Apple-Cider Caramelized Onions

I meant to post this a few months ago, but seeing that just posted a recipe for pork chops, I think including these onions (which would go GREAT with the previous post) is appropriate.

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I asked Jared to pick up a main course for dinner from the grocery. I didn't really care what it was, but when he brought home pork chops, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them: cover them in a sticky, spicy glaze and caramelized onions!

The process is simple, and the ingredients are probably in your pantry or fridge already.

Apple-Cider Quick Caramelized Onions

2 T. unsalted butter

1 Large Yellow or Brown Onion, sliced very thinly but in long pieces

1/4 c. Apple Cider Vinegar

2 T. granulated sugar

• Over low heat in a large saute pan, melt butter.
  
• When butter foam subsides, add onions and saute, stirring frequently. Add a pinch of kosher salt.
• After 8 - 10 minutes, the onions will begin to brown. At this stage, add half the apple cider vinegar. Scrape the bottom of the pan to remove any stuck on brown bits.
  
• Continue to cook until all the liquid is gone and the onions again begin to stick to the bottom, about five minutes. Add the rest of the vinegar.
  
• Continue stirring and cooking the onions for another five minutes or so. The onions should be sticky and sweet. Serve...with almost anything.
  

Pork Chops in the Fall

Living in San Diego means that we don't get many clues for the changing of the seasons. Fall is just like any other month of the year: warm, clear, sunny. So instead of relying on the rain or changing leaves to tell me it's the fall, I change my cooking habits.

So for the first posting in a long time, here's a quick and simple way to enjoy the harvest season.

Marinated Pork Chops with Cranberry Sauce

For the cranberry sauce:
1 c. sugar
1 c. water
1 bag (12 oz) whole, fresh cranberries, rinsed
2 t. apple cider vinegar

2 t. cinnamon or 1 cinnamon stick
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. ginger
2 t. thyme
1/2 c. apple cider vinegar
1/4 c. olive oil
1 T. kosher salt
1 t. black pepper
2 center cut, bone in pork chops, no more than 3/4" thick.

First, for the cranberries:

• The cranberry sauce recipe comes straight off the back of the bag, except I add a little apple cider vinegar at the end. You can omit it if you like or substitute a little orange or apple juice.
• Place all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer for 20-30 minutes until thick and all cranberries have popped.
  
• Cool for 10 minutes but keep warm.

Now the chops:

• Mix all ingredients in a bowl or ziplock bag.
• Add pork chops and toss with the marinade to coat evenly. Let rest for up to 4 hours, but at least 30 minutes. If you're going to marinate for more than an hour, place the chops in the refrigerator. Take them out to marinate on the counter an hour before you plan to cook them.
  
• Heat a small amount of oil in a skillet (cast iron is best) over medium heat. The oil should be very hot and shimmer in the pan. (You can add a small amount of pork fat to the pan and if it immediately begins to fry, you know the pan is ready)
• Add the pork chops to the pan and cook for about 6-8 minutes until the chops are nicely browned on the bottom. Turn over.
• Cook for another 4-6 minutes on the second side or until the chops are cooked through, but slightly pink in the middle.
• Allow the chops to rest for 5 minutes, then serve with cranberry sauce and applesauce.
  

La Frittata

I didn't really have much inspiration for dinner tonight. It needed to be quick (I got home at 8:15 pm), it needed to be delicious (obviously), and it needed to be blog worthy (no quesadilla tonight, kids!).

It hit me: a frittata. Not only are they incredibly easy to make, you can use whatever is in your refrigerator at the time. 

Tonight we ate a broccoli and parmigiano-reggiano frittata with browned sweet onions and garlic. Here's the recipe:

1.5 cups broccoli stems, steamed and chopped into small-ish pieces.

0.5 cup thinly sliced brown or yellow (vidalia work, too) onions

2 cloves garlic, minced

6 eggs

1 dash of water

3 T. milk

Salt and pepper to taste

0.5 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

• Pre-heat your broiler.
  
• Heat a non-stick, oven safe pan over medium heat. 
  
• Add a small amount of olive oil or butter and saute onions until soft, add garlic and continue to cook until soft and aromatic. 
  
• Add salt and pepper and continue to cook for 30 seconds. 
  
• Add cooked broccoli and cook until heated through. Spread mixture around pan to form an even layer on bottom. Turn heat down to medium-low.
  
• In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, water, salt and pepper until well mixed.
  
• Pour prepared eggs over the broccoli, onions, and garlic. Tilt and rotate the pan to ensure the eggs are evenly distributed over the other ingredients.
  
• Don't stir the eggs. Allow them to cook until 2/3 of the way done. Remove from the heat. Add cheese over the mixture evenly.
  
• Place the eggs under the broiler until eggs are fully cooked.
  
• Invert the frittata on a place, and slice into wedges.
  

Enjoy! Great for brunch, too! You can serve frittata hot, cold, reheated, however you please!

Poached Salmon with Fennel

There are dozens of ways to prepare fish, but what of the healthiest ways is poaching. Poaching is simply cooking foods, proteins typically, in simmering water. 

You can do this on the stovetop in a dutch oven or saucepan, but I actually find that using a glass dish and your oven (set to 325°) is more gentle and leads to more tender fish. 

Here's the technique:

• Pre-heat oven to 325°
• In a baking dish place two pinches of kosher salt, a bay leaf, and a teaspoon of dried dill. 
• Pour boiling water 3/4 up the sides of the baking dish. Stir to dissolve salt.
• Place a fillet of salmon, skin side down, into the baking dish. The water should cover the fish, but if it doesn't place some lemon slices on top to help keep the exposed fish moist.
• Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, then check the fish. When it's done, it should be pale in color and firm. 

What about the fennel? I use the same technique here as I do for my Super Onion Mixture, just without the onion. 

1 large bulb of fennel, sliced into very thin, even slices

5 cloves garlic, chopped fine

2 pinches kosher salt

• Pre-heat oven to 350°
• Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a oven-proof skillet (cast iron if you have it)
• When hot, add the fennel and garlic and saute for 10 minutes, or until the fennel starts to appear translucent. 
• Place the skillet in the oven for about 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the fennel is dark brown and caramelized evenly.
  

This photo below shows the fennel with about 10 minutes of cooking time left in the oven.

Steak and Potatoes

There's nothing wrong with the most American of all dishes: steak and potatoes. And for those of us who cook with red meat only as often as a tight budget allows, this next recipe is a winner. Flank steak is a great cut of meat when prepared and sliced correctly. 

Soy and Ginger Marinated Flank Steak

1/2 c. olive oil or peanut oil

1/2 c. soy sauce

1/4 c. orange juice

2 T. sesame oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 T. fresh ginger, minced

1 green onion, chopped

Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together. Place 2 - 4 lbs. flank steak in large zip lock bag and pour marinade over. Refrigerate for up to 2 hours.

Pre-heat broiler for five minutes. Place marinated steak under broiler for 4 - 8 minutes per side, depending on size of steak and your preference. When the steak is cooked to your liking, let it rest on the carving board for 10 minutes before carving so that the juices redistribute.

UPDATE 3-17-08: Just as a quick additional note, I've already been asked how you're supposed to know how long to broil it on each side. The best advise I can give is to broil it until there are char marks beginning to form and the steak begins to resist when you push it with your forefinger, typically about 4-5 minutes per side for medium rare, but again it depends on a few factors. Ask your butcher when you buy the steak what he thinks.

Carve very thin slices of steak against the grain. Serve.

Seth's Super Onion Mixture

I know I've said this before about my cooking style, but I have developed a few habits that I keep returning to in order to enhance the flavor of my cooking.

My super onion mixture is one of them. I know I'm not the first, nor will I be the last, to use onions and garlic in my cooking. Indeed many cultural food traditions use sauteed onions and garlic as the base for many dishes. However, it's worth posting here because this mixture is less about any particular recipe, and more about technique.

Why is it super? Well, garlic should be enough to explain that, but I actually use both onion and fennel to give this mixture a greatly enhanced flavor.

Super Onion Mixture
1 large yellow or brown onion, sliced thinly
1 large fennel bulb (or two smaller ones), sliced thinly
3 garlic cloves, sliced
1 T. kosher salt
2 T. black pepper

Pre-heat oven to 350°.

In a large oven-save saute pan, heat 2 T. olive oil over medium heat. When pan is hot, add sliced onion, fennel, garlic, and salt.

Saute this mixture for about 10 minutes until the onions and fennel just begin to look translucent. You're only trying to sweat the vegetables, not trying to brown them at this point. That's what the oven is for.

Place the saute pan in the oven and cover loosely with a piece of aluminum foil. This will help the onions not brown too quickly. After 20 minutes, remove the foil. Stir every 10 minutes until the onions are a deep, caramelized brown, about 20-30 minutes.

Add your black pepper, and mix these with mashed potatoes or other roasted vegetable (such as sweet potato medallions).

Sorry about the photo quality in these photos. What you see above is sweet potato medallions with onions and fennel, alongside macaroni and cheese and sauteed pork chop.

New Vegetable Discovery: Kohlrabi

I discovered the most amazing new vegetable recently. It's a member of the cabbage family, but looks more like a root vegetable with a bitter leafy green attached, and it's called "kohlrabi." It's fantastic, and so easy to make.

As you can see above, I separated and peeled (two are peeled already, two are not) the root from the greens. With the greens I chopped them up and braised them with some chicken broth and brown onion for about 25 minutes until tender. 

The roots were easy as well. I sliced them very thinly (no more photos) and sauteed them for about 20 minutes with garlic and onion. After the first 10 minutes, I added 1/4 cup of dry white wine for flavor. 

All I can say is you have to give this root a try. It's rich with flavor, incredibly healthy, and a nice alternative to your everyday vegetables. Let me know what you think!

Dinner for Two

Sometimes I am so grateful that I'm only cooking for two.  :)

This meal was a great end to the weekend. Simple, but really, really delicious. 

Bone-in Center Cut Pork Chops

Caramelized Onion Mashed Potatoes

Sautéed Zucchini with Garlic

We'll start with the Bone-in Center Cut Pork Chops. 

• Pre-heat oven to 375°
• Rub both sides with a spice rub of kosher salt, pepper, and dried sage. 
  
• Let rest for 10 minutes at room temperature on a clean surface (or the butcher paper they were wrapped in).
  
• Heat vegetable oil in a cast iron skillet until hot; add chops.
• Sear both sides of the pork chops for 4 minutes per side, until dark brown.
• Place skillet into the pre-heated oven for about 10 minutes, or until the chops are cooked through.

I know you were probably taught that pork has to be cooked until it is completely white (and dry and tough for that matter), but it's really okay if there's a little pink in the center. 

Caramelized Onion Mashed Potatoes

The truth is, these are the same mashed potatoes from the previous meal. But to kick them up a bit and make them less like leftovers and more like incredibly good mashed potatoes, I added some "caramelized" onions. And honestly, they aren't true caramelized onions, which take hours to prepare. Instead these are onions that are first browned in a pan, then baked until dark brown. Not quite as good as the real thing, but certainly delicious enough.

• Slice a medium yellow onion into 1/8" slices.
• Toss into a pan with hot olive oil, and sauté for 10 minutes, or until brown, like this:

• Bake in a 350° - 375° oven for about 20 minutes, or until dark brown and soft. They will be sticky and sweet.
• Mix onions into a batch of mashed potatoes (use your favorite recipe, or this one if you don't have a favorite) and serve.

Sautéed Zucchini

Unlike the par-boil/sauté method described for vegetables like green beans, I like to simply sauté zucchini and other squash in a pan with a little oil and garlic.

• Quarter the zucchini lengthwise into spears
• Heat a small amount of olive oil in a pan
• Add one clove minced garlic, and fry for a minute.
• Toss zucchini spears in the oil and sauté for 3 - 5 minutes.
• Add a splash of white wine (or water, if you must) and cover for a few minutes until the zucchini is tender.

It's that easy.

Enjoy everyone! 

Seth

Dinner for Five

Sometimes Jared thinks it's a good idea to invite people to our tiny little apartment, which is barely large enough to accommodate two of us. Tonight was one of those nights.

Our three guests, Andrew, Jessie, and Becca enjoyed the following menu. Becca, a vegetarian, opted for pan sautéed zucchini instead of the fish.

Arugula Salad with Toasted Walnuts, Red Onion, and Feta

Carrot Ginger Soup

Baked Sole with Edamame, Corn, and Chardonnay Butter Sauce, served over Mashed Potato

Mixed Berries with Grapefruit Mascarpone Cream

Here are the photos, recipe to follow.









Arugula Salad

As with most green salads that I serve with vinaigrette, I dress the greens first, then add the other ingredients. I enjoy this because it evenly distributes the dressing and allows you to use less of dressing, which if I make it, has quite a bit of oil in it.

My lemon vinaigrette is 1/2 cup of olive oil, 1/4 cup of lemon juice, 3 T. of white wine vinegar, a pinch each of salt and pepper, and 1 t. of dijon mustard. Whisk or shake (in a mason jar!) to combine.

The rest of the salad is fairly obvious by the photo above:

Arugula, washed and stems removed
Toasted Walnuts
Red Onion, sliced very thin
Feta Cheese, crumbled finely

Carrot Ginger Soup

There are many ways to make this soup, but I really like the subtle ginger spice in the background in this version. Instead of roasting or pre-cooking the vegetables in any way (which you can do with excellent outcomes), I simply add the vegetables to the chicken stock, and boil until tender. The soup is finished in the blender until smooth and delicious.

2.5 cups chicken broth
1/2 medium sized yellow onion, chopped
Carrots, two pounds peeled and chopped into large pieces
1 large Russet Potato, peeled and quartered
1 medium piece fresh ginger root, peeled and chopped into large chunks
1/8 t. ground ginger
Salt and pepper to taste

• Bring chicken broth to a boil in a large stock pot or dutch oven.
• Add onion, carrots, potato, and fresh ginger pieces to the stock.
• Simmer for 8 - 10 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
• Reserve the fresh ginger, and transfer the rest of the soup to a blender, and blend until completely smooth.
• Return to the stock pot, and return reserved ginger. Add ground ginger, salt, and pepper. Garnish with green onion, and serve.

Baked Sole

We'll start with the basic preparation technique for sole. I use a similar technique for basically any thin fillet of fish, including catfish, tilapia, or even salmon.

Salt and pepper both sides of the fillets. Add a small amount of oil to the top and wrap in parchment. If you wish, you can add lemon slices to the parchment pouch. Place on baking sheet and bake for 12-20 minutes, depending on the size of the fillet. The flesh should flake, but be moist and no longer translucent.

The sauce is really basic, but absolutely delicious. This is NOT your everyday sauce, because eating it every day would give you a cholesterol problem. But on special occasions, it's a winner.

1 cup white wine
2 T. butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
Pinch of salt
A handful each of frozen corn and frozen edamame (substituting frozen peas is okay, too)
Fresh tarragon (optional)

• Bring the wine to a boil and reduce by half
• Add butter and whisk until the butter is melted
• Add cream and salt, and whisk until sauce comes back to a boil.
• Add frozen vegetables and stir until heated through. Your sauce will be almost boiling. Turn off heat.
• Add tarragon just before serving. This sauce will be thin and should be poured over your fish (also good on just about anything else)

Berries with Mascarpone

I love this dish. As a dessert it's plenty rich, but is packed full of nutritious berries. I make it extra special by adding grapefruit juice and zest to the Mascarpone cream.

It's all about technique: macerate the berries with a sprinkling of sugar. Set aside for 15 minutes or up to two hours.

Meanwhile, whisk together 1/2 cup of mascarpone cheese, 3 T. of milk, the zest from a quarter of a grapefruit, and 3 T. grapefruit juice. Add more if you want a stronger grapefruit flavor.

Top the mascarpone mixture over the berries and serve. Garnish with mint or a spoon. It's even better when you're sipping Limoncello
at the same time. :)

The Evening Pot of Stew

Tonight was a clean the fridge and make a simple one pot stew at one time night!

The idea behind this is that you want to use ingredients that will balance one another and create hearty delicious stew. For example, if you have leftover roast chicken, you can make a stew out of potatoes, carrots, celery, onion and garlic.

Tonight I got lucky: I had a bunch of leftovers that needed to be used or tossed. The ingredients were:

Andouille Sausage

Half a can of white beans

A cup and a half of white rice (leftover from Chinese night...)

Half a can of tomato paste

Two cups of chicken broth

1 Yukon Gold potato

These things go together perfectly well, and the seasoning in the sausage meant that I only needed to add a bit of kosher salt and pepper (okay I added a Beef Bullion cube as well), and I was golden.

The process is just as easy:

1. In a medium-sized dutch oven, saute onion and minced garlic together until brown, then add a pinch of kosher salt and two turns of black pepper.
2. Add in your potatoes or other firm vegetables and saute for a moment or two.
3. Add tomato (I had tomato paste) and any other acidic liquid such as wine or vinegar, and deglaze your pot. Add broth and bring to a simmer.
4. Once your pot is simmering nicely, you can add any raw meats. If your meat is already cooked, hold off and let your stew simmer away for a few minutes more and then add them.
5. Once the meat is fully cooked and, in the case of pre-cooked meat, warmed through, add your pre-cooked starches! In my case, this was a can of cooked white beans and some leftover rice.
   
6. Simmer for two to three minutes. Serve with crusty bread, a biscuit, or anything else you want.

You see, the starchy beans and rice, along with the starch in the potatoes, helps thicken the soup. The acid in the tomatoes brighten your stew and give it a great depth of flavor. Again, since the Andouille had so much flavor (and heat), I didn't add anything else in terms of spices. But spice accordingly depending on what you have around the house to throw in your stew pot.

The result:

Enjoy! xoxo

Breakfast of Champions

Plain Yogurt + Mixed Berry Compote = Delicious Breakfast (served with toast) If you can find Greek Yogurt (and I'm sure you can, it's everywhere), you should use it. It is thick and creamy and absolutely delicious.

The Mixed Berry Compote is:

A few handfuls (roughly two cups) of mixed berries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup water
Squeeze of lemon juice
Pinch of salt

Bring everything to a simmer and stir for a few minutes until the berries begin to break down. If the compote is really liquid-y, mix 1 Tablespoon of corn starch with 1/4 cup of cold water until smooth, then add to the compote, bring to a simmer, stir for 60 seconds, then cool.

Soup + Salad = Dinner

This post will start with the photos:



The Salad

1 sweet potato, oven roasted for 60 minutes until tender, then cut into medallions
1 head red butter lettuce, washed and torn or chopped into bite-size pieces
Fresh goat cheese, rolled into 1" balls (enough for two per person)
Almonds, crushed into small pieces
Any vinaigrette dressing you choose (homemade if you wish)

I crush the almonds by putting them in a zip lock bag and smashing them to bits with a heavy pan. Then I toss the cheese balls into the zip lock bag and shake to coat.

Pre-dress the salad, then place a good handful on each plate. Add two cheese balls and the sweet potato (still warm). Eat. The contrasting textures, flavors, and temperatures is remarkable.

I think you'll really like this.

The Soup: Cauliflower and Potato Puree

This soup is so, so, so, so easy. It does require the use of a blender, but you can turn this into a rustic country soup by using a potato masher instead of a blender, if you prefer.

1/2 red onion
3 whole cloves garlic, peeled
2 T. ground coriander
1 large Yukon Gold potato, peeled and cubed
1 head cauliflower, cut into small florets
2 cups chicken stock (homemade is best)

1. Saute the red onion and whole garlic cloves in olive oil until the red onion is translucent and the garlic is slightly brown.
2. Add a pinch of kosher salt, black pepper, and ground coriander and saute for a few more minutes until the kitchen is really aromatic with the smell of coriander.
3. Add potato and cauliflower and toss to evenly coat the vegetables with the spices.
4. Add stock, cover, and simmer for 7 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
5. Blend the soup in a blender (might need to do this in a couple of batches) until smooth. Return to the cooking pot.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with bread. Garnish the soup with white truffle oil, or olive oil.
   

Weekend Breakfast

The only reason I am writing about this is because a simple touch can add a lot to an otherwise ordinary American-style breakfast and turn it into a really wonderfully surprising meal.

The secret is White Truffle Oil.

Gently brush the top of your toast or your eggs (or both) using a pastry brush with the oil. Go very easy, since the oil is very strong and too much will definitely overpower the rest of your meal.



Sorry for the dirty table.

Weekend Baking/Cooking Marathon

Last weekend, I went crazy. Instead of having a nice relaxing Sunday watching the Chargers win their first playoff game in 13 years (I think, I don't actually watch football...ever), I decided to bake one or two things. It was raining, I had just come home from the grocery store (went over budget, again), and Jared and Kelie were about to start watching the game.

When I was at the store, I found some nice cucumbers sitting there, just staring at me! There is this restaurant in Petaluma called Dempsey's and among other things, they have the best Bread and Butter Pickles I've ever had. So, when those cucumbers were just sitting there, I thought it was time I tried to replicate Dempsey's masterpiece. And since pickles take about 12 hours to make, I started on those first thing.

Here they are finished, and while this is definitely a Claussen pickle jar, these are definitely home made and so much better. An approximation of Dempsey's pickles -- not quite the real thing -- but really good nonetheless.



After the pickles were nicely salted and resting in the fridge, it was time to bake. I started with a Lemon Yogurt cake, borrowed happily from Ina Garten. When I'm baking, I always have the tendency to mess something up. I don't follow recipes well, and so I'll mess up the order, the quantity, the temperature, or any of a number of other things (there's a reason nobody got to see a post about the Christmas Marshmallows I made...what a disaster!)

After the Lemon Yogurt cake, I realized I had three bananas that were about to go bad. Wham! An hour later, Banana Pistachio Bread was in the oven. Simple and delicious.

I had bought too many apples because I was daydreaming while putting them into my cart. So when I got home and realized that I had 10 extra apples for the week, I decided to do the only sensible thing: make Applesauce! Applesauce is the easiest possible thing to make. I make mine with a little Apple Cider Vinegar. Makes it just a little extra tart and helps break down the apples faster while cooking.

After applesauce came the dinner prep.  On the menu was Ceviche with Sea Bass and Scallops and a Radicchio and Endive Salad with Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing. Oh, and for the hell of it, I also made Buttermilk Biscuits from this previously-posted recipe.

They take 25 minutes start to finish, so it was an easy investment.

A long day of cooking in the kitchen, but the Charger's won, and I had a good time.  Here are the recipes/techniques for everything above:

Bread and Butter Pickles

Easier than making pudding, first slice very thin several cucumbers and a white/brown onion.  If you have a mandoline (slicer) this is made much easier. And as for the type of cucumber, I'd use an English cucumber or Persian cucumber.  Avoid the garden (typical) cucumber for this.

Pour half a cup of kosher salt on top of the cucumbers/onions, then place in a colander over a bowl. Place a damp cloth over them, then in the fridge for 12 hours or so.

Once they've cured, rinse them and dry them well.  You want to remove all that salt from them.

In a pot, boil equal parts rice wine and distilled white vinegars, along with coriander seed, whole garlic cloves, peppercorns, bay leaves, a cinnamon stick, cumin seed, celery seed, and ground turmeric.  Add vegetables and heat back just to scald -- don't let it reach a boil again!

Turn off the heat, let it cool, then place in clean jars.  Eat on...well, anything.

Applesauce

Easy.  Chop up into small pieces whatever apples you have leftover.  You should peel them first. Add half a cup of water for every 2 pounds or so of apples.  You can add cinnamon, cloves, whatever you want at this stage.  I usually squeeze a little lemon juice and a teaspoon of Apple Cider Vinegar, too. Bring to a simmer, and cook until the apples are soft.  It helps to mash them up with a potato masher.  If you want really smooth applesauce, put the whole shebang in a blender. If the sauce needs sugar, add sugar.  If it needs more tartness, add a little more vinegar and/or lemon juice. Eat.

Ceviche

Chop up into small equal parts soft white fish and bay scallops.  Cover with lime juice and a pinch each of sugar and kosher salt.  Let sit for 8 - 15 minutes until the fish is opaque and the scallops are firm when pinched.  Discard the lime juice.  Toss with cilantro, kosher salt and black pepper. Serve.

Lemon Yogurt Cake

Now is a good time to remind you that if you're baking, always always always use unsalted butter...at room temperature.

But I'm actually just going to send you to the Food Network website on this one.  Use whole milk yogurt. Seriously. Do it.

Banana Pistachio Bread

This is my all-time favorite Banana Bread recipe.  I just substituted the walnuts for pistachios. Since the pistachios were salted, though, I omitted the rest of the salt from the recipe.  

8 T unsalted butter, room temp

3/4 c granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 c whole wheat flour
3 large ripe bananas, mashed
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 c walnuts, coarsely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. 

2. Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time and beat.
3. Sift all-purpose flour, soda, salt together, stir in whole wheat flour, add to butter mixture, mixing well.
4. Fold in bananas, vanilla, walnuts.
5. Pour into pan. Bake 50-60 min, or until vake tesster comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then on rack.

Enjoy my friends! xoxo!

Easy Sautéed Green Beans

As I am still finding my groove here on this blog, I thought that I would try out a technique post, and see if anybody wants me to do more of these. To prepare for this, I tried to come up with the easiest vegetable to cook, but also a vegetable that gets screwed up easily, too: Green Beans.

The following isn't so much a recipe, as a method for cooking all sorts of vegetables. The same concept can be applied to other vegetables such as carrots, asparagus, brussels sprouts, broccoli...the list goes on. Choose any seasonings you like and substitute for those I write about here.

The technique:

1) Trim and wash.

2) Par boil (means partially cook) and shock in ice water.

3) Sauté in butter or oil and season.

Trim and Wash

It's important that you wash your vegetables and fruits to remove any dirt. Remember, these things grow in the ground! Giving your vegetables a light scrub with a brush (or even your hands) will help remove some of the surface dirt, too. I doubt that this process removes much of the pesticides used to grow conventional fruit and vegetables, but it sure can't hurt either.

After washing, dry the vegetables, then trim the tips off each end.

Par Boil

Drop the beans into a pot of boiling salted water. The water should be salty, like tasting sea water. This will help bring out the taste of the beans. Boil for 90 seconds, then remove from the boiling water and place into a bowl of ice water. This will stop the cooking process.

Once the beans are cool, drain and dry. Up to this point, you can put them in a zip lock bag in the refrigerator for a day or two in advance.

Why Par Boil? Par boiling vegetables helps them retain their color during the cooking process, helps lock in their flavor, and gives you a means of fully cooking them without a lot of time in the pan. They will be tender and delicious!

Sauté

Add a small amount of butter or oil (one tablespoon) to a sauté pan or skillet over medium heat. When hot, add shallots and garlic (alternatively you can use onions, red chili flakes or other dried herbs, ginger, etc.) and sauté to soften. At this point you can add two tablespoons of white wine, vinegar, lemon juice, apple juice, etc. to add additional flavor.

Add the beans and toss around in the oil. Sauté for three minutes to heat thoroughly. You're not trying to cook the beans here, just warm them.



I often add nuts or small pieces of fruit (such as apples) after about a minute.

Salt, pepper and fresh herbs should be added at this point. Give the beans another final toss before serving.

Serve.