Sesame Asparagus

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Marilyn

Click here to view recipe.

Amazing Asparagus Salad

Amazing Asparagus Salad

Nothing says SPRING to me like asparagus, when it finally shows itself at the farmers markets here in Seattle. As much as I love all the root vegetables available week after week during the cold winter months, when I spot asparagus for sale at the produce stalls I know we are on our way to more and more and more wonderful fruits and veggies. YAY!

This year U.S. supermarkets might have less asparagus available due to a diminished supply from Peru and Mexico (colder weather in Mexico). Happily, this won’t affect my local farmers markets, where the spears are grown nearby – just east of the Cascade Mountains.

There are varying opinions on how to select the best asparagus. In my humble opinion – the thinner the better. I find that the thicker stalks don’t have as much flavor as the thinner ones – plus they’re just never as tender as the pencil-thin stalks. Many disagree with me, touting the virtues of thicker asparagus. I guess it’s just a personal preference!

I’ve already decided that my first dish of the season in 2013 will be an asparagus salad – room temperature, of course. I rarely like vegetables super chilled – to me room temperature or warmer brings out more of the flavor. This salad pairs beautifully with roasted chicken thighs or simple fish.

And I’m not giving up those root vegetables just yet – they just will be a delicious accompaniment to this lovely vegetable salad.

Asparagus Avocado Salad with Citrus Sesame Dressing

Serves 4

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Salad Ingredients:
  • 1 large bunch of thin fresh asparagus-about 1 ½ pounds
  • 2 large ripe avocados, flesh cut in pieces 1 ½ inch x ½ inch
  • ½ cup almonds, toasted and very coarsely chopped or halved
  • 1 yellow or orange pepper, cut into 1 ½ inch long thin slivers
  • 2-3 Tbsp toasted white sesame seeds
Dressing Ingredients
  • 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 Tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice
  • 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • Finely grated zest of ½ lemon
  • ½ tsp sea salt and 10 grinds of fresh black pepper
  • Honey to taste – about 2 tsp
Instructions

Start the same way you do for marinated asparagus. Note, I usually simmer the asparagus for only 2 minutes if they are really thin.

Snap off the ends opposite the tips of the asparagus. Unless the stalks are pencil thin, I peel the stems with a veggie peeler (if thin, you can omit peeling), put in large deep sauté pan with an inch of water. (My sauté pan is 11 inches in diameter.) Bring to a boil, and lower to medium heat for 5-7 minutes until the asparagus is bright green and barely tender when pierced with a fork. Leave the top off the fry pan when doing this. Remove the stalks of asparagus and put into ice water and let sit for 5 minutes. This stops the cooking and quickly cools the vegetables. Place the stalks onto a dry dish towel, making sure the water is absorbed, and then put in a sealed bag or container.

When ready to serve, cut the asparagus into 1 ½ inch pieces and place in a bowl with avocados, peppers and almonds. Combine the dressing ingredients (I put all the dressing ingredients in a jar and just shake it to combine). The dressing is rather thin. Taste and adjust the sweetness or saltiness to your palate) and toss gently through salad. Place into a serving bowl and sprinkle the top with sesame seeds. Serve at once.

You cannot dress this salad ahead of time because the asparagus will turn dull green or brown.

Alternately, I have swapped out the peppers with sliced oranges or even red grapefruit slices.

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Kitchen Connections

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Marilyn
Me and Miss Estella

Miss Estella and Me

My favorite way to learn a new, global dish is to observe in kitchens of native cooks. Occasionally I am able to convince some women (no men so far) to let me watch them make a particular recipe – in their kitchen, using their own pots and pans and culinary tools. Cups may be measured in tea glasses, teaspoons with eating utensils or in the palm of a hand. I try to be helpful and participate if they will let me, and I certainly assist with cleanup. What an eye opener this is!

But it’s not easy. Cooks can be territorial – I know from personal experience. I almost hate to admit this, but it makes me really, really anxious if someone cooks in my kitchen unless they are supervised by me or are as tidy as I am. I like to consider myself a “control enthusiast.”

In Estella's kitchen

In Estella’s kitchen

Luckily, my neighbor in San Pedro, Miss Estella, recently welcomed me into her kitchen with open arms. She always delivers gifts from her kitchen when I arrive – warm carrot bread, homemade chicken tamales, bread pudding. I find her delicacies THE best Belizean food I have eaten in this country, and I am a tough customer. Estella speaks absolutely zero English and my Spanish vocabulary is pretty bad – I know some basic verbs and a lot of nouns but I’m willing to try. We have known each other for just a month or so, and with help of a Belizean interpreter of sorts, I asked her if I could come to her home and watch her make bread pudding. Happily, she agreed so I contacted her husband to get a grocery list, thinking I’d head out for a quick trip to the store. Sounds easy, right? The list, written in Spanish, looked a little “off” to me, but I figured that if anything crucial was missing I’d jump on the bike and go to town mid-cooking. I later learned that dear Estella forgot to mention coconut milk and although she wrote baking soda, she really wanted baking powder.

The shopping list!

The shopping list!

We somehow agreed to a Sunday morning cooking date, and I phoned first to confirm. Communicating by telephone? Priceless! At 7:30 am I cycled to the “tiendita” to purchase white bread, eggs, milk and everything else on the list, then at 9:00 A.M. climbed the steps to their house, groceries in hand. I brought my little camera, too. This is also tricky, because I find that if I start shooting too many pictures and focus on that aspect – the emotional connection with the cook is diminished. And forget about “staging” a beauty shot! Ditto taking notes. Soooo, what this really requires is a good memory, an ability to be fully present and a sharp desire to recall stories. I take more snapshots in my mind than with my camera. Quantities are never precise for most of these cooks but I have an uncanny ability to guestimate amounts.

In this case, Estella made a humongous quantity (one large, deep, full sheet aluminum pan plus a 10-inch flan pan size) of bread pudding. I knew as I watched her that I would want to add some raisins, leave the slices of bread more intact (I’ll make this with sliced challah) and perhaps add a bit of thickened pineapple juice or a syrup for for flavor.

Estella's Bread Pudding

Estella’s Bread Pudding

One of the best parts of communing with these cooks is the friendships I’ve built along the way. I learned a lot about Estella during our time in her kitchen. She is 61, I am 62 and we have both been married for 40 years. Estella lived in Honduras until 17 years ago and she brought out photo albums of her children, grandchildren, her house in Honduras, her parents (still alive and in their 80’s), and pictures of her as a little girl too. We spoke only Spanish for an hour and I visited with her and with her husband about our lives, our families, and our work. I think I even understood about 60% of what they said!

Cooking certainly bridges the differences in our lifestyles, and I sincerely hope she will give me another lesson when I return to San Pedro. (Note: a recipe for my own version of bread pudding will be posted next week!)

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Orange Winter Salad

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Marilyn

Click here to view recipe.

Wonderful Winter Salad

Wonderful Winter Salad

As I mentioned in last week’s butternut squash soup post, I am partial to this winter salad to serve alongside almost any warm soup. It’s wonderfully wintery and one I created from a variety of sources. Citrus is widely available and always tastes refreshing this time of year, and the salad mix I find at my winter farmers market is assertive and bold – lots of arugula, baby red and green lettuces, baby soft kale…a nice balance.

You could switch the chopped toasted pecans to toasted pine nuts or even toasted walnuts or almonds-or toasted pumpkin or sunflower seeds. The crumbled feta can be changed to crumbled goat cheese . You’ll see in the picture that I added sliced kiwi instead of avocado since my avocado was missing in action. (Confession – I mashed it into a sandwich yesterday and needed to use the kiwi anyway). I’ve even used dried cherries or yellow raisins in place of oranges!

I’ve been hooked on this salad for the past few weeks. Once spring arrives and there are more fruit and vegetable choices, I’ll branch out and post some other yummy combinations and salad dressings.

I must say that salad and soups are probably two of my favorite things to prepare. Not too much measuring, an easy interplay of textures and flavors and colors and healthful to boot!

Orange Salad Dressing

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Ingredients:
  • 1/3 cup orange marmalade
  • 1/3 cup sherry vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • ½ tsp salt and 10 grinds pepper
  • ½ tsp grated lime zest (if you have it)
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 1 tsp of honey (you can omit this depending on your palate)
Instructions:

Whisk everything together except the olive oil – drizzle this in at the end. OR – I actually put everything including the olive oil together and use my immersion blender (Cuisinart makes a great model) to emulsify the dressing. Put in a jar and keep refrigerated for up to a week. Bring to room temperature before using.

Winter Salad

Ingredients:
  • 6 cups salad mix (arugula, spinach, watercress, baby lettuces or any combo of these)
  • ½ cup crumbled soft feta cheese
  • ½ cup toasted chopped pecans
  • 2 oranges, peeled with a knife down to the orange itself, and sliced into rounds
  • 2 medium avocados, peeled and diced into ½ inch pieces
Instructions:

Reserve six slices of orange and about ½ cup of avocado. Combine everything else in a large salad bowl. Toss lightly with the salad dressing, being careful not to over do. Put in salad bowls or plates and place some fresh orange slices and avocado on top to garnish.

I always put the dressing in the bottom of my wooden salad bowl, then add the greens and toss which uses a lot less dressing.

 

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Israel-Inspired Butternut Squash Soup

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Marilyn

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Silky & Savory Soup

Silky & Savory Soup

It is grey, cold and rainy is Seattle … and there is a large, bulbous butternut squash on my counter begging to be used. Just the other morning I was daydreaming about my recent trip to Israel and my reveries inspired me to make butternut squash soup. Warming, easy and sooooooo good.

Midway through our two week journey to Israel last fall, we drove our rental car from the Moshav to Metula. My daughter-in-law’s sister recently lived and worked in Israel for a year and she told us to be sure to visit this town right on the border of Lebanon. Seriously? I remember thinking this sounded very dangerous, but we decided to take the plunge and once we arrived we realized that Israel felt very, very safe. In truth, while in this part of the world I worried less about crime and war than I do when visiting New York.

Visiting the Peace Fence

Visiting the “Peace Fence”

We did drive right up to the “peace fence” which lies on the border of Israel and Lebanon. It was incredibly hot and there are cameras and security all along the barbed wire fence. We then headed back to Metula, where we were astounded by the town’s beauty and culture. Restaurants, hotels, hostels…obviously this was a tourist destination for many Israelis.

Per usual, we selected a restaurant based on curb appeal. There were several outdoor tables occupied by tourists and locals, and the interior of the courtyard was enticing as well. And the menu! Before one bite touched my lips I knew this lunch would receive high marks.

Our beloved restaurant in Metula

Our beloved restaurant in Metula

Many items on the menu contained butternut squash: butternut squash ravioli, butternut squash stuffed with lamb, butternut squash puree and butternut squash soup. I ordered the soup along with one of my favorites – sauteed chicken livers with onions in a wine sauce. MY-OH-MY!! And dessert was a semolina cake topped with a dense top layer of moist poppyseeds. Honestly if we didn’t have so many places in the area to visit, I might have checked into a hotel for the night just to eat at this lovely restaurant a second time..

The soup was the best I’d had for a long time – basic but refreshing. The waitress told us the chef used a lot of fresh lime juice and that it was a simple vegetarian concoction. The recipe I made up at home that tastes pretty close to theirs contains chicken broth because that is what I typically have in my freezer. Next time I’ll pressure cook a batch of vegetarian broth and use some to make this for my vegetarian friends.

Metula Inspired Butternut Squash Soup

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Serves 4

Ingredients:
  • ½ large brown skinned onion, peeled and diced ¼ inch
  • 3 garlic cloves, finely minced
  • 1 ½ Tbsp. fresh ginger root, peeled, finely minced or grated
  • 3 Tbsp olive oil
  • 4 cups butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced ½ inch
  • 2 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth, canned or homemade
  • 1 ½ large limes, juiced (add more or less to taste)
  • Thin slices of lime for garnish
Instructions

Heat a 4-quart pot, when warm add the oil and heat on medium high for one minute. Cook onion and ginger root until softened. Add the garlic and stir for another minute. To the same pan, add squash, and the broth.

Bring liquid to boil, lower heat and simmer the mixture covered for 20 to 25 minutes until squash is very tender. Puree the mixture in batches in a food processor or with an immersion blender all at once. (This is what I do to avoid dirtying another pan) . Stir in lime juice and salt and pepper to taste. I usually add more lime juice at this point for my palate! Reheat soup over medium heat.

Serve each bowl with a thin slice of fresh lime floating on top.

For dinner, I prepare homemade garlic bruschetta on the side along with a hearty salad. In keeping with the color theme, I used winter salad mix (a lot of tender baby kale, arugula and bitter greens) and added toasted pecans, fresh orange slices, avocado and some crumbled soft goat cheese with an orange sherry vinaigrette (note – the recipe for this wintery salad will be posted next week!)

Cook’s Notes:

This soup can be made two days in advance and kept covered and chilled for up to five days.

This soup is drinkable and it would be fun for a party to pour into shot glasses, garnish with some creme fraiche and serve as an hors d’oeuvre.

This recipe can be easily doubled and frozen for up to 2 months. Once reheated, check seasoning and adjust as necessary after heating.

 

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Key on Caye Lime Tart

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Marilyn

Click here to view recipe.

Luscious Lime Tart

Luscious Lime Tart

I have already confessed that I love birthday celebrations, but my husband feels otherwise. He pretends that he is not really a year older, finds birthdays annoying and begs and pleads to have the day pass without mention of his birthday or advanced age.This is pretty hard for me and I usually get him a small token (i.e. a book) and give it to him a week earlier than his actual birthday. And I only sing the birthday song once or twice during the day…a huge feat for me when my modus operandi is to break into song throughout the day or night for both relatives and friends.

Because we are usually in Belize during his January birthday and our daughter is often down here with us, “the birthday” gets celebrated with a special dinner and dessert – despite his protestations. Rachel ignores her dad’s pleas for non-celebration and singlehandedly makes a wonderful dessert – usually a lime tart. Funny, this is my son-in-law’s absolute favorite. I’m a chocolate girl all the way but something about the tanginess of lime in a warm weather tropical setting is pretty great. And this delightful dessert inevitably gets dear old dad to crack a smile on his special day!

This recipe is super dooper simple and foolproof. I think it should be part of your repertoire, too. I don’t have a pie plate in Belize so I make this in a 8-inch deep cake or flan pan and have a pretty thick crust. You could fancy it up with a little dollop of whipped cream and a mint leaf or thin slice of lime set on top…we didn’t bother with the aesthetics, and the pie disappeared in two days. Since the crust doesn’t come very far up the straight sides of the pan, I call it a “tart” instead of a “pie.”

Simple Ingredients

Simple Ingredients

Key on the Caye Lime Tart

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Crust Ingredients:
  •  2 ½ cups of graham cracker crumbs
  • ¾ cup (12 Tbsp) melted butter
 Crust Instructions:

Either put graham crackers or graham cookies into a food processor and whirl to get small crumbs or put them in a plastic bag and roll with a rolling pin to get the same result. Add melted butter (texture should be like brown sugar – moist enough to hold together when pressed against the sides) and distribute evenly, then press crust into the bottom and up the sides halfway of a 8-9 inch cake pan. If you prefer a thinner crust, use less of the mix to press into the pan.

Bake at 300 for 15 minutes. Cool on a rack for 20 minutes. While crust is cooling, mix together the filling so it can sit on the counter waiting to go into the crust

Filling Ingredients:
  • ½ cup + 1T fresh squeezed lime juice (about 4-5 limes)
  • Grated rind of 2 medium sized limes (use a microplane grater-should get 2 Tbsp or more)
  • 1-14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
  • 4 large egg yolks
Filling Instructions:

Combine yolks and beat with a whisk for two minutes. Add the condensed milk and lime juice and rind and mix well. Allow to sit on the counter until the crust is ready to go back into the oven. ( I just dump it all in at same time, adding more zest to top it off)

After the crust has cooled to room temperature, carefully pour the filling (a little less than a quart) into the crust and return to the oven for 17-20 minutes. The pie should jiggle a bit when ready.

Remove to a wire rack and let cool one hour, then refrigerate for three hours or longer before serving.

Garnish with a dollop of fresh whipped cream and a few thin slices of lime. This is great with a cup of tea or coffee (including for breakfast!)

 

 

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Stove top lasagne

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Marilyn

Click here to view recipe.

One Pot Wonder

Have you ever had one of those days when you are out of ideas but you have to make something for dinner? When you just don’t feel like cluttering your kitchen with a mess of ingredients or utensils? This doesn’t happen to me often. But when it does, I’m thankful that I have a go-to dish that never fails me.

This is foolproof, easy and requires very few steps. It only takes one simple pot. You don’t even have to turn on the oven! And it is goooood. I made a large skillet of this all-in-one dish this week; we had it for dinner, two days later it was reheated for lunch and I froze half for later … for another day when I’m feeling less than inspired.

Easy Stovetop Lasagna

Serves 6-8

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Ingredients:
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 ¼ lb lean ground beef or chicken sausage –I like Spicy Italian chicken sausage with casings removed
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 Spanish onion, chopped ½ inch
  • 1 red pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped ½ inch
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • ¼ tsp fresh ground black pepper
  • 42 oz. diced tomato in juice (I like Muir Glen)
  • ¾ cup water
  • 9 oz. package no boil lasagna noodles (break each noodle into 5 pieces with your hands)
  • ⅓ cup fresh basil, chiffonade (divide in half)
  • 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 1 cup grated, high quality fresh Parmesan cheese
Instructions

Heat oil in a 12-inch sauté pan over medium high heat, add meat, and fry while breaking up the chunks of ground beef or chicken sausage for about seven minutes.

Shove the meat to one side and in the same pan add onion, red pepper, garlic, salt and pepper; sauté on medium heat for five minutes until a bit soft. Add canned tomatoes with their juices and the water. Stir in half of the fresh basil. Stir in pasta. (I do this over a couple of minutes so the pieces don’t stick to each other) cover, reduce to low and stir occasionally, until pasta is tender, about 20 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and spread the shredded mozzarella cheese over the top of the mixture. Cover the pan with a lid and let it rest for three minutes so the mozzarella cheese melts.

To serve, pass the rest of the fresh basil and grated Parmesan cheese as toppings.

Cooks notes:

As an aside, I made this at my son’s house and couldn’t find fresh or dried basil at home, so I boldly added Za’atar. No one thought it tasted weird and actually it was pretty darned good. Basil is still my fave though!

For those who don’t like or eat cheese, it is flavorful enough without adding mozzarella or Parmesan–but I would add some chopped green olives or capers and perhaps more salt in this case.

Try making this meat free with chopped mushrooms!

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Perfect Panna Cotta – Guest Post by Barbara Schieving

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Marilyn

I am fortunate to have many friends who are also amazingly talented cooks. Today – I’m thrilled to have the founder and head chef of Pressure Cooking Today and Barbara Bakes – the lovely and talented Barbara Schieving – share one of her favorite stories and recipes.  I am sharing my own blog post on her Pressure Cooking Today website – my previously posted Lamb Shanks. This time I’ve adjusted it for the pressure cooker!

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Click here to view recipe.

Panna Cotta - Perfect for Valentine's Day!

Panna Cotta – Perfect for Valentine’s Day!

Thanks Marilyn for inviting me to guest post. Marilyn and I have a lot in common. We both love pressure cooking, sharing our adventures in the kitchen, and traveling. When Marilyn asked me to guest post I decide to pick a food I fell in love with while traveling. The first thing that came to mind was panna cotta.

We were staying in Monterroso, in Cinque Terre, Italy; five charming villages set on the cliffs overlooking the sea. We set off early one morning on the train to visit the five towns. We did the hikes between Riomaggiore, Manarola, and Corniglia. We would have hiked further, but it was a bit rainy and muddy, so we took the train to Vernazza.

Cinque Terra

Cinque Terra

There is a little restaurant named Il Pirata Café in Vernazza that was recommended to us, so we stopped in for lunch. The café is run by twin brothers. Lucca was our waiter, and he was very charming, yet a little silly.

After a wonderful lunch, Lucca asked us if we wanted dessert. I told him we were too full for dessert, but he insisted that we should have dessert. So I said okay, I’ll have the orange cannoli. He said no. You do not want the orange cannoli, you want the strawberry slushy with cream. So I smiled and said okay, I’ll have the strawberry slushy with cream. He was right! The strawberry slushy with cream was amazingly delicious!

Later that night after finishing up dinner, nothing on the menu looked good for dessert and my husband suggested we go back to Vernazza for a strawberry slushy. Since there was a train leaving in ten minutes, we rushed to the train station and hopped on the train. I said to my husband we should ask the nice Italian man standing near us if the train was going to Vernazza. The man said “No Vernazza”, “No Vernazza”. We hopped off the train, the doors closed, and it sped off in the other directions.

Luckily, the train we wanted was one rail over and we hopped on, got off in Vernazza and walked up the hill to the Pirata Café. Lucca was outside and we told him we came back for a strawberry slushy. Lucca said no. No strawberry slushy at night!

My husband and I just looked at each other smiled, and said well how about the orange cannoli then. Lucca said no. You do not want the orange cannoli, you want the strawberry panna cotta. So of course we had the strawberry panna cotta. It was our first time eating panna cotta and it was heavenly! Smooth, rich and creamy, and paired with a sweet strawberry sauce.

I’ve tried several panna cotta recipes since then, and this panna cotta is the closest I’ve come to replicating the amazing panna cotta I had that night in Italy. It’s a sensual dessert that would be perfect to share with your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day.

Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta

Ingredients
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 1 tablespoon (one packet) unflavored powdered gelatin
  • 3 cups whipping cream
  • 1/3 cup agave or mild honey
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract*
  • Pinch of salt
Instructions

Pour the milk into a cold saucepan and sprinkle gelatin evenly over the milk. Let stand for 5 minutes to soften the gelatin.

After gelatin is soften, heat the mixture over medium heat until it is hot, but not boiling, about five minutes, whisking occasionally.

Add the cream, agave (or honey), sugar, vanilla and pinch of salt. Heat, stir occasionally, until the sugar and honey have dissolved 5-7 minutes. Don’t bring the mixture to a boil.

Remove from heat, allow it to sit for a few minutes to cool slightly. Then pour into the glasses or ramekin. (I used heart shaped silicone molds for Valentine’s Day.)

Refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight. Serve with Strawberry Coulis (recipe below).

*You can also use a vanilla bean if you prefer

Strawberry Coulis

 Ingredients
  • 3 cups strawberries, diced*
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon orange zest
  • 2 tablespoons water
 Instructions

In a medium saucepan, combine all the ingredients and bring to a boil. Once it is boiling and the sugar has been dissolved, turn off the heat.

Purée until smooth with an immersion blender or transfer the mixture to a blender and purée until smooth. Strain through a mesh strainer to remove the seeds.

Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or freeze to use at a later date.

*You can substitute frozen strawberries. Thaw after measuring, omit water.

 

 

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Vegetable Dinner – What a Delight!

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Marilyn
A Veritable Rainbow of Broccoli, Parsnips, Carrots & Celery Root

A Veritable Rainbow of Broccoli, Parsnips, Carrots & Celery Root

The other night I had plans to go to a 7:00 PM play with a friend, and we planned to grab a quick, inexpensive dinner nearby so that we could be at the ticket counter will-call right on time. For some reason, at the last minute going “out” to dinner didn’t appeal to me; I’d eaten in restaurants a couple of times during the week and wasn’t excited about any kind of food except my own. Crazy, no?

I proposed that my girlfriend come to my kitchen for a simple meal featuring previously served pot roast with some side dishes that would be quick to put together. She initially protested, crowing on and on about how she didn’t want me to do any work and she wanted us to have a leisurely dinner. After I calmed her down, I explained that for me, making dinner – particularly for the rare friend who doesn’t have food restrictions or issues – is a pleasure.

I looked through my refrigerator. The farmer’s market I religiously attend happens on Sundays, and I still had quite a bit of winter produce from the previous week. So this is what I did:

I filled a three-quart saucepan about 4 inches with salted water and brought it to a boil.

I peeled and cubed some celery root — my absolutely favorite — and added the pieces to the pot, covered, until tender when pierced with a knife, then removed them with a slotted spoon and tossed them in good olive oil and fresh lime juice (lime instead of lemon as I had half a lime rolling around the vegetable drawer).

Using the same water, in went peeled and cut parsnips (about ¼ inch by 2-inch matchstick pieces). I covered the pot again and cooked them until barely tender. Out they came with the slotted spoon and this vegetable was tossed with about 1 teaspoon of butter and smoked paprika.

I turned back to my simmering pot of water to steam fresh organic, unpeeled carrots – they were “ugly carrots”, pieces about two inches-knotty and asymmetrical. After they were al dente I combined them with hazelnut oil and dried dill.

And finally into the water went some broccoli flowerettes, not too much but what I had on hand. These were briefly steamed and kept simple with a touch of oil, salt and pepper.

After I was done, I sipped the veggie water!

The platter you see was almost polished off by the two of us along with reheated slices of pot roast in it’s au naturale gravy. And we started the meal with winter greens (a bunch of arugula, dandelion greens and baby kale) mixed with avocado slices, fresh orange slices , chopped pistachio nuts and toasted sesame seeds. I dressed this with an fresh orange juice, honey-sweetened vinaigrette.

We both loved our home cooked fare and had extra time to catch up with our lives. Start to finish I spent less than twenty minutes making our meal! And doesn’t the veggie platter look pretty?? My friend had never tasted parsnips or celery root, ever and really enjoyed these two new vegetables!

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Tasty Taco Salad

Posted on January 30, 2013 by Marilyn

Click here to view recipe.

Tantalizing Taco Salad!

Tantalizing Taco Salad!

Summer is long gone and with it my craving for Chinese Chicken Salad. Winter, for me, is all about warming soups, greens and hearty grains. You might be surprised, however, to learn that Taco Salad is high on my list of favorite wintertime meals. I know, I know … steaming or sautéing greens is the way to go this time of year, but with beans, brown rice, warming spices…I feel like this is a legitimate lunch or dinner. Plus, it packs super well in a Tupperware container for the airplane if you have a long flight.

I keep the cabbage in a gallon zip lock then have little Tupperware containers or jars or bags of mashed avocado, seasoned ground beef, tomatoes wedges, cilantro, grated cheddar, rinsed black beans, cooked brown rice or quinoa, corn and salsa. I have corn chips in a drawer to crumble on top. I pack a large Tupperware of this on the go with dressing (it doesn’t take much!) and chips on the side and then shake it up right before eating. Feel free to substitute according to what you like on your tacos or burritos.

The only hard part of this salad is chopping up the vegetables. Don’t fool yourself….the dressing really makes this salad sing!

Salad Ingredients

Salad Ingredients

Taco Salad

Makes 4 large or 6 medium-sized salads

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Salad Ingredients:

(Keep each item in a separate container for easy assembly later)

  • 1 lb lean ground beef sautéed with taco seasoning. You can use taco seasoning in a package or use the recipe below*
  • 1 Avocado, mashed with a little lemon juice, salt, chopped tomato and hot sauce
  • 3 Tomatoes – cut in ⅛ wedges
  • ½ cup Cilantro – chopped
  • 1 cup grated Cheddar Cheese
  • Napa cabbage mixed with 3-4 diced carrots and 2 sliced yellow or red peppers
  • 1 ½ cups cooked black beans (canned is fine, just rinse)
  • 1 cup cooked brown rice
  • Sweet corn cut off the cob (enough to get 1 cup of kernels)
  • Pico de gallo or good salsa (think refrigerator part of the deli)
  • Sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
  • 1 cup tortilla chips (crumble in at the end)
Dressing Ingredients:
  • ¼ c lime juice
  • ½ c extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tsp sugar (I add a drop more)
  • 1 Tbsp chili powder
  • ¼ tsp ground cumin
  • salt/pepper to taste
*Taco Seasoning Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper

Note: I only use corn in the summertime with this salad. And my tomatoes aren’t bad since they are vine ripened compari tomatoes.

I also make a “burrito bowl” with these ingredients by layering brown rice, beans, tomato, meat, avocado, cheese and cilantro. I just squeeze lime juice on top.

You could stir fry some chicken tenders and season them with taco seasoning just to switch it up a bit.

 

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Marge’s Mandelbrodt

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Marilyn

Click here to view recipe.

Mouthwatering Mandelbrodt

So who is Marge, and why do I love her mandelbrodt so much? And what is mandelbrodt anyway?

OK, let’s begin at the beginning. When I lived on Mercer Island across the lake from Seattle, Marge’s house was directly below ours. She and Matt, her late husband, shared my last name and we used to joke that our relatives from the “old country” were most likely related. Much like my husband, Matt was always on the roof cleaning out the gutters or planting flowers or fixing something, anything. They were true soul mates, and Matt lived well into his 90’s.

Magnificent Marge!

His wife Marge is a native Seattleite and is now 93 years young. In her earlier years, she was a hiker and a skier, and has always been a political activist. She takes care of four great-grandchildren under the age of six, and her house is filled with special toys and foods for the great grandkids. When I moved to Seattle 33 years ago, I was in awe that she lifted pretty hefty weights, did lunges and never held back in the fitness class we both attended. Marge is the glue of her family and would often host 15 plus people for dinner on Friday nights or for family celebrations. Despite the fact that she was 30 years older than me, we became fast friends.

Her old fashioned kitchen always had a jar of mandelbrodt; in fact my husband loved them so much that she baked them for him a handful of times. So, my friend Patti and I asked her if she would teach us how to make the special cinnamon sugar coated biscotti-like cookies, and she happily agreed and we set up a time for the demonstration. I watched her make the dough without machinery, using a plastic bowl and a wooden spoon, and now this has become my favorite, non-chocolate coffee accompaniment.

I recently visited Marge and we gabbed and caught up on our lives. It dawned on me that she was exactly my age when we first met at the gym! I hope I can be just like Marge when I grow up!

Marge’s Mandelbrodt

Makes about 60

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Note that the method here of baking logs of dough, then slicing them and baking them a second time is very similar to how I make my chocolate chip biscotti.

Ingredients
  • A little less than one cup of sugar (she measured in a liquid measuring cup)
  • A little less than one cup of canola oil (same amount as sugar)
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 ½ cups stone ground unbleached white flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 cup chopped almonds with the skins on OR walnuts OR pecans
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 tsp of ground cinnamon
Instructions

Stir sugar and canola oil together well with a wooden spoon.

Add eggs and vanilla, stirring with wooden spoon until well combined.

Mix flour and baking powder together in a separate bowl.

Add half of this flour mixture at a time to the dough in the bowl and stir. It will be sticky. Then add nuts (finely or more coarsely chopped). Stir everything together well.

Cover the bowl and let rest in the refrigerator for an hour. Have lunch or tea in the meantime-that is what Marge does!

When the hour is up, preheat the oven to 350 and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Divide dough into four equal balls. Wash your hands and form into 1” wide rolls. If still too sticky, I oiled the counter and formed the rolls there. Place the rolls on rimless cookie sheet lined with parchment. Put 2 rolls per sheet and space them so they don’t run into each other. I then flatten the rolls by covering the dough with another sheet of parchment and pressing down with the bottom of the second cookie sheet. Peel the parchment away and voila!

Bake on two shelves mid oven for 20 minutes, reverse the position of the cookie sheets and bake 10-15 more minutes until browned.

While they are baking, mix together the cinnamon and sugar.

Remove from the oven. Wait eight minutes then gently put each roll onto a cutting board and cut them diagonally into about 15 slices about ¾ inch wide, roll in cinnamon/sugar mixture and put on sheet spaced so both cut edges are exposed. Return to oven and TURN OFF HEAT. Leave in until the cookies are cooled or overnight.

Note : I use my electric knife to slice these babies, much as I do my biscookies.

One more interesting fact: when you add baking soda (mixed in the flour) to the batter, there is a chemical reaction and you need to bake the cookies pronto and not leave them sitting on the counter. I always use double acting non-aluminum baking powder for best flavor and replace it, once opened, after one year.

Mandel in Yiddish means almond, so traditional mandelbrodt are made with almonds but I have cheated and made them with pecans or walnuts too.  In the Ukraine, mandelbrodt is known as “kamishbrot” .

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