No Beets?

Mmm, tastes like dirt.

We’ve started.  Yes!!!  I have my first beginnings of a vegetable garden in my own home – it might be the first time that I truly feel like a homeowner, knowing that all the love and care I put into this place is going to turn it into something I can enjoy for years to come.

My family and the Obamas have this in common, but a glaring difference is that they will have some kind of a no-beet ordinance in place – the ruby jewels are not welcome at the White House.  Maybe if I could sit Barack down and force feed him some of this delicious (and striking) risotto, he’d change his tune.  Jen, this is your response for more recipes, and I know how you’re a beet lover just like our president!  Try it and see if it’s the answer, will ya?

This recipe, as it came together, made me think of my uncle Ray Ray, who introduced me to both beets and risotto, separately.  And just because this seems like the perfect excuse to show one of my favorite wedding pictures, here’s Ray Ray marrying us off!

Okay fine, back to the beets.

Beet and Beet Green Risotto
You can use any greens in this risotto, but it’s such a treat to be able to use the “whole beet” in all its glory.  Be sure to use a green with some bitterness, as it serves to balance out the sweetness of the beets and the creaminess of the risotto.

2 Tbsp butter
1/2 of a medium onion, diced (about 1/2 cup)
1 leek, white and light green parts only, quartered and diced (about 1/2 cup)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch beets (mine had three medium sized beets) with greens attached
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
about 5 cups chicken broth
hard cheese (I had a super yummy Romano sitting around)

First, prepare your beets – sever the greens at the base of the beet and set the fruit aside.  Chop the stems into bite-sized pieces and reserve for another use (I’m going to use mine in a stir-fry later this week).  Chop the leaves in bite-sized pieces and wash and dry them well.  Turn your attention to the beets now, washing the dirt off and peeling them.  I used a small vegetable peeler, and was getting the coolest red rainbows!

Dice the beets into 1/2″ pieces.  In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock and leave it on low heat on the stove.

In a large heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the onion, leeks, garlic and saute a couple of minutes.  Add the beets and cover the pan, allowing the vegetables to steam a bit.  After 5-10 minutes, the onion will be soft and you can add the rice.  Saute the rice for about a minute, then start gradually adding chicken broth 1/2 cup at a time.  Stir the mixture occasionally until the broth gets absorbed by the rice, then add another 1/2 cup.  Continue like this until your beets are softened and the rice becomes soft and creamy.

Take the risotto off the heat and add your cheese – I left the measurements off the cheese, because it’s really all in your preference.  I grated about 4 Tbsp of romano and mixed it into the risotto, and it was just cheesy enough to add a little bite, but didn’t overwhelm the yummy dirty beet flavor. Try to save a little cheese to grate on top – I forgot, and missed having some pretty white on top of this strikingly red dish.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

And here’s what my bowl looked like 10 minutes later:

Mmm, ready for seconds.  I hope it’s not too late to sow some of these seeds so we can enjoy this straight out of the garden.

Detox

Back from our honeymoon in windy Oahu!  The problem with going on a vacation when you live in San Diego is that the weather is often better where you came from – I know, I’ve got problems, huh?  The upside is that the wind and rain forced us to do lots of relaxing, so we had a sleep/eat/drive/eat/sleep kind of a trip – lots of plate lunches from shrimp trucks and delicious shaved ice with ice cream on the bottom and dim sum – ono, brah.

Yum.  It’s definitely time to detox from all the vacation food, so I ran straight out to the produce store yesterday and stocked up on all things vitamin-rich.  The first thing I made was something I’ve been craving – one of our stand-bys that’s simple and comforting but also spicy and healthy.

I’m pretty sure I got this from a Bon Appetit at some point, but now it’s on an old curry-streaked tattered recipe card with no indication of its source.

Lentils and Butternut Squash with Walnuts

2 lbs butternut squash (1 medium), peeled, seeded and diced in 1″ cubes
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 tsp curry powder
1/3 to 1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped (we didn’t have any this time so I used pecans – same same)
1 1/2 cup lentils
Garnish: you can use chopped cilantro, lime juice, yogurt or a mixture of any!  Or just pop it plain.

Toss the squash, shallots, oil and curry powder in an ovenproof baking pan and bake at 425° for about 15 minutes.

In the meantime, cook lentils in a pan of boiling water until tender, about 20 minutes.  Drain and set aside.

Remove the squash from the oven and sprinkle nuts over the top.  Bake 10 minutes more or until the squash is tender.  Combine with lentils and garnish as desired.

Chris and I cooked this one together, and he was stoked to have a cooking lesson, as evidenced by this review:

Game On!

I got married last weekend, and the whole thing couldn’t have been more perfect.  I’m still on a high from it!  As I begin this new married life, I’m resolving to re-enter the blogosphere (but for realsies this time) to document the wonderfulness.

Where to start up again?  Easy enough – instead of doing any kind of bought wedding favor, we decided to have a cookie bar of homemade treats that our guests could take home in bags.  I made cookie dough until the freezer burst at the seams, and my sweet mama spent most of wedding week baking them off!

Picture from the amazing Melissa McClure Photography

We made my favorite bar cookies, Dorie Greenspan’s Blondies, and 5 other amazing treats.  Souplantation provided the Peanut Butter Cookie Cups which rounded out the mix.  One of the favorites was a recipe from my mom for Ranger Cookies – she got this recipe from her babysitter when she was little, and has been making them ever since.  I got many questions as to the secret ingredient, so I thought I should share the recipe here:

Ranger Cookies

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup sugar

3 cups flour

2 eggs

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups oatmeal

2 cups Wheaties cereal (secret ingredient!)

2 cups coconut

Cream butter and sugars, add eggs, vanilla and the dry ingredients.  Can add milk if the dough is too dry.  Press into balls and flatten with a fork, then bake at 350° for 8 minutes or until lightly browned.

Anticipation

I’m bad.  I have about 20 posts started, but haven’t gotten around to finishing a single one lately.  I went to see some family last weekend for a fabulous engagement party, and made a vow that I would post on the damn blog, already!

Some seriously big news since the last time I was here: Chris and I bought our own little piece of paradise!  It’s a cottage in the North Park/City Heights area of San Diego, with a corner lot and plenty of room to garden!  We’re so excited, and start moving in this week.  More updates and pictures to come, I promise!

As a farewell to our amazing OB cottage, we’re gearing up for this (and yes, I am bitter about my defeat to Lemon Meringue)!

I’m thinking of doing a lemon-custard based fruit tart as well as a classic apple pie, both inspired by my Baking cookbook.  I’m hoping to have learned my lesson from last year – when it’s hot, nobody wants heavy chocolate or hot pies. 

If you’re in the area and are hungry, shoot me an email and I’ll direct you to the festivities.  Of course, you’ll have to vote for me!  Heh heh.

It’s that time again!

The Fourth of July harvest:

We grilled some turkey burgers (I added some peach/pineapple salsa that was taking up room in the fridge, and it made the burgers so delicious – try it!), corn with cayenne-spiked butter and the zucchini (thinly sliced with s&p), steamed the green (and purple) beans, and feasted. 

I decided to continue the tradition of July 4th chocolate decadence, and made these double-decker bars.  On the bottom, fudgy, chocolate-chip and walnut laced brownies.  On the top, chocolate chip cookies.  Daaaaamn.

Chocolate Chip Cookie-Topped Brownies From Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.  Have you bought this book yet?  Shouldn’t you click that link and do it?

For the brownie layer
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 2/3 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

For the cookie layer
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks (12 tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cups (packed) light brown sugar
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or 1 cup storebought chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9×13 inch baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment (use enough so that it comes up and over the sides), and butter the foil/parchment.  Or just grease it.

To make the brownie batter, melt both chocolates and the butter together in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally. Melt and stir just until the mixture is shiny and smooth, then remove the bowl from the heat and set aside.

Meanwhile, beat the sugar and eggs together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer) on medium high speed for about 2 minutes, until pale, thick and creamy. Beat in the salt and vanilla, then reduce the speed to low and mix in the melted chocolate and butter, mixing just until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then add the flour, mixing on low speed just until it disappears into the batter. Turn off the mixer and fold in the chopped walnuts by hand with a spatula, then scrape the batter out into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Set aside.

To make the cookie dough, first whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl, and set aside. Wash the bowl of your stand mixer (that you used to make the brownie batter), and then beat the butter and both sugars together using the paddle attachment on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. One at a time, add the egg and the egg yolk, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla, then reduce the speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the batter. Still on low, mix in the chopped chocolate.

Drop the cookie dough by spoonfuls onto the brownie batter, then use a spatula to gently smooth out the cookie dough layer evenly over the batter.  It’s hard.  You might have to use your fingers, then take tastes.  You’ve earned it.

Bake for 50-55 minutes, until the cookie top is deep golden brown and a sharp knife inserted into the pan comes out with only faint streaks of moist chocolate.

Transfer the pan to a cooling rack to cool, then when you’re ready to cut them, just lift them out using the foil/parchment that you lined the pan with. It’s easiest to cut these when they’re cool/cold, if you can wait that long. 

I gave away most of these to the neighbors, and packed up the rest to put in the freezer for a special treat – I had one yesterday straight from the freezer and, daaaaaaaamn.  Even better.

Thas’ a spicy meat-a-ball!

I’m trying my best to be a good little hippie.  I really am.  So, when we ran out of peppercorns in the Trader Joe’s grinder, I went down to the co-op, bought some bulk peppercorns, and attempted to refill.  Then I made meatballs for Chris’ favorite, baked pasta.

Ugh.  I tried to fish out as many as I could, but there was only so much time I was willing to commit to sorting through turkey with my bare hands.  It gets old.  So, spicy it would be:

Adapted from Gourmet:

For the meatballs
1 pound ground turkey
1 large garlic clove, minced
3/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
3 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted and chopped
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves (preferably flat-leafed)
1 large egg, beaten lightly
1 teaspoon salt
About a CUP of PEPPERCORNS.  I mean, 1 teaspoon black pepper
4 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound ziti or penne
1 1/2 cups coarsely grated mozzarella cheese (about 6 ounces)
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 3 ounces)
about 6 cups tomato sauce, or if you don’t have that, you can sub a large can of diced tomatoes, drained
15oz ricotta cheese

In a bowl stir together well turkey, garlic, bread crumbs, onion, pine nuts, parsley, egg, salt, and pepper and form into meatballs about 1 inch in diameter. In a large heavy skillet heat 2 tablespoons oil over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and cook half of meatballs, shaking skillet, until browned and cooked through, about 4 minutes. Transfer meatballs to paper towels to drain and brown remaining meatballs in remaining 2 tablespoons oil in same manner.

Preheat oven to 375°F. and oil a 3- to 4-quart gratin dish or other shallow baking dish.

In a kettle of salted boiling water cook pasta until just al dente, about 8 minutes, and drain well. In a small bowl toss together mozzarella and parmesan.

Spoon about 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce and half of meatballs into prepared dish and spoon half of pasta on top. Spread half remaining sauce and half cheese mixture over pasta. Top with remaining meatballs and drop dollops of ricotta over meatballs. Spread remaining pasta over ricotta and top with remaining sauce and remaining cheese mixture.

Bake ziti in middle of oven 30 to 35 minutes, or until golden, and let stand 10 minutes before serving.

I’ll make this one again – it was a slight twist on our standard go-to.  The pepper actually provided some added excitement to the dish – I mean, you can’t go wrong with baked pasta in our minds, but it does tend to be a little comfort-food-boring at times.  The occasional unexpected crunch of a peppercorn really livened things up!  I think I drove Chris a little crazy, though, because I thought it was very funny whenever I’d say “Thassa spicy meataball” in a fake Italian accent.  Funny the first couple of times it happened, at least.

Shrooms

All this busyness is making me long for more extended kitchen time (and therefore more website time!) - it’s amazing how much better I feel when I am able to just putz – try new recipes, use up old strange treats in the fridge, eat leftovers for lunch instead of buying something.  Starting this weekend, my schedule will lighten some and the kitchen good times will begin again, just in time for summer. 

In the meantime, we’ve been mainly subsisting on takeout and the occasional batch of pancakes for dinner; a far cry from my last kitchen adventure.  A few weeks ago, we had some lovely friends in town from the East Coast and I cooked up a feast, the highlight of which was this mushroom galette.  Decadent, delish, delightful. Make it today:

Mushroom Galette adapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

Galette Dough:
2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
12 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter
1/3 to 1/2 cup ice water as needed

Fillin’:
Olive oil
1 large onion, cut into 1/2 inch dice
2 tsp minced rosemary
salt and freshly milled pepper
2 pinches red pepper flakes
1/2 lb portobello mushrooms
1 lb large white mushrooms
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 Tbsp tomato paste*
2 cups vegetable broth
1 tsp aged red wine vinegar
1 T butter
2 T chopped parsley
2 T melted butter or beaten egg for glaze

The dough is the real star of this dish, I think.  I mean, how can you really go wrong when you’re alloting a stick and a half of butter?  To make the dough, mix the flour, salt, and sugar together in a food processor, then cut in the butter, leaving some pea-sized chunks. Sprinkle the ice water over the top by the tablespoon and toss it with the flour mixture until you can bring the dough together into a ball.  Press it into a disk and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Lightly flour the counter and roll dough into 14 inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. Transfer it to a cookie sheet without sides, because it will be larger than the pan until you fold the edges over the filling.

For the filling: Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet.  Add the onion and rosemary and cook over medium heat until the onion is lightly browned, about 12 minutes. Season 1/2 tsp salt , a little pepper, and the red pepper flakes. Remove to a bowl.  Heat 1 Tbsp oil in the same skillet over high heat and saute the mushrooms until browned (you may need to do two batches), then season with salt and pepper.  Combine with the onions and return everything to the pan.  Add the garlic and tomato paste diluted with a few spoonfuls of stock and the vinegar. Add the remaining stock, bring to a boil, then stir in the butter and the parsley. Cook for 5 minutes, then drain, reserving the juices.

Preheat oven to 400°. Mound the filling into the galette dough round, leaving a few inches border.  Loosely fold the dough over the filling and brush it with melted butter. Bake until the crust is browned, about 40 minutes. Heat any reserved juices and spoon them into the mushrooms.

*y’all.  I must digress here.  I found the most exciting little tip the other day.  You know when you buy a can of tomato paste and only use a spoonful?  Well.  You can use a can opener to open the other side of the can, creating a tube.  Then freeze it for a few hours, take it out and push the frozen paste out of the can.  You can then cut it into 1″ rounds (which comes out to about 1Tbsp apiece) and freeze them in a plastic bag.  Genius.

Anyway, this dish was delicious.  Along with the last of this season’s artichokes and some sauteed broccoli rabe, we had a nice homecooked (ahh) meal.  It was made during the tragic lens-got-sat-on-camera-dead era, before Chris bought me a new fancypants neato lens for my birthday, but luckily Lynelle was around to do the honors:

Whew! I need a drink.

We’re not big drinkers at my house – after a long day, either one of us can be known to crack open a cold beer, but we’ll typically stop at the one. Now that I’m thinking about wedding stuff though, I want to come up with a fresh, seasonal beverage to serve people in February. It should be something that can be easily adapted to be virgin so that everyone can enjoy.

Last night I decided that we should start experimenting. After visiting Palm Springs this year and seeing all the beautiful citrus trees, I figured that grapefruit would be a good place to start. The Grapefruit Margarita made its debut last night, and was so delicious. It’s a contender, and may be even better when I make it’s cousin, the Smoky Grilled Grapefruit Margarita. Yowza.

I haven’t been posting lately due to the fact that my camera was sat on, and the lens is now dead. Bummer! I’m saving up for a new one, but in the meantime I’m relying on Lynelle and Chris’ cameras. I didn’t make anyone take a picture of these, so you’re left with my interpretation. Ahem…

Anyone have any other winter-boozy-and-non-boozy-drink ideas? I’m also open to warm drinks, seeing as it might be chilly. Let the taste testing begin!

Edited to add: how about the ingredients?  This just goes to show that my brain is a bit scattered these days.  Anyway, here’s the mixture – make it today!

First, make a simple syrup.  Combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan and set over high heat.  Stir occasionally until sugar dissolves.  Boil one minute then cool.

Combine 1/4 cup of the simple syrup with 3 cups fresh pink grapefruit juice, 3 tablespoons Triple Sec, Cointreau or Grand Marnier, and 6 ounces tequila.  Stir to blend and serve over crushed ice.

Gettin’ Hitched

I was going to draft some emails to friends and family who I haven’t talked to yet, but hell – what good is a website if you can’t take care of these things in one fell swoop?  I’ve been filling this space with such personal things lately – I promise, it’s back to caterpillars and mulching soon.

Chris proposed, and I happily accepted.  We’re gettin’ hitched!  We’re both really excited and twitterpated, and I keep staring down at my hand.  My mom generously gave us the stone from her engagement ring, so we’ve definitely got some good marriage juju working for us!

Steam Heat

My obsession with 99 Ranch has been documented on this site before. I teach once a week out in Kearny Mesa, and usually have an hour to kill between work and school – the perfect browsing window. Last week’s purchase was a bamboo steaming basket. I have wonderful early memories of steaming plates of dim sum dumplings, and had to find a way to satisfy the craving. The latest obsession has begun – dumpling time!

As fate would have it, this month’s Cooking Light magazine has a feature article on steaming, and included a few recipes that I ripped out and tried right away.

First stop, pork buns (Char Siu Bao). I only had whole wheat flour, so that was the only substitution I made. They weren’t quite as sweet as those from my childhood, and I may need to experiment some more. I fully planned to freeze half of them, but they disappeared too quickly.

I did better with my next experiment – shrimp and mushroom sui mei (I’ve always seen it written shu mai, but there you go).  Yum, y’all.  I only had shiitakes, and steamed them atop some taro leaves instead of napa cabbage, but followed the rest of the recipe exactly.

These turned out exactly right – chewy, bite-sized pouches of chopped mushroom and shrimp.  Chris and I gobbled these up so quickly that I may think of doubling the recipe next time.  The steamfest has begun!

Also, not to get your hopes up, but I’m currently experimenting with my second batch of homemade fudgesicles.  Yeah, it’s gonna be a good summer!