Cake and Cumin

First, a Happy New Year and Shana Tova to everyone celebrating the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashanah is one of my most favorite holidays because the foods you eat are all symbolic and are all delicious! You can check out a list of traditional Sephardic foods here and the family Leek omlette recipe here.

This week, we received onions, hot peppers, banana peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, green peppers, oregano, beets, yellow beans, kale, and carrots. So, here’s the plan…

The tomatoes from this week and last week, I need to find time to make into tomato sauce.

The hot peppers and banana peppers, well, I’m afraid to say I’m not much one for spice so usually my fiance just cuts those up when he wants a little more of a kick to whatever we’ve cooked.

Thank goodness we got onions because I think the CSA onions and garlic are MUCH better than what we get at the supermarket.

The oregano will be dried (so many dried spices! I need to use more spices to I have containers to put the newly dried spices in!

Recently, we have just been sauteing the yellow beans with some olive oil, coriander and sometimes a bit of fresh ginger and they have been delicious! Kale will also just be sauteed with onions and garlic.

The beets I brought home for Rosh Hashanah and they’ll be boiled up as a side.

The potatoes, carrots, and green peppers I honestly don’t have a plan for yet but usually you can through carrots and green peppers into anything and potatoes last long enough for me to ponder what to do with them.

For those of you who make bread, you know it is a process. I make bread every week, although I do it in a bread machine. This recipe makes good, slightly crispy, sourdough-esque bread. You can also use the no-knead recipe with whatever flavors you’d like (pepper, Parmesan, etc.).

Rosemary, garlic no knead bread

3 cups flour

¼ tsp. active dry yeast

1 ½ tsp. salt

4 cloves minced garlic

2 tbsp. rosemary

In a large bowl, combine flour, yeast, salt, garlic, and rosemary. Add water and stir until blended. Dough will be sticky. Cover the bowl in plastic wrap. Let the dough rest for about 18 hours (or 2 days) at room temperature.

Dough is ready when the surface is dotted with bubbles. Flour working surface. Sprinkle the dough with a bit more flour and fold it over itself once or twice. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 more minutes.

Shape the dough into a ball. Coat a cotton towel with flour and place the loaf (seamside down) on it. Then coat another cotton towl with flour and let rise for 2 hours. Dough will double in size.

Preheat the over to 450 degrees. Put dough in a heavy coated pot (cast iron, dutch oven, pyrex, or ceramic). Cover with lid and bake for 20 minutes. Then remove lid and bake for 15 more minutes. Cool on a rack.

*Discovered in The Art of Eating In

Last week’s recipes were great! I particularly recommend the coriander noodles with carrots and zucchini for anyone who is still trying to figure out how to use their zucchini. You can find the recipe on Epicurious.

This week we received red onions, heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, green peppers, garlic, potatoes, blackberries, eggplant, and cabbage.

Half of the zucchini was already used to make zucchini bread. One of the green peppers, the eggplant, a few of the potatoes, some garlic, onion, and at least one of the tomatoes will go into a Sunday evening tagine (really, tagines are one of the BEST ways to use a bunch of veges in a hearty, flavorful meal. For tomorrow’s tagine, I’m going to try adding some browned tempeh for some additional protein and crunch). I think the second green pepper will go into a yellow lentil soup. The blackberries, amazingly, are still around. This week, we bought an ice cream machine so these berries will possibly be made into an ice cream depending on how our test run this evening goes.

To be honest, I’m a little lost this week for the cabbage. We’ve already had a few weeks of cabbage and I can’t do more slaw. Any suggestions anyone? Same this with the potatoes… there are lots of things to do with potatoes. Maybe this week I’ll actually get around to some mashed potatoes or a potato salad.

How to Cook Everything Vegetarian

By Mark Bittman

As you can see form this blog, I love cooking. I also love cookbooks (even if I alter most recipes). Cookbooks can be pretty difficult though. We have a kosher kitchen and now mostly cook vegetarian. Almost every recipe I find has to be altered creatively in some way. And there is nothing more frustrating than buying a cookbook and realizing you can’t use at least a quarter of the recipes. That’s why I love this cookbook. I can use almost every recipe in this cookbook. The recipes are delicious and flavorful. They are healthy and wonderful. Finally, the thing I like most about this cookbook is that they give alternatives to every recipe. So, for example, they will provide a recipe for tacos and then give 15 different taco filler combinations. The possibilities you can cook through this cookbook are endless and you definitely get your money’s worth.

This recipe is another delicious use for tempeh. We actually made it into tempeh chili/black bean tacos, but putting this mixture in a tortilla, which was awesome. A note… it is a bit involved and takes about 2 hours, but most of that time is inactive.

Tempeh Chili with Black Beans

2 heads garlic, to roast

2 tbsp. evoo

3 cups crumbled tempeh

2 onions, chopped

1/4 cup honey

3 medium carrots, chopped

2 tbsp. chili powder

1 tsp dried sage

3 tbsp tomato paste

4 cups chopped tomato

2 cups vege stock

1 can black beans

salt and pepper

1 cup radishes

1 cup cilantro

Slice one side of the garlic open (keeping it together in the bunch). drizzle evoo and salt on the tops of the garlic. place them open side up and roast on 375 for 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat 2 tbsp evoo in a large pot with a lid over medium heat. Add the tempeh and cook until it is crisp (about 5 minutes). take tempeh out and put it to the side.

In the same pot, put 1 tbsp. onion, stir until soft. then add honey and turn the heat to medium/low. cook for about 20 minutes until caramelized stirring occasionally.

Add the carrots, chili powder and sage. them add tomato paste, tomatoes, stock, beans and tempeh. bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer until liquid thickens and beans are tender (I simmered for about 30 minutes. it will be longer if you use dried beans). Flavor with salt and pepper.

Squeeze the finished roasted garlic into the pot and stir well. Before serving add cilantro and radishes.

*adapted from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian

Wednesday nights anything goes. It is the middle of the week and I always want something delicious but quick and super easy. Tonight’s dinner was inspired by this week’s CSA basket and growling stomach.

Wednesday Night Vegetable Pasta with Spring Onion Pesto

Pasta

broccoli

shelled peas

For pesto:

Pine nuts, toasted

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil

handful of dill

3 spring onions

1 clove garlic

pinch of salt and pepper

Cook the pasta. In the last few minutes of cooking, throw in whatever vegetables you’ve got or want to use (fresh or frozen). For me, it was fresh shelled peas and frozen broccoli.

Take all the pesto ingredients and blend them together.

Viola! Wednesday night dinner.

You saw the pictures yesterday, now for the recipe! This recipe is courtesy of the Top Pot doughnut book. It is amazingly delicious and simpler than it looks and sounds.

Sour Cream Old-Fashioned Doughnuts

2 1/2 cups cake flour (plus more for rolling and cutting)

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp iodized salt

3/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp shortening

2 large egg yolks

2/3 cup sour cream

canola oil for frying

Vanilla doughnut glaze (recipe below)

Sift flour, baking power, salt, and nutmeg in a medium bowl and set aside.

using a mixer, mix together sugar and shortening on a low speed until sandy. add the egg yolks and mix for 1 more minute until the mixture is light colored and thick.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones in 3 batches, alternating with the sour cream. mix on low until just combined (tip: the batter gets very thick. I mixed on low until the batter started to become really thick and then finished by mixing with my hands. Warning: the dough is sticky)

cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 45 minutes.

Heat oil to 325 degrees (I recommend purchasing a mini deep fryer because they are amazing and take away the hardest part about making doughnuts or anything else fried).

On a floured surface, roll out the batter so it is about 1/2 inch thick. cut out doughnuts. For this, you can use a doughnut cutter. I don’t have one so I took a large-ish glass to make the outer ring and cut the inside hole out with a bottle top (I used a vanilla extract top so that the diameter of doughnut was about 4 inches and the diameter of the hole was about 1 inch).

Shake excess flour off and place in fryer. Only fry a few at a time because they will expand and you don’t want them to be crowded. When the doughnut float to the top, wait about another minute and then flip then. When flipping, use a chopstick or tongs to just roll them over to the opposite side. trying to pick them up will result in them falling apart. Remove when golden brown and set on a cooling rack with paper towels lined underneath to catch any dripping oil.

While doughnuts are still warm, dip them in the glaze (instructions below).

Top Pot’s Vanilla Doughnut Glaze

2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1/2 tsp light corn syrup

1/4 tsp iodized salt

1 tbsp granulated sugar

1/2 tsp powdered agar

1/3 cup water

Mix confectioners’ sugar, corn syrup, salt, and vanilla together in a large bowl and set aside.

In a small saucepan, bring water, granulated sugar, and agar to a boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for 1 minute.

Add the mixtures together in the bowl and mix until fully blended.

To glaze, dip one side of each hot doughnut into the warm glaze and let dry for 10-15 minutes before serving. Make sure to dip the doughnuts quickly because once the glaze sets or cools it can be difficult to bring back to use as glaze again.

*This recipe made about 12 doughnuts. Also, the glaze I made turned out a little thin, so I just double dipped the doughnuts which worked well.

This recipe is easy and flavorful and uses VERY few pots and pans.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos

*makes about 8 burritos

3 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

½ onion, chopped

2 cups (1 can) cooked black beans

1 tsp. ground cumin

¾ tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. salt

8 flour tortillas

1 ½ cups cheddar cheese

Saute sweet potatoes and onion in 1 tbsp. oil. When tender, add black beans, cumin, cinnamon, and salt.

Heat over to 350 degrees.

Divide bean mixture and cheese among the tortillas and roll up. Place in a 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover pan with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Serve with salsa, cilantro, and/or sour cream.

*taken from the cookbook, Simply in Season

This is another tagine recipe that is just crazy delicious! It has middle eastern flavors with a bit of an Indian twist and then tastes fresh with the addition of the cilantro and parsley. For this recipe, I do recommend a tagine if at all possible. A tagine also makes this a great one-pot meal.

North African-Spiced Vegetable Tagine

2 tbsp. olive poil

½ tsp turmeric

3 tsp cumin

1 tsp paprika

¼ cup finely chopped cilantro

½ cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 14-oz can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 large fennel bulb, cut into ½ inch wedges

1 ¼ lbs. Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges

2 cups chopped peeled turnips

4 carrots, cut into sticks

1 cup vege broth

1 cup frozen baby peas

1 ½ tsp salt

¼ tsp. pepper

2 tbsp. lemon juice

heat oil in the tagine. Add turmeric, cumin and paprika. Cook, stirring until spices foam.

Add in the cilantro, parley, garlic and tomatoes. Stir. Add fennel, potatoes, turnips, carrots, and brother. Reduce heat to medium. Cover and cook until potatoes and carrots are tender (about 30 min). Add peas. Then add salt, pepper, and lemon juice.

This is literally the easiest recipe I have ever made and it is super delicious. It is a great, light springtime pasta recipe and you can basically use whatever fresh or frozen veges you have lying around.

Summer Vegetable Pasta Salad

1 lb. pasta

approximately 1 cup of any or all of the following ingredients (frozen or fresh): Cauliflower, broccoli, peas, carrots, corn, asparagus.

1/2 cup olive oil

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

2 cloves of garlic, minced

salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp. dijon mustard

Boil pasta, when it is approximately half way done, add in vegetables (things like cauliflower, carrots, and broccoli first, vegetables that cook or heat faster like corn and peas a few minutes later). When pasta and veges are cooked, strain and then put in a large bowl or back into the pot.

While the pasta is cooking, whisk together olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, mustard, salt and pepper.

Mix the “dressing” into the pasta. Stir so it is thoroughly mixed.

Serve warm and with a bit of Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Enjoy!