so rich Potato Gratin

I made this recipe for our Christmas dinner. It was a huge hit. Well, of course, it was! It's so darn rich you'd have to be crazy not to love it. I pulled this recipe from the New York Times Temporary Vegetarian column. My recipe below is adapted from the NY Times recipe since I found the cooking times in the original total fantasy. Sometimes I wonder if the recipes are tested. This recipe came from a restaurant chef, so I have to assume he did make it. But, I'm thinking something got lost in the translation to a recipe for home cooks.

As with my "slim" potato gratin recipe (see here), a mandoline makes the process of slicing the potatoes much easier. You can slice the potatoes by hand. They will probably come out a bit thicker and less even, but it will still work out ok.

Potato and Swiss Chard Gratin
(serves 10 - 12)

Adapted from DBGB Kitchen & Bar, Manhattan, via the New York Times

1 pound Swiss Chard Leaves And Slender Stems, stems cut into 1⁄4-inch cubes
2 ½ cups Heavy Cream
1 Garlic Clove, smashed
1 small Shallot, sliced
2 Thyme Sprigs
1 Bay Leaf
¼ teaspoon Freshly Grated Nutmeg
3 pounds (6 to 8 medium) Yukon Gold Potatoes, peeled
1 Tablespoon Butter, at room temperature
Salt And Black Pepper
6 ounces Grated Gruyère

1. Heat the oven to 350°F, and place rack in the center. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil; set a bowl of ice water on the side. Boil the chard leaves until tender, 3 to 5 minutes, then transfer with a slotted spoon to the ice water. Squeeze them dry and chop roughly. Boil the diced stems until tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain well and add to chopped chard leaves.

2. In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream, garlic, shallot, thyme and bay leaf to a simmer over medium-low. Watch carefully because cream can boil over quickly. Reduce heat to low and simmer to reduce somewhat, about 30 minutes. Strain out the solids and add the nutmeg.

3. Meanwhile, slice the potatoes into ⅛-inch-thick rounds with a mandoline or sharp knife. Butter a 12- to 14-inch gratin dish or dutch oven. Make sure that it is at least 4" high. Start with a layer of one-third of the potatoes, overlapping the slices. Sprinkle potatoes with salt and pepper. Add half the Swiss chard,  and one-third of the Gruyère cheese. Dribble on one-third of the cream mixture. Layer on another third of the potatoes, salt and pepper, the other half of Swiss chard, and another third of the cream and Gruyère. Finish up with the rest of the potatoes, salt and pepper, the remaining cream, and the rest of the cheese.

4. Bake until the top is browned and the potatoes are fork-tender, about 1 hour, 15 minutes.