Jenmenke

Road Warrior

Food

Meatless Monday Fifteen!

I made this “Make-Up” Meatless Monday last week with the kids while Dave was out of town. Somewhere along the way, I got a week behind. This one brought me back on track. It is Sunday night as I write this. We had THREE meatless mondays this week: Monday, Wednesday and tonight, since I will be gone at book club tomorrow.

Again, I didn’t really have a plan, except for a sort of vague asian noodle theme. My menu choices are mostly determined by what I don’t have, rather than what I have. I wonder how common that is? It certainly makes things more interesting. — though I find you get sidetracked when searching the web for inspiration. You know how it is, you aim for goodfood.co.uk, or something, and end up at learning new crochet stitches…. It happens. But I find that at least lacking ingredients narrows my choices down a little.

Anyway, I was flipping through The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook and was intrigued by:

  • Pho: had some cooked chicken and good broth. No bean sprouts, no cilantro: deal breakers.
  • Miso Ramen with all the Trimmings: had the hard boiled eggs (from Easter!). Had the Chinese noodles, broth… No Instant Dashi granules. Damn! I keep forgetting to look for those at the store…
  • Spicy Korean Tofu Stew: had the tofu, the broth… no fresh shitakes, only dried. Plus… Charlie might ax-murder me in my sleep if I made him eat tofu again. Since Dave was out of town that night, I decided not to chance it.
  • Quick Noodle Stir Fry: had the noodles, but not thick ones. Had chives, but not Chinese ones. Had Maggie Gin stir fry sauce, but not Maggi sauce (What is Maggi sauce, anyway?). Had sweetened Chinese rice wine, but not regular Chinese rice wine… I think I can make this work! I’m calling it:

Jen Jen Noodles*

Cook the chinese noodles according to the package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water and toss with about 1 teaspoon sesame oil in a bowl and set aside.

In a wok — here’s mine. I’ve had it since college and paid about $10 for it at Pier One. I should be embarrassed — it looks awful — but according to just about anyone who uses one, it looks just like it is supposed to — nasty!

Par-cook a handful of broccoli and one carrot (sliced) in boiling water (in the wok) until just barely, barely tender. Should still retain crunch! Then plunge into an ice bath and drain. Dry the wok and put back over high heat.

When it’s hot again, add about 1 tablespoon of oil and sauté a clove or two of minced garlic and a handful of chopped chives about a minute. Add the broccoli and carrot. Also add whatever you can dig up that sounds good. I threw in about 1 cup of shelled edamame and completely forgot to throw in the asparagus (from the garden, no less!). Toss around a bit.

Add 2 tablespoons oyster sauce, 2 tablespoons Maggie Gin stir fry sauce, 1 tablespoon sweetened rice wine, 2 teaspoons soy sauce and 2 teaspoons fish sauce. Add the noodles and toss like mad or they will clump. Once heated through, it’s done. Drizzle with about 1 teaspoon additional sesame oil if desired. Oh, I forgot: I also sprinkled toasted peanuts over the top (which, for some reason don’t appear in the photo) and sliced up a hard boiled egg that didn’t turn out to be very hard. The egg was sort of gross. The rest was great.

*get it? Like Dan Dan Noodles.

Al Sicherman’s Rhubarb Pudding Cake

My Very Favorite Rhubarb Recipe

Dear Mom,

Your rhubarb cake recipe has been usurped. And here’s why:

  1. I have to make glaze for your recipe and I hate making that stupid glaze.
  2. Al’s recipe keeps for much longer than yours.
  3. Al’s recipe doesn’t call for buttermilk. I never have buttermilk, so I always use milk with a teaspoon of vinegar in it. I’m convinced that–for your recipe–that is an inferior substitution.
  4. I get a sick thrill out of pouring boiling water over the sugar-covered batter in Al’s recipe.
  5. I like the crisp top on his cake.

Please don’t feel hurt.

Love always and forever,

Jennie

This recipe was published in the Minneapolis StarTribune upon Al’s retirement from over 400 years of service to the newspaper.* Out of all the recipes, I thank God every day for this one.

Preheat oven to 350. Chop 4 cups of rhubarb. I often use more, but never less.

Spray 9 x12 pan with cooking spray (I always spray on the open door of my dishwasher to contain the mess)

Then spread chopped rhubarb in pan in an even layer.

Sift together 2 cups of flour, 1 1/2 cups sugar , 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt into the bowl of a mixer. (Fatty sometimes reduces sugar to 1 cup. did it first time on accident and didn’t notice it, so I do know it works just fine.)

Add 6 tablespoons melted butter, 2/3 cup of milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Mix thoroughly, scraping beater and sides of bowl. Beat in one egg.

Spoon batter onto rhubarb, then spread evenly and carefully, attempting to completely cover the rhubarb.

Mix 1/2 to 1 cup of sugar (I always try to use less than 1 cup, but the sugar is what gives the cake the crispy top), 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon in a bowl and spoon/sprinkle evenly over the top of the batter.

Pour 1 1/4 cup of boiling water gently over the top of the cake.

Bake at 350 for 50 minutes, until top is evenly browned and toothpick comes out of cake part clean. (The bottom will always be gooey.)

Let cool as long as you can stand it before digging in. It is, as my battered recipe states, “to die for.”


* I like to make up ridiculous ‘facts’ like this so that I don’t have to actually go and research it. You get the point. Al was at the StarTrib a very long time. Thank you Al.

Al Sicherman’s Rhubarb Pudding Cake
  • 4 c chopped rhubarb
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 t baking powder
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 6 T melted butter
  • 2/3 c milk
  • 1 t vanilla
  • 1 egg

Topping

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 T cornstarch
  • 1 t cinnamon (Al’s calls for 1/2 t. I like a bit more)
  • 1 1/4 cups boiling water

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 9 x 12 pan with cooking spray. Chop/slice rhubarb and spread in an even layer in pan.

Sift together flour, 1 1/2 c sugar, baking powder and salt into bowl of an electric mixer. With mixer on low, add melted butter, milk and vanilla. Mix well, scraping sides and bottom. Add egg and mix on medium until thoroughly mixed.

Spoon onto rhubarb and then carefully spread batter over rhubarb, completely covering. (I have found an offset spatula makes this task much easier).

Mix topping ingredients together and spread over batter.

Gently pour 1 1/4 cups boiling water over entire surface. Bake at 350 for 5o minutes. Toothpick should come out of cake layer clean.

Meatless Monday Fourteen!

Linguine with Tomatoes & Shrimp (for lack of a better name)

Disclaimer: Recipe adapted from Pioneer Woman’s Penne Pasta a la Betsy.

Why didn’t I just make it easy on myself and duplicate Pioneer Woman’s no-doubt delicious recipe? Well, for one — and you should know this by now — I didn’t have at least one main ingredient (penne). But there are a host of other reasons, as well:

  • I have yet to find a PW recipe that doesn’t call for a cup of cream, and I’m still recovering from the last PW recipe which involved a cup of cream and a stick of butter combined with a gaggle of blue cheese, served over a grilled steak. Honestly? Fatty thought she was going to die.
  • I wanted to use a fresh tomato
  • I hadn’t committed to any particular recipe when I started cooking the pasta. (No, I have not learned my lesson yet from Meatless Mondays One and Thirteen.)

Another reason was that I didn’t have any shrimp. Or at least I didn’t think I had any shrimp. I had thoughts of making a pasta with just tomatoes, at first. Then, in the middle of cooking, it just seemed so blah. “I wish I had some shrimp,” thought I. So I threw some boots on and ran up to the loft (the studio apartment above our barn where my parents live when they are in town).

Lo and behold, a brand new bag of frozen ready-to-cook shrimp. Thanks Dad! (I’m pretty sure he did not know about this until now.)

So it became Pasta with Tomatoes and Shrimp.

It was good.

We dined on it almost a week ago. So why so late with the post? I lost my USB SD card reader, I’ve been in meetings all week, wrote this days ago, didn’t have a photo, heated some leftovers up on the way to a 50th birthday lunch (no, not for me!) today and am racing to get it up before the end of the day.

Recipe?

Basically, it went like this…

  • Saute 3 cloves Garlic in olive oil and butter (less than half of what PW uses)
  • add about 20 medium shrimp to garlic and flash fry over high heat about a minute. Remove and chop shrimp
  • cook a box of linguine in salty water
  • Add a bit more olive oil to same pan you cooked the shrimp in, add another clove of garlic, saute.
  • Sauté about 1 cup chopped onion until translucent
  • Add 1/2 c white wine and bubble a few minutes over medium heat.
  • Add 1 chopped tomato, saute a few minutes
  • Add 1 8 oz can Tomato Sauce
  • Add 1 T dried oregano
  • Add 1 T dried basil
  • Add 1 t red pepper flakes
  • Salt and Pepper to taste, simmer
  • Then finish with 1/2 c half and half
  • Heat to simmer and stir in shrimp
  • Then stir in drained noodles
  • Top with toasted pine nuts and good grated pecorino cheese.

What? Why Pecorino cheese?

Because I’m so cheap that that’s what I bought last time at Costco instead of the Parmesan, which was more than double the price. It is simply delicious. It is multi-tasking cheese. And I appreciate that.

Pioneer Woman’s looks way better than mine. It probably tastes way better than mine, too–how can it not with all that cream and butter? Take a look and judge for yourself:

pasta betsy 150

I call a do-over.

Meatless Monday Monstrosity

That would be unlucky #13.

[I dedicate this deliberately ugly photo to my brother who called me last week and suggested to me that I stop photographing my Meatless Monday meals. While he may be right, I consider that at least half of the fun.]

Believe it or not, it tasted delicious. But… It looked like ______. (See above photo and fill in the blank below in the comment section.)

It all started with baked tofu.

And brown rice.

And coconut milk.

I should know better than to ad lib. When Morgan asked what I was making, I demurred. When pressed I said, “Ummm. I’m not sure. Some type of coconut rice and…” (voice fades out). She knows the drill. She said, “It doesn’t always go so good when you do that, you know.”

And so, the 15 year old was right. How it pains me to say that.

Let me also say this: baked tofu is disgusting. And I actually like tofu. Maybe I did something wrong. Or maybe it was low quality tofu. Is there such a thing? I think, by baking all the water out of it, it concentrates the flavor. In this case, the flavor ended up tasting like metal. The texture was cool– nice and chewy– but the taste was *blech*.

So, this will be an I’m-Not-Sharing-The-Recipe Meatless Monday, because frankly, you’d have to be pretty hard-up to want to make it. Not to mention that I doubt I could replicate it. Let’s see if I can even remember the general ingredients:

  • Brown Rice
  • Baked Tofu
  • Lite Coconut Milk
  • Shallots
  • Basil Paste
  • Kale
  • Oh MY GOSH! I JUST REMEMBERED: Pickled Eggplant! Which actually added a nice amount of ‘brightness and acid.’ [I’ve been watching Top Chef. Can you tell?]
  • Toasted Cumin and Mustard Seeds [The Indian food jag rears it’s delicious head]
  • Cilantro
  • And…. drumroll please…. Since I didn’t have mint, I used Mint Tea, which I thought was brilliant.

I’m sure there was more, but let’s just leave it at that, shall we?

The craziest part? We sat down. My family said nothing. They served themselves up.

And they ate it.

I’m still shaking my head. Maybe they really are that afraid of me?

Fast Easy Ciabatta Bread

Redux.

I know I have written about ciabatta bread before, and I have the video up on YouTube. Yes. It should be enough. But until everyone I know is making their own bread, it is not enough. This ciabatta bread is so easy, I just won’t rest until you try it. So please, just comply. It will save me nag time.

Another thing:

Traditional ciabatta bread is made a little differently. I have made it that way, and I have made it this way. The traditional ciabatta bread is supposed to be better. Have more flavor. Better crumb.

Blah. blah. blah.

I just can’t tell the difference.

Maybe I’m just too rough around the edges.

Or dumb.

Uncouth.

Unsophisticated palatte.

Whatever.

I guess my point is, unless you are more refined than I, you won’t notice the difference either. So why go to the extra trouble when you can make it so quickly and easily? I keep coming back to my fast recipe. Start it in the morning, eat it in the afternoon, gone by nightfall. Go to bed. Repeat.

Anyway, I just thought that maybe if I posted pictures, instead of a video, maybe more people would read it and be engaged. Are videos off-putting? I have no idea…

I also think that maybe my weight version of the recipe could be off-putting. So I’ve tried to make it easy for regular volume measurement baking.

But you do need a stand mixer. So, if you don’t have one of those, and still want to make this bread, visit thefreshloaf.com and search ‘ciabatta no mixer’. There are lots of amish-types over there making it successfully by hand. And they probably have really nice looking, muscular arms, too.

Not me. I got a nice cherry red mixer so that I can have nice, puffy, shapeless arms.

Set up: Put a baking stone to go across one oven rack. If not using a stone, then plan to bake the ciabatta directly on a sheet pan/cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Plan to add a few minutes to the baking time if not using a stone.

If using steam (which contributes to slightly more rise and a thinner, crisper crust), place a medium cast iron fry pan in the bottom of the oven which you preheat in the overn and pour hot water in to create steam.

Go get some bread flour, salt and instant yeast (I use SAF instant yeast).

Measure 3-5/8 cups of flour (500 grams) into the stand mixer bowl, add 2 teaspoons of salt (10 grams) and 1 teaspoon of yeast. Then add 2-1/8 cups of tepid water (485 grams). Mix on low with the regular paddle attachment for about 3 minutes and let stand about 20 minutes. [When I’m in a rush, I skip this step, having no idea what the purpose of it is.]

After the rest, turn the mixer to high (speed 8 on a KitchenAid) until the dough starts to crawl up the paddle. Wait too long and you’ll have a mess on your hands, so watch carefully. I recommend a Mukka Latte and the newspaper to pass the time.

Once the dough begins to climb, clean the paddle off and switch to the hook, resuming mixing on medium high speed until dough begins to whack around the sides of the bowl and stay together, mostly clearing the sides of the bowl.

Pour into a greased container and cover either with a lid or plastic wrap.

Allow to rise as long as it takes to more than double the volume. For me it takes about 3-4 hours in the cooler months when my kitchen is about 66-67 degrees. It takes much less time in warmer months.

After it has more than doubled, dust the work surface well with flour and pour the dough out.

Flour the dough generously. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Using two bench scrapers (big hand-held spatulas), lift, pull and stretch the dough, folding it over on itself once in every direction.

Flour well once more and cover well with a kitchen towel for 30 minutes.

Turn your oven on to 500 degrees around this time. Stretch and fold each piece once more then, using your knuckles, gently pound out the bubbles and mostly deflate the dough (bottom left photo). Dust more flour across the tops when your knuckles start to stick. Don’t obsess about adding too much or too little flour. It will be impossible to completely flatten it — and you wouldn’t want to. What you are doing here is getting rid of the bigger bubbles so that you don’t have big, gaping holes in your baked bread. Even when you take this step, though, big bubbles do sometimes happen. After deflating, use the bench scraper, dust loaves well with flour again and coax the dough into the final shape of the loaves. Cover again for 30 minutes.

Dust a large sheet of parchment paper set on top of a similar sized cutting board, with flour. Using two bench scrapers (or any other MacGiver-type apparatus that works), scoop/pinch a loaf up/together and flip upside down onto the floured parchment. Dust the top with flour again, dip the scrapers into the flour and coax back into a nice loaf shape. Repeat for the other loaf. Dust with flour again before baking.

If using steam, fill a cup with about 3/4 cup warm/hot water and have it ready. Slide the loaves, along with the parchment onto the baking stone. Then carefully pour the hot water into the cast iron pan below. Shut the oven door and set the timer for about 8 minutes. You’ll want to keep an eye on things, however. I moved my loaves from front to back about 3/4 of the way through the baking time because the rear position tends to burn. You will learn your oven better after you make bread a couple times. 500 degrees is hot and things are a little more intense at that temp.

When the loaves are well browned, remove to a cooling rack. Internal temp should be at least 200 degrees. Let loaves cool completely before cutting. If you can’t wait, just know that the bread will compress if you cut it before it is cooled and the interior will be a little damp and mooshed. [But it will still taste good.]

Meatless Monday Twelve!

Indian? Again?

Yes. Indian again. Stop your complaining. (And try not to be too put off by that disgusting picture. Honestly, I tried to make it look good, but I lack the skill necessary to do so.)

I’ve waited several weeks to make Indian again so as not too dilute the yearning. We love it so much! Always fun to discover something ‘new.’ And isn’t it funny how once you are made aware of something, like a new word for example, that you start to see it or hear it everywhere? So it goes with Indian food. It seems every magazine I pick up is featuring Indian recipes. It’s fun to compare them all, since I am new to it.

Ironically (or not so ironically?), my parents were here for Meatless Monday Twelve, just as they were for Meatless Monday Ten and Meatless Monday Five. They were excited to try Indian and they loved it too.

I was most excited to make Naan Bread again. This time I tried a recipe from the cookbook Dave gave me that I like so much. Fail. It was not good at all. Really. Horrible. I am going to blame myself for the flop, rather than the cookbook. I probably did something stupid. I still don’t know what it might have been, but since every other recipe out of it has been great, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

I also made the Red Lentil Dal with Spinach that I had made before (except without the chickpeas), because I had a lot of spinach I wanted to use up.

The new recipes this week were 1) Cardamom & Cumin Infused Rice and 2) Curried Chickpeas. Both were delicious. The chick pea dish was really interesting. I have no prior experience to compare it to, but I’ve eaten it two more times since (as leftovers for lunch!) and each time I mull over the flavors. I like it. But it is very different.

Here is one observation about any recipe I’ve come across for Indian style curries: they don’t contain curry powder like I expected.

I suppose that’s a no-brainer for most. Curry powder is made from a mix of other spices like cumin, turmeric, coriander, etc. When you are adding all those spices separately, you are — in effect — making your own curry powder. But it does not taste the same at all. I wonder what it is in the manufactured curry powder that gives it that flavor… Anyone?

Anyway, I post all these pictures with trepidation. I mean… they are seriously gross looking. But I stand by my earlier observation that these dishes are beginning to appeal to me as I get to know them better. For example, when I look at the curry photo at the top it no longer looks like a side dish to me anymore. I can visualize it as something more substantial.

So, there really is a shift happening. And isn’t that what the whole Meatless Monday Movement is about?

(In case you have missed my veiled attempts to make you feel guilty that you are still consuming meat at every meal every day, this is the sentence where I confirm your suspicions: I am better than you.)

Just so we’re clear.

The Recipes:

I got these recipes from Rouxbe Online Cooking School. Anyone been there yet and watched the videos? Many of them are free. I loved them so much I became a member. I haven’t had a lot of time to dig deeper than my first, initial trial account, but they sent out an email called “Throw an Indian Dinner Party!” So I clicked the link and found all these great recipes. I encourage you to go there and snoop around. Many of the best cooking schools use their videos for instruction. Very well done.

Curried Chickpeas
  • 2 large onions chopped
  • 5 T Ghee (clarified butter) it’s a lot, and next time I’d cut back
  • 1/2 t Kosher salt
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 1/2 inch piece ginger, grated
  • 2 small hot chilies
  • 3 tomatoes, chopped (about 3 cups)
  • 2 – 19oz cans chickpeas
  • 2 t coriander seeds
  • 1 t cumin seeds
  • 1/4 t cayenne
  • 1/2 t turmeric
  • 1/4 t chili powder
  • 1 t Kosher salt
  • 1/3 cup water
  • juice from 1/2 lemon
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
  • 3/4 cup plain yogurt

Heat large dutch oven type pan over medium low heat and melt ghee. Add the onions and the salt. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 30 minutes, until onions are golden.

Using a mortar and pestle, grind the coriander to a powder, followed by the cumin. Once the onions are deep golden, add the garlic, ginger and chilies. Stir and cook about a minute.

Turn heat to medium and add tomatoes and salt and cook until tomatoes are softened, about 10 minutes. Then add chickpeas and water. Bring to a boil, then partially cover and turn to low. Simmer about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. You want the liquid to thicken, but it should still be somewhat saucy.

When chickpeas are consistency you like, squeeze the lemon juice over the top and let cook a minute or two. Turn off the heat and stir in the yogurt. Right before serving, top with the cilantro.

Cardamom & Cumin Infused Rice
  • 1 cup basmati rice
  • 1 t Kosher salt
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 2 t whole cardamom pods
  • 1 1/2 to 2 cups water (use 1 1/2 if you soaked rice 20 minutes or more. 2 cups if you didn’t)

Rinse the rice vigorously in a fine mesh strainer until water is clear. Soak the rice in about twice the amount of water for about 20 minutes. Then drain.

Place rice, salt, spices and water into a medium pot. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring occasionally. Once boiling, turn heat to lowest setting and cover with a tight fitting lid. Cook 15-20 minutes.

Remove from heat and let sit covered 10-15 minutes more. Fluff with a fork before serving.