The Pink Hobart

A Monster of a Garlic Dip!

 

Whew! It's that time of year to get the heck out of the house and into the yard, throw some stuff on the grill and chillax. This is one of my favorite things to put on oh, you know, everything... whether it's from off the grill or straight from the refrigerated deli section. (It's NBD, I won't judge.) If you're squicked out by the idea of raw eggs AND raw garlic (really though, what could go wrong?) you can substitute the 2 eggs for 1 small red, boiled potato that has been peeled, mashed and cooled. 

Aioli Monstre

Serves 6 to 8

Based on a recipe by Richard Olney

 

• 2-4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  
• 1-2 large AA eggs at room temperature, whisked well
• 1-2 cups extra-virgin olive oil (a mellow Greek or French is ideal), plus more if needed
• Juice of 1 small lemon
• 1 teaspoon lukewarm water, plus more as needed

 

Crush the garlic with the sea salt until a rough paste forms. Add the whisked eggs.  Beat the eggs and salt-garlic paste together with the pestle until slightly thickened.  While turning the ingredients around the mortar with the pestle, slowly add olive oil by drops: begin with about a tablespoon’s worth and then follow with another dribble, about a tablespoon’s worth.  When it is well incorporated, add two more tablespoons in a slow, steady stream until it is well mixed.  At this point, it should begin to get a little thick.  Do not stop mixing while adding the oil; this will break the emulsion that is being created.  Add the lemon juice and about a teaspoon of the lukewarm water.  Continue to add olive oil while mixing continuously.  After every quarter cup of oil or so, add a touch more water to thin out the mixture. 

 

If the aioli breaks, empty out the ingredients and add 1 more egg yolk to the empty mortar.  Add a few drops of lemon juice, and add the broken aioli, spoonful by spoonful, back to this mixture while stirring with the pestle.

 

Serve aioli with the following accompaniments:

 

• Boiled red potatoes, chilled and sliced in half
• Blanched green beans
• Peeled raw carrots, celery and radishes
• Hard-boiled eggs, chilled and quartered
• Boiled artichokes, trimmed and halved
• Assorted cured meats
• Pickled cucumbers and onions

Tuscan Bean Dip with Rosemary and Olive Oil: Rustic, Italian!

Thanks to everyone who joined me this evening for my cooking class, Rustic Italian Cooking at ChefShop.com. As promised, here is the recipe for this evening's appetizer. Easy, delicious, and super-fast. Enjoy!

Tuscan Bean Dip with Rosemary and Olive Oil

• 1 15 oz. can cannellini beans, drained
• ¾  cup stock or water, plus more if needed
• 1-2 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
• A few drizzles of extra-virgin olive oil, plus more if desired
• Salt and black pepper to taste

 

Tuscan Bean Dip

Heat the beans together with the water or stock, garlic and rosemary on low heat. When the beans are very soft and warmed through, remove the rosemary and garlic and mash them with a potato masher until they are roughly processed. Add a few drops of oil and mash a bit more. Continue adding the oil and mashing until the beans are somewhat smooth (it doesn’t have to be perfect!).  Squeeze the garlic out onto a cutting board and gently mash it with the side of a knife and add it to the mashed beans. If desired, chop the left over rosemary and stir in with beans as well. Add salt and pepper to taste. Dollop onto grilled bread or scoop up with fresh sliced veggies. Serves 6-8.

Of Chocolate Cake and Telephone Lines

When I was fourteen, I got a phone jack installed in my room, my very own touch-tone Slim Line phone in ubiquitous beige. My very favorite thing was to roll onto my back and throw my legs up in the air so I could twirl the long receiver cord between my toes. There, I would yak with my best friend Andy. We’d blab about anything, every day, all the time. There were times when the phone call was literally about nothing; she would be watching TV and I would be reading. It was no words then, just breathing, and hearing the distinct silence in which we were both thinking, and living, connected by a phone line.

We grew up and moved. Andy had this wild and wonderful career as a scholar and mountain climber, a journalist and world traveler! I became a chef, a business owner, a stepmom and wife. There we were, having lives, which were excessively busy and way too filled with stuff to curl up in a bean bag and pick up the phone. Then Andy got very sick. Then my husband died. Then there was time to do a whole lot of things.

So Andy and I talk on the phone now, about once a week. This Thanksgiving Day she called as I was puttering around my kitchen making my semi-regular Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Caraway, and Smoked Salmon Spread with Crostini. 

“Lesa, I want you to know, I’m making a cake right now. I will give you the recipe. It’s flourless chocolate cake, and I can eat it, and it’s marvelous. Do you know the Gourmet cookbook, the yellow one?”

I’m an inveterate cookbook buyer. Of course I own it. I opened the book to the page as she directed and scanned the ingredients. There were only five, and I had them all on hand. I assembled my gear and ingredients. She assembled hers. Together on the phone, we baked a cake, or rather, two cakes. We discussed weights and measurements, parchment paper and Springform pans.

“What’s your feeling about unsalted butter?”

“Get the best you can!”

“Is this block of butter half a pound? ”

“How would I know? Do you have a scale? ”

“For… cooking? Is that even a thing? ”

We agreed emphatically on this,  politely disagreed on that. There was a lot of yakking. There was also silence and thinking. There was a lot of being connected by wires, and more. There was a feeling that if we wanted to we could belong like this to each other for the rest of our lives. As long as we picked up the phone every now and again.

Here’s the recipe, adapted by me a bit. I added a bit of instant espresso powder because it really underlines the chocolate flavor, but the original recipe is espresso-less and I have it on good authority that it’s still quite the smash hit. I like to use Pernigotti cocoa from my friends at ChefShop.com for its incomparable richness and nuanced vanilla-y smell. Regular cocoa powder can be substituted, as long as it is unsweetened.

 

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Serves 8-12 

 (From The Gourmet Cookbook, Ruth Reichel Ed; ©2004 Conde Nast Publications)

Things you’ll need:

 

• 10” Springform pan
• Cooking spray
• Parchment paper
• Double boiler or microwave and microwave-safe bowl
• Dry measuring cups
• Liquid measuring cup
• Measuring spoons
• Sieve or sifter
• Whisk
• Bowl
• Spatula
• Cooling rack
• Cake plate
• Warm knife (to cut the cake)

 

For the cake:

• 8 ounces good quality semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate (about a cup and a half), chopped or in morsels
• 2 sticks (1/2 lb.) unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder (optional)
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 6 large eggs
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa, sifted (plus additional for dusting)

 

Preheat your oven to 350 F.  Set a rack in the middle of the oven.

Spray the bottom and sides of the pan with oil. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment and spray the top of the parchment. Dust the bottom and sides with a bit of cocoa. Set aside.

In a double boiler over simmering water or in a microwave with a micro-safe bowl, melt the chocolate and butter together until they are completely liquid. (This takes about 4 minutes over a double boiler, 2 minutes in the microwave).  Stir well to make sure there are no lumps. Add espresso powder, if desired.

Pour the melted ingredients into a large bowl and add the sugar. Stir with a spatula to combine. Crack all six eggs into a liquid measuring cup. With a whisk, incorporate the eggs one at a time, whisking well after each egg is added. Add the cocoa powder and fold it in gently with the spatula, just until the ingredients are combined.

Pour into the prepared Springform pan and place it in the middle of the rack.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the surface is dry to the touch and an inserted toothpick comes out with moist crumbs adhering to it. Let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then remove the side of the pan. Let it cool for another five minutes, and then invert it onto a plate. Invert the plate onto a cooling rack, and let cool completely before serving. Dust with cocoa before serving. To cut the cake, warm a knife in hot water (and dry completely before cutting) or warm it over a low flame for just a few moments. This will allow the knife to cut cleanly through the cake.

 

Quinoa Patties with Avocado Cream

Strangely addictive and completely guilt-free, these cakes are an excellent mid-day snack or sandwich filler. They can be made larger to accommodate your yen for a good burger-shaped patty and served accordingly!

 

Quinoa Cakes with Avocado Cream

Cakes based on a recipe from Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson, published 2011 by Ten Speed Press

Makes about 1-1/2 dozen cakes, 1-3/4 cups cream

For the cakes:

• 2 cups cooked quinoa*
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup kale leaves (about 5-6 large leaves, trimmed of stems)  finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons dill
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• Several grinds of black pepper
• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¾ cup whole wheat panko or gluten free breadcrumbs
• 1/3 cup crumbled feta
• Water or more breadcrumbs as needed

For the avocado cream:

• 1 cup whole fat yogurt
• 1 ripe avocado
• 2-3 tablespoons good quality extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice or more if desired
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 375 F. Combine the quinoa, eggs and kale in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dill, salt, pepper, cumin, powder and panko or bread crumbs until well combined. Add this dry mixture to the quinoa mixture, taking care not to overmix. Gently fold in the feta.

Scoop 2 tablespoons of the mixture and roll it into a ball. Press it gently down to form a patty. If the dough isn’t moist enough to do this easily, add a bit of water until it is pliable. You can also add a bit more panko or bread crumbs if it is too moist to handle.

Arrange the patties on a sheet pan lined with parchment or a silicone baking mat. Spray or brush lightly with canola or safflower oil, or another high-heat cooking oil. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

While the patties are baking, combine the avocado, yogurt, oil, juice and seasonings in a food processor until well blended.

Serve the cream on top of the patties or as a spread for a quinoa cake sandwich, wrap or pita pocket.

To prepare quinoa:

• 1 cup white, red, black or multicolored quinoa
• 2 cups water
• Pinch of salt

Rinse the quinoa very well in a sieve under cold running water. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, dry-toast the quinoa for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the water and salt and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to low, cover and cook for 10-12 minutes or until all the liquid has evaporated.

Note: If you are vegan and/or dairy free, I’ve successfully substituted Daiya Soy Cheese for the feta and EnerG Egg Replacer for the eggs. For the latter, follow the directions on the box for the correct amount to substitute for 2 eggs. Manishewitz makes a great whole wheat matzoth meal that substitutes nicely for the panko if you’re keeping Kosher for Passover.  

Muhammara, or Walnut Pomegranate Dip

Sweet and sour and earthy and piquant, muhammara is one of the first dished I learned to make in a restaurant. It always satisfies my snacky cravings. 

• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• ¾ cup toasted walnuts
• 5 piquillo or other roasted red peppers, about 2/3 cups' worth
• 1.5 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1.5 teaspoons Aleppo pepper
• 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
• 1 teaspoon of cumin
• 1 teaspoon plus more salt to taste
• Pinch of sugar
• ½ cup or more fruity extra virgin olive oil
• Sumac, to garnish
• Pide, to serve

In a food processor, pulse together bread crumbs and walnuts until roughly chopped (do not overprocess into a paste). Turn this mixture out into a bowl. Next, in the food processor combine the peppers, lemon juice, Aleppo pepper, pomegranate molasses, cumin, sugar and salt. Add the walnut mixture back into the food processor and pulse several times to combine the sauce and the nuts. Return the mixture to the bowl and stir in the olive oil until well blended. Add more salt and sugar as needed, adjust with more Aleppo pepper or lemon juice if desired. Garnish with sumac. Serve at room temperature with fresh pide.

Makes about 1-3/4 cups

Spicy Squash Butter on Molasses Quick Bread

Are you cold? I'm cold. It's pouring outside, in a way that makes me worry about the storm drains, but grateful that I'm inside. The best thing to do on days like this is to hunker down and cook, cook, cook. Not only does it get me out of a grey-day funk, it warms up the house to a nice cozy fug. Lest I forget to mention the aromatheraputic benefits of a home-cooked something.

On my days off I do a cook-up for myself to eat from during the week. My projects today include split pea soup, romesco and pesto sauce, tahini-yogurt dressing, chopped greens, quinoa, whole wheat pasta and brown rice. I'll roast up some cauliflower, and yams. I'll bake some salmon and drain some tofu. This becomes lunch and dinner for the next five days, plus some to freeze for later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But my favorite snack is the one I just finished up, and it might not make it to the end of the day. Today I made this awesome quickbread with a healthy spread. The smell of this freshly baked bread and squash spread makes it almost too good to resist cutting into immediately!

Serves 8-12

Prep time: 15 minutes

Baking time: 45 minutes to 1 hour

For the quick bread:

• Butter, oil or nonstick spray for coating the pan
• 2 cups plain, nonfat yogurt
• 1 egg or 1-1/2 teaspoons dry egg replacer plus 2 tablespoons cold water, whisked together
• ½ cup molasses
• 1-1/2 cups each white and wheat flours
• 1 teaspoon each salt and baking soda
• Cool water, as needed

For the squash butter:

• 2 small Delicata squash, skin off and seeds removed, cut into medium chunks
• 2 cups water
• ½ cup unsalted butter or margarine (soy margarine can also be used), softened
• 1-1/2 teaspoons five spice
• Pinch cayenne
• Optional: ¼ cup salted, roasted pepitas
• Salt and pepper, to taste

 

To make the bread: Preheat oven to 375 F. Combine the wet ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl, sift the dry ingredients together. Stir together with a wooden spoon until ingredients just come together. Add enough water, if needed, to make a slightly loose batter (it shouldn’t be stiff like yeasted bread dough).

Spray or grease a 9” by 5” loaf pan. Pour ingredients into the pan. Place on a baking rack fitted in the middle, and put the loaf pan directly in the center of it. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, giving the loaf a half turn once. When a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, remove from oven and let cool for 15-20 minutes before turning it out of the loaf pan. Slice and spread with squash butter.

To make the butter: Bring the two cups of water to a boil in a saucepan, fitted with a vegetable steamer. Place squash carefully in the steamer, cover and steam for 5-7 minutes or until they are easily pierced with a knife. Remove from steamer and let cool until they can be handled with your bare hands. Place them in a food processor with the butter and pulse until combined. Add pepitas, if using, and pulse again until they are roughly chopped into the butter.

Remove the butter from the food processor and place in a bowl. Add seasonings, stir and taste. Adjust for flavor. Sprinkle a few more pepitas over the top, if desired. 

Shortcake with Grilled Stone Fruit

Sometimes it's easy to spend lots of time staging a photo and making my food look glamorous, and sometimes... dessert has to be eaten ASAP. I promise, this recipe is delicious on a warm, summer night and can be cooked quickly while your grilling coals slowly cool. Top it off with some cream if you like.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup  sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons shortening
• 1 cup half and half or buttermilk
• Melted butter to brush shortcakes
• 3 peaches, sliced into eighths
• Canola oil, for brushing
• 1/4 cup brown, demerra or turbinado sugar
• Sweetened or plain whipped cream, if desired

Preheat a gas grill or start a charcoal grill and heat with the lid closed. Alternately, heat a two-burner grill pan over medium-high heat on your kitchen stove. Brush well with canola oil. To prepare the shortcakes in the oven, preheat oven to 400 F.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in butter and shortening. Mix in half-and-half or buttermilk. Do not over mix. Drop by large spoonfuls onto a piece of foil. If using oven method, drop spoonfuls directly onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 15 minutes or until the internal temperature of the cake is 180 F. Turn the cakes once, if baking on grill pan. Remove from heat and let cool.

Lightly brush the peaches on each side with canola oil. Grill each slice on both sides and remove to a bowl. Toss immediately with sugar. Split cakes in half through the center when they are cool enough to handle. Place bottom of each cake on serving plate, top with some peach slices, top with second half of cake, add more peaches and finish with cream if desired.  Serves 14.

Massaged Chard Salad with Rhubarb Vinaigrette: Swing into Spring

Hey, so this weekend I did a little demo and promised to post it online. It's been a few minutes. But now, Woo-hoo! Here it is, my recipe for spring on a salad plate.

Thanks to Sustainable Ballard for helping with the wingding. Thank you to Marguerite David from Sunset Hill Community Center for the lovely pictures, and thank you to Bill Thorness, Joshua McNichols and Colin McCrate for an awesome course in Gardening 101. Thanks for everyone who patiently waited for me to post this recipe. It quite literally takes longer to put this recipe on the blog than it does to make it. Which is good, right? And away we go...

Massaged Chard Salad with Rhubarb Vinaigrette

 

For the dressing:

• 4 stems rhubarb, trimmed of leaves
• 1 cup cold, filtered water
• 2/3 cup neutral flavored oil like canola oil or rice bran oil
• 1 teaspoon honey, plus more if desired
• A few pinches of sea salt and a bit of freshly ground black pepper

 In a medium saucepot, bring the rhubarb and the water to a boil. Cover with a lid and remove from heat. Let the rhubarb steep for about 20 minutes, then strain the rhubarb and juice through a strainer, reserving the liquid. Squeeze out as much of the liquid as you can from the rhubarb. Reserve this “mash” and add it to a smoothie, mix it into muffins in place of egg or add a bit of honey and have yourself some tasty rhubarb sauce.  Return the juice to the pot and reduce it by half, about 7 minutes. Let this cool while preparing the salad.

 For the salad:

• 1 bunch chard
• 1 whole fennel
• 1 whole spring onion
• 1 cup cooked barley, quionoa, brown or wild rice

 Rinse all produce well. Remove the stems from the chard by holding onto the stems with one hand and grasping the leaves in the other, then gently pulling the stems away from the leaves. Slice or tear the leaves in half lengthwise. Next, bundle the leaves together tightly and chop them into ribbons about ¼” to ½” inch wide. Place the chopped leaves in a large bowl and gently massage the greens until they begin to darken and get a bit soft.

 

 Slice the chard stems lengthwise in half and then chop them into fine pieces. Set these aside.  Remove the tops of the fennel and spring onion and set aside.

 

Remove the root end of the onion and toss it on the compost pile or save it for growing more onions. With a knife, vertical slicer or mandolin, slice the onion widthwise into very thin slices.

Chop the green tops of the onion into thin slices.

 Remove the tops of the fennel bulb and chop the fronds. Set these aside and slice the fennel widthwise into slices as thin as the onion.

 To complete the salad, make the vinaigrette:  

 Put the bowl of cooled rhubarb juice on a damp towel tucked around the base to keep in from moving around while whisking. Add the honey and whisk well. While whisking, very slowly add the oil until it is well incorporated and thick. Season the vinaigrette with salt and pepper.

 Combine the chard, fennel, onion with their various stems and leaves and give them a good toss. Add the cooked grain and toss again. Add a bit of vinaigrette and taste for seasonings; add more honey, salt and/or pepper if desired. You will probably not need all the vinaigrette, which is awesome… you can put it over some grilled asparagus or spread it on your sandwich bread tomorrow.

 

You can replace some or all of the chard with kale or other hearty greens. Bear in mind that some greens are tougher than others. Lacinato kale needs more working than chard, mustard greens might take a little more muscle.

 

Fresh herbs can be added to the vinaigrette after it is whisked together. You can also use a bit of olive oil in your dressing, though I think it is a bit too strong to be used on its own. A little bit of toasted nut oil (walnut or hazelnut is especially good) makes it sing even more. This recipe serves 4-6 pretty well, unless you would like leftovers. The dish will hold well if you keep the grain, dressing and veggie elements separate until you are ready to nosh. 

 

 

Simple Brine for Pork Roast

I don't have a picture of the pork roast we made in my Meat and Poultry class yesterday at Pacific Culinary Studio because it was alllll gobbled up by the time I thought of it, so instead, a picture of my cat.

Here's the recipe for the optional (but highly recommended) brining process for fresh pork loin. 

To brine 3-5 lbs. pork roast:

• 8 cups water
• ½ cup each kosher salt, granulated sugar, whole black peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon each whole clove, allspice, fennel
• 1 bunch fresh thyme, sage or oregano (or a combination)

 Bring 1 cup of water to aboil with the salt and sugar. Remove from heat. Add dried spices, herbs and remaining 7 cups of water. Let cool completely before brining. Let the roast rest in the brine, completely covered, for 8-12 hours. Rinse the roast completely before cooking. 

 

Great Greens for St. Paddy's Day

We still have some open seats for this Saturday's class on St. Patrick's Day foods at Pacific Culinary Studio. Please join me this weekend for this and other recipes!

Though we usually indulge in colcannon but once a year here in the US, it was commonly eaten year-round in Ireland. It was traditionally a mostly-mashers affair, sometimes flavored with a bit of meat, and always containing some kind of green like kale or cabbage. I like to bring up the volume of the greens and let the potatoes play a supporting role in this version. I flavor it with some Irish blue cheese, heavy cream and a dose of honey. If you can’t get ahold of the Cashel Blue Cheese mentioned here in the recipe (and that would be a shame), a good quality cow’s milk, semisoft blue cheese will do. 

 

 

An Uncommon Colcannon

• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. toasted caraway, ground
• 2 Tbsp. whole cream
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1-3 oz. Cashel Blue Irish Farmhouse Cheese (can be found at DeLaurenti in Pike Place Market) or other semisoft blue cheese like Cambozola
• 3-4 oz. or 6-7 leaves of kale cut in fine ribbons
• 1/8^th head red cabbage (about 2 cups), sliced very thin
• 1 celery root, peeled and finely julienned
• 2 small Yukon potatoes, boiled and gently mashed
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Combine vinegar, honey, caraway, cream and oil together.  Whisk well.  Crumble the cheese into small cubes and toss in the dressing until coated; set aside.  

Combine kale, red cabbage, celery root and potatoes.  Dress with the cheese sauce, toss well and season with salt and pepper.  Let rest several minutes at room temperature to absorb liquid and intensify in flavor.  Serves 4-6.