Darkest before the Dawn...

Last night I felt like the world was ending. Life seemed sniffly and miserable and just blah.

Today, the world seemed liveable. Despite not nearly enough sleep, I feel ten times better than I did yesterday. My day at school went pretty well, considering it's September, and I didn't mind pulling out my "stern teacher" mask too much at all! It was actually kind of fun. :) And, I got home early-ish. I had time to make the soup I was supposed to make earlier in the week, and whip through most of the second disk of Grey's Anatomy (Season 1) while chopping and simmering the soup.

All in all, it was a good day.

The notes below are from Eating Well, the source of the recipe. I stuck to the recipe, but I did sub pattypan squash for the zucchini. I could have sworn I purchased zucchini, but it seems to have vanished into a black hole lurking in the back of the fridge. But the pattypan worked delightfully. I garnished the soup with a touch of grated parmesan cheese, and served it with a divine rosemary ciabbatta roll. The rolls come parbaked from an online grocery service here in NYC, and when they come out of the oven after 12 minutes of baking, they are pure crispy but doughy heaven. I always keep a bag in the freezer during soup season.

Tortellini and Zucchini Soup

Yield: 6 servings, about 1 1/2 cups each
Active Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Ease of preparation: Easy

Everyone knows tortellini make a quick weeknight pasta dinner—but they also add substance that turns this quick vegetable soup into a meal. One caveat: Read the label carefully; avoid pasta products made with hydrogenated oils or unnecessary preservatives. Make it a Meal: Enjoy with a slice of multigrain baguette and a spinach salad.

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 large carrots, finely chopped
1 large onion, diced
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
2 14-ounce cans vegetable broth
2 medium zucchini, diced
9 ounces (about 2 cups) fresh or frozen tortellini, preferably spinach-&-cheese
4 plum tomatoes, diced
2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar

1. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add carrots and onion; stir, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft and just beginning to brown, 6 to 7 minutes. Stir in garlic and rosemary and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 1 minute.
2. Stir in broth and zucchini; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the zucchini is beginning to soften, about 3 minutes. Add tortellini and tomatoes and simmer until the tortellini are plump and the tomatoes are beginning to break down, 6 to 10 minutes. Stir vinegar into the hot soup just before serving.
Per serving: 204 calories; 8 g fat (2 g sat, 4 g mono); 10 mg cholesterol; 28 g carbohydrate; 7 g protein; 4 g fiber; 386 mg sodium; 399 mg potassium.
Nutrition bonus: Vitamin A (80% daily value), Vitamin C (35% dv).

Coming clean.

So, I feel I have to come clean. There doesn't seem to be much coming out of my kitchen this week. Except cans of soup - empty! I have a bad cold, I have 11 approximately first grade aged kids with special needs exhausting my not-feeling-well self and I've been getting to work far too early, and staying at work far too late every day. So I'm coming to terms with it. I'm going to give myself a break about not cooking. I'm not going to beat myself up about it, although I do have to do SOMETHING with the barley I cooked a couple nights ago but I don't think it'll be the recipe I originally intended.

So yes. September is a challenge for teachers. Every year you forget, but every September it comes crashing back. Kids don't know routines, they don't know what to do and the energy it takes to sustain them through the day is just amazing. Especially the population I teach - there are times I'm practically singing and dancing just to keep them listening to me. And I'm no singer/dancer - take my word for it! And, I have THAT CLASS - at least right now. The one no one else can do anything with and are thrilled to see leave. It does make me feel better about being so tired though - if the librarian was as exhausted as she was after 30 minutes, then I'm doing okay dealing with them all day.

So - I'm being content with my loserness this week, I'm drinking lots of hot tea and I will be cooking up a storm this weekend so make sure to come back. I've got a fridge full of veggies that aren't getting any younger, so desperation will definitely lead to inspiration, cooking overdrive and use up mode over the weekend.

Here's an old picture of Helios so that this post isn't totally boring. :)

I'm still here... I promise! I had a busy weekend with lots of socializing and really not too much inspired cooking. An old college friend and her fiance were in town, so instead of cooking lots of things for the week on my Sunday afternoon - I spent time with them. Which was decidedly a ton of fun and worth every single moment, but it does mean I haven't been busy in the kitchen. I did modify this recipe to make a eggplant parmigiana on Friday night, however it wasn't documented and really wasn't all THAT inspired. But it was cooking dinner on a Friday night - that part was impressive if I may say so myself!

Tonight I was supposed to make soup but I got home quite late. So no dice again. But, once I have my delicious can of soup for dinner, I am hoping to make a barley edamame salad from this month's Cooking Light for lunches this week. Assuming that all goes well, I'll have an actual cooking post tomorrow!

In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures of my home away from home aka my classroom. :)



The art shelf in the back and the reading/math game shelf on the side.














A global view.











Our writing center. Don't you like the job chart? I made it. :)

And do you see what time is on the clock? This is why I haven't been cooking as much - but it will get better. This I vow.

Stay tuned...

5 Things to Try Before You Die ....

Kickpleat tagged me with a five things that you simply must eat before you die meme, and since I have nothing better to post today I'm going to respond. Except, only five things? So hard...

1. A thick, super creamy, no holds barred, not even remotely light chocolate milkshake. It's the kind of indulgence I so rarely never allow myself (in fact I can't remember when I last had one) but if I knew my time were running short, that would be the first thing I'd grab.

2. A super soft, warm from the oven chocolate chip cookie. Warm, buttery goodness that melts in the mouth as your fingers get greasy with the yummy butteriness ...

3. A warm, gooey slice of New York pizza. I make my own pizza at home and it's wonderful, but having lived in New York for over five years I must say I've gained a healthy respect for the NY slice. Cheap, filling and oh so good!

4. A creamy piece of Cailler milk chocolate. Yes, dark chocolate is better for you. Blah....blah....blah. For me, the ultimate indulgence is this chocolate. We discovered it on our honeymoon in Switzerland, and luckily for me I can't find it here in New York. Or, not luckily for me, but luckily for my waistline. Because when its around, I just can't stop eating it. When we toured the factory, they said the secret was the fact they use real milk. I don't know what it is, but I'm hooked!

5. An old, but perfectly aged Burgundy wine. In college, I (and many of my peers) took a wine course in which we got to learn about and taste wine. On Burgundy day they opened a 197_ (I don't remember the exact year) red Burgundy wine from an excellent vineyard (which I also don't remember). I think it was a Grand Cru (but I could be making that up as well), and the experience of tasting it literally changed my life. I've never had anything like it since. Dark, almost rusty in color the taste was so perfectly mellow and smooth - I still remember the experience like it was yesterday. On that day, the quest for really excellent wines suddenly made sense.


Gosh, you can tell I have a sweet tooth, no?

I don't even know who to tag for this meme. So I won't. But the more the merrier so play along! :)

Sunshine on a plate...

... if not in the environment.

When I was a child, I never understood grown-ups' fascination with the weather. My parents would discuss it seemingly endlessly with their friends. Hasn't it been hot? There's a cold snap coming tomorrow - to my young ears this seemed no more interesting then watching paint dry.
Well, as an adult I'm learning to recognize how interesting it can be when Mother Nature bestows a stretch of gorgeous weather on a region. Or, how interesting it is when the weather is NOT gorgeous for days on end. And in New York's case, it is decidedly NOT gorgeous right now. Barring the past two days (which were lovely), it has been cloudy and rainy for almost ten days.

Trudging home took forever today. The subway I usually take wasn't running because of flooding on the tracks - a nice little perk of suddenly torrential downpours. Especially excellent after ten hours of work. Taking alternate routes home took upward of an hour which is almost double the time it usually takes me. I went to yet another store hoping to find snack bowls for my class, found something okay but not great but bought it anyways because A. it was raining and I wasn't going anywhere else and B. school starts Thursday. I'm still looking for a plastic pitcher though - did they go the way of the dinosaurs or something? Who knew a basic plastic pitcher would be such a trial to find. The CSA vegetables were super heavy, the people weighing their fruits and veggies in front of me were super annoying and it was just that kind of evening.

So, after putting away the fruits and veggies (which will remain incognito this week because I ran out of energy for photographing them all), I picked out a darling little summer squash. I pan-seared it with some light butter, garlic, salt and pepper until the squash slices were a delightfully golden brown. Then I tossed the slices with some basil that was so fresh and pungent that it almost tasted licorice-y, and I threw it on top of a salad dressed with yellow grape tomatoes, yellow bell peppers, organic carrots and cucumbers. This, served with Amy's Organic Cream of Tomato Soup was a warming and soul-satisfying dinner that made the trials of the day disappear.


And the most satisfying part of the meal was the fact that my salad resembled sunshine on a plate. And that, for the first time since leaving school, made me happy.

Frijoles Negros

One of the biggest perks to a childhood spent travelling the globe has been the introduction of varied types of food into the family repetoire. An invitation to dinner at my house might mean tandoori chicken , risotto or Chinese stir-fried noodles. A sleepover might mean waking up to pancakes, arepas or chocolate chip waffles. My parents, globe-trotters themselves from the point at which they met in West Africa during the 70s, have absorbed bits of culture from each country we've lived in. Our family culture is a patchwork of all these bits and bobs which have assembled into what our family experience has been, none the least of which has been the food. The black beans and rice I made tonight is a perfect example of this addition to our family culture that has now adapted to being a "homey" and comforting dish.

Before we moved to Cuba, the complimentary nature of black beans and rice was simply not in our family's vocabulary. But once you spend time in Cuba, it quickly becomes so as it is an economic staple, and often all there is. In fact, my parents once walked out of the Moosewood restaurant in Ithaca, NY simply because one of the four choices that evening was black beans and rice! And they just couldn't have any more black beans and rice, being fresh off the plane from Cuba. I personally have yet to reach that point, as black beans and rice is one of my absolutely favorite combinations. I can eat it day and day out with little complaint. But, as a vegetarian I do prefer to make it at home (or eat it at a very trustworthy restaurant). One of my least favorite parts about eating beans and rice in Cuba was finding little ham or pork bits swimming in the creamy black legumey goodness.

This recipe is from a book I bought at some point during college when I was no longer spending much time in Cuba, but missing the food. Called Memories of a Cuban Kitchen (by Mary Urrutia Randelman and Joan Schwartz), I think I've made a grand total of three of the more than 200 classic recipes the book contains. This particular recipe takes some time to prepare, however the recipe yields a tremendous amount from such few ingredients. This batch will be our brown-bag lunches for the week!

I made a couple changes. The recipe calls for 2/3 of a cup of olive oil, I used 1/3 and actually subbed some canola oil as I didn't even have enough olive oil left to make 1/3 of a cup. I roasted and chopped some poblano peppers, and threw them into the sofrito since they needed using up. And, I quick-soaked my beans. I brought them to a boil for 2-3 minutes, and let them sit for an hour. I then continued with the recipe, although I found my beans didn't require the 2 hour softening time the recipe called for (which was a good thing as we would have been eating at 10 o'clock if they had). And, as much as I'd like to have my act together enough to soak the beans the night before, its just not happening.

I served the meal with my version of light tostones. Tostones are twice-fried green plantains. They're absolutely delicious, but not something I like to cook too often. So, I've found that by browning the sliced green plantains in some cooking spray once, adding water to ensure they actually cook, removing to paper towel and salting before re-browning in cooking spray, I can create a passable "light" tostone. I keep tinkering with the concept, however this batch was the best yet. Along with the "light" tostones, we had roasted golden beets, and the chopped garlicky beet greens . Imagine the empty space to contain a bowl of beans and rice, and you've got the idea. I also like a little 2% cheddar cheese sprinkled on my black beans and rice, however that is entirely personal preference and up to the chef (and the consumer).


Frijoles Negros
Mom's Black Beans
Memories of a Cuban Kitchen by Mary Urrutia Randelman and Joan Schwartz

Author's notes- My mother's black beans are rich and thick with a smooth opaque broth. My family judges Cuban restaurants by their beans - in other words, are the frijoles negros as good as Mom's? Very few have even come close.

1 pound dried black beans, rinsed in cold water, picked over and soaked overnight in cold water to cover by 1 1/2 inches (remove any beans that float to the top)
1 bay leaf
1 medium green bell pepper, seeded and cut into quarters

For the Sofrito
2/3 cup pure Spanish olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
2-3 teaspoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons cider vinegar, optional
1 teaspoon finely chpopped seeded aji cachucha or green chile
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1. The next day, check that the water is still covering the beans by 1 1/2 to 2 inches, and add more water if needed. Pour into a large saucepan, add the bay leaf and the pepper and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, and cook uncovered until the beans are tender and they have almost cracked open (about 2 hours). Check the beans while they are cooking, and if they need more water add some hot water.

2. To prepare the sofrito, in a skillet heat the oil over low heat until it is fragrant. Add the garlic, onion and bell pepper, and cook stirring until onion is transparent (8-10 minutes). Add cumin, vinegar and chile pepper, and mix well.

3. Add the sofrito to the beans, mix well and cook over low heat covered utnil beans crack open (30-40 minutes). Season to taste and serve

Serves 8-10

Being a little crafty

There isn't much happening in this Veggie Kitchen today. The weather is beyond gross. It could be a baking kind of day, but I'm feeling too lazy. And, I've been obsessed with a new hobby.

I've decided to learn how to knit. I briefly went through a knitting phase last October, but dropped it pretty quickly because working full-time and attending graduate school full-time really didn't leave much time over. But now that's done, and I think knitting is something I would enjoy. And I admire the crafty people like Crystal and so want to be like that in my own little amateur way. So, I am knitting M. a scarf. Presenting Helios, my favorite feline model and M.'s scarf-to-be.



I started it last night, and got a good 3 + hours in today. And, its almost finished. Of course, its a basic knit stitch, and a chunky enough yarn that there are only 10 stitches per row but hey! It's a start. I'm knitting. I did figure out how to change different colored yarns - that seemed very tricky, although I'm sure its not to the more experienced knitters in the world. So, from time to time knitting projects may pop in among the veggie recipes and baking successes and catastrophes.

I leave you with wishes for better weather then we're having, and another view of Helios and the scarf. He is very impressed by the loose threads. But then, he's a cat. :)

Chipotle Macaroni and Cheese

Last night we had a casual dinner party. And I mean casual! We had two good friends to dinner, and we all enjoyed each other's company while keeping things simple. We dined on a delicious eggplant salsa and hummus appetizer my friend brought from a store near where she works. I made Cooking Light's Chipotle Macaroni and Cheese and a huge salad, and I bought chocolate angel food cake from Whole Foods for dessert. I topped the cake with fresh peaches and nectarines and a dash of whipped cream from a can and it was easy and delicious!

We all really enjoyed the macaroni and cheese. With the cool and cloudy weather we've been having lately, I've found myself craving comfort foods like macaroni and cheese. And this was a recipe I've wanted to try. I did subsitute Muir Glen's Fire Roasted Tomatoes for the type of diced tomato called for in the recipe, which I would do again. The smoky taste of the fire-roasted tomatoes compliments the smoky taste in the chipotles well. M. thought the taste of chipotle was a bit overwhelming, and recommended cutting back a bit. So next time I make the dish, I'll only use one chili and see how that goes. But it is safe to say that this will be a dish repeated in this house as we both really enjoyed it. And so did our dinner guests.

Chipotle Macaroni and Cheese

Cooking Light's Notes - This macaroni and cheese is a favorite of ours because it is incredibly tasty and easy to prepare. You don't even have to make a white sauce for this creamy dish. The acidic tomatoes counter the richness of the cheeses.

1 (7-ounce) can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained
4 cups hot cooked elbow macaroni (about 2 cups uncooked)
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup 1% low-fat cottage cheese
1 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Cooking spray
3 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 350°.

Remove 1 teaspoon adobo sauce from can; set aside. Remove 2 chipotle chiles from can; finely chop to measure 1 tablespoon. Reserve remaining chiles and adobo sauce for another use.

Melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add chopped chiles, onion, bell pepper, and garlic; cook 4 minutes or until onion is tender, stirring frequently. Sprinkle with flour; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium; add tomatoes. Cook 3 minutes or until thickened. Add reserved 1 teaspoon adobo sauce, pasta, cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, milk, Parmesan, and egg; stir to combine. Spoon pasta mixture into a 2-quart baking dish coated with cooking spray; top with breadcrumbs. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until bubbly

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: about 1 cup)
CALORIES 324(24% from fat); FAT 8.5g (sat 4.6g,mono 2.4g,poly 0.6g); PROTEIN 34.2g; CHOLESTEROL 56mg; CALCIUM 307mg; SODIUM 756mg; FIBER 2g; IRON 2.4mg; CARBOHYDRATE 39.6g
Cooking Light, JULY 2004

CSA bounty week of 8/29

I was supposed to post this on Tuesday but with the flurry of back-to-school, I didn't. :) I crashed on the couch instead.

So here is what we got from our CSA this week (albeit three days ago).


We've got some lovely carrots, a nice big bunch of beets, the ubiquitous head of lettuce, some very dirty tomatoes and a bunch of purple radishes peeking in from the side.



A bowl full of plums

















Peaches and nectarines.










And apples and pears.


I just LOVE these little baby apples - they're tangy but not too tangy. I hope they keep coming!

Back to work ...

... the fun's over folks!

Well, not entirely. But my mind is definitely aflutter with "must do's" of a school based nature. So there will not be as many recipes posted this week, but perhaps more random musings. Or maybe I'll get myself together and cook by the end of the week. We'll have to see.

But, I can tell you about the fantastic dinner party M. and I threw on Saturday night. It was fun, fun, and more fun. And a ton of work - we were both exhausted yesterday. Behold, my beautiful table setting. Doesn't it look pretty?

And yes, the flowers look like a brain. You can click on the pictures if you don't believe me. We had purple brain flowers courtesy of our CSA flower share - who knew such a thing even existed?

So, M. planned the menu. He worked very hard. He cooked DUCK (for the non-vegetarians obviously - I had portabello mushrooms), he made pasta by hand, he baked a tart and I did dessert. Which I usually do quite well. But not this time. No, this time I had to go and totally mess it up. I didn't pay enough attention and put too much chocolate into the cake. It was like fudge, people, fudge. Not cake, not even a morsel of cakey goodness to be had. Just dense fudge.


People were very polite and ate it anyways. But I knew better. So disappointing. So here is the recipe I wish I could rave and glow about. I will try it again, it does sound delicious and came together quite quickly. But, what I created was definitely not a flourless chocolate cake. If you'd like to see what it should look like, you can find the cake on the cover of the September issue of Bon Appetit.

Such a waste. And totally my fault, not the recipes. 18 ounces of chocolate and 28 ounces of chocolate are so not the same thing. One cannot put 28 ounces of chocolate into a recipe that calls for 18 and expect it to work. Apparently.

La Bete Noire

Bon Appetit's notes - This phenomenal take on a classic flourless chocolate cake lives up to its translation, "The Black Beast".

16 servings (supposedly)

Cake

1 cup water
3/4 cup sugar

9 tablespoons (1 stick plus one tablespoon) diced
18 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
6 large eggs

Ganache
1 cup heavy whipping cream
8 oz bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped

Lightly sweetened whipped cream

For cake-
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 10 inch diameter springform pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment round, butter parchment. Wrap three layers of heavy duty foil around the outside of the pan, bringing the foil to top of rim. Combine 1 cup water and sugar in small saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Simmer five minutes. Remove from heat.

Melt chocolate in large saucepan over low heat. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Whisk sugar syrup into chocolate, cool slightly. Add eggs to chocolate mixturem and whisk until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan, and place cake in large roasting pan. Add enough hot water to roasting pan to come halfway up sides of cake in pan.

Bake cake until center no longer moves when pan is gently shaken, about 50 minutes. Remove from water bath, and transfer to rack. Cool completely n pan.

For Ganache -
Bring whipping cream to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat. Add chocolate, and whisk until smooth. POur over top of cake still in pan. Gently shake pan to distribute ganache evenly over top of cake. Refrigerate cake in pan until ganache is set, about two hours.

DO AHEAD - can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and keep refrigerated.

Run knife around pan to loosen cake. Release sides, cut into wedges and serve with whipped cream.