We bought a Cuisinart slow cooker a few weeks ago with the notion to make soups and stews. We already eat a lot of soup, but the hands-off aspect of the slow cooker is appealing for days when I don't have time to babysit the stove. It means that I can cook when it’s convenient, and have dinner ready when I want, no matter what else fills up the day. In the morning, I just chop some vegetables, toss in liquid and spices, and put the lid on, then come home sometime in the evening to find dinner ready. No need to worry about burning or boil overs while the pot is untended.
I haven’t made anything outside of the normal repertoire yet, just ratatouille, vegetable soup, and vegetable stew. Aaron’s made meat stew a few times as well, which he says are super-tender. It’s taken a bit of experimentation to get the liquid balance right because liquid doesn’t cook off like it does on the stove since the heat is so low. For example, I made ratatouille the other day using two eggplants, two red peppers, a big red onion, garlic and spices. I added a slug of red wine, about 1/2 a cup, and a can of tomatoes (not drained), then left it alone for 7 hours. It tasted terrific, with the vegetables getting very soft but holding their shape, and flavors bright but well melded. But, it was a little soupy. Half the juice from the can of tomatoes would have been plenty. As it was, though, it made a fine meal as a base for poached eggs and topped with parmesan.
On the converse side, Aaron made an absolutely delicious barley soup with chard, fennel and dill (Bon Appetit). The slow cooking allowed the barley to thicken the soup even more than normal, so it was almost risotto-like in its consistency. Again, it was a great meal, not quite what was intended, but a nice outcome all the same.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Winter soupe au pistou
The first time I had soupe au pistou was a few years ago, just after Aaron and I arrived in New York on a cold winter evening. After a seemingly endless travel day, with a flight from California and a traffic jam on the way into Manhattan from JFK, I was tired and edgy. A brisk, invigorating walk would have been just perfect to shake out the travel kinks, but this night was downright frigid. So cold, hungry and a bit cranky, we bundled in our coats and headed up Amsterdam in search of food. Several blocks later, we passed Nice Matin, a French restaurant we knew and liked; we beelined inside. Nice Matin was packed that night, but the host invited us to sit at the bar and have a glass of wine for 15 minutes while she found us a table. The glass of wine took care of the edginess, and before long we were tucked around a little table. The special that night was soupe au pistou, vegetable soup with a dollop of pesto on top, which was divine on this cold night.
There’s no strict recipe for soupe au pistou, at least as far as I know, but in my mind it always has little white beans and a mix of vegetables. Yesterday was cold and rainy, a perfect day for soup. I was looking in the freezer and ran across frozen pesto from the summer garden. Inspiration hit, and so I hunted through the cupboard to see what I could find.
Sometimes I figure out in advance what I’ll be cooking for the next while and shop appropriately, and sometimes I just use whatever is on hand and see what comes of it. Yesterday was a cupboard raiding day. We were out of dried white beans, but I found a bag of mixed beans, lentils and barley, like you would use in a 20-bean soup. Close enough. We had carrots, onions and celery, and also the last of the roasted tomatoes from summer in the freezer. I made this soup in the slow cooker, though it would have worked just as well on the stove, albeit with more attention paid. The beans kept their form, while onions and celery got super-soft, and the starch from the barley made the stock thicken. It was hearty and delicious, perfect for a gray day.
Yesterday’s recipe is here.
There’s no strict recipe for soupe au pistou, at least as far as I know, but in my mind it always has little white beans and a mix of vegetables. Yesterday was cold and rainy, a perfect day for soup. I was looking in the freezer and ran across frozen pesto from the summer garden. Inspiration hit, and so I hunted through the cupboard to see what I could find.
Sometimes I figure out in advance what I’ll be cooking for the next while and shop appropriately, and sometimes I just use whatever is on hand and see what comes of it. Yesterday was a cupboard raiding day. We were out of dried white beans, but I found a bag of mixed beans, lentils and barley, like you would use in a 20-bean soup. Close enough. We had carrots, onions and celery, and also the last of the roasted tomatoes from summer in the freezer. I made this soup in the slow cooker, though it would have worked just as well on the stove, albeit with more attention paid. The beans kept their form, while onions and celery got super-soft, and the starch from the barley made the stock thicken. It was hearty and delicious, perfect for a gray day.
Yesterday’s recipe is here.
Recipe: Winter Soupe au Pistou
This is a hearty vegetarian bean soup served with pesto:
1.5 cups mixed legumes (or just white beans)
1 large onion
3 stalks celery
2 large carrots
1 large tomato or 1/2 c roasted tomato or a handful of sundried tomatoes, or the equivalent
1 clove garlic
1.5 tsp. thyme
1.5 tsp. tarragon
2 bay leaves
4-6 cups vegetable stock
salt and pepper
Pesto - a rounded tablespoon per person.
The secret to removing the gas factor from beans is to boil them for a few (2-3) minutes, and then let the pot sit and cool for anything from 2-12 hours, as your schedule allows. Drain and rinse. The beans will still be uncooked.
Cut all the vegetables in a small dice, 1/4”
Put everything except the pesto, so all the beans, vegetables, spices, stock, in the slow cooker. Start with a teaspoon of salt and a grind of pepper. It will be underseasoned, but you’ll correct this at the end. It took 8 hours on high for the beans to cook through, or if you're cooking on the stove, it will take a few hours. I started with 4 cups stock, then added more midway to thin the soup. If you’re using beans alone (no barley), you may not need to do this.
When the beans are tender, taste and correct the salt and pepper. I added just a touch - about 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar at the end as well.
Serve each bowl of soup with a good dollop of pesto on top.
1.5 cups mixed legumes (or just white beans)
1 large onion
3 stalks celery
2 large carrots
1 large tomato or 1/2 c roasted tomato or a handful of sundried tomatoes, or the equivalent
1 clove garlic
1.5 tsp. thyme
1.5 tsp. tarragon
2 bay leaves
4-6 cups vegetable stock
salt and pepper
Pesto - a rounded tablespoon per person.
The secret to removing the gas factor from beans is to boil them for a few (2-3) minutes, and then let the pot sit and cool for anything from 2-12 hours, as your schedule allows. Drain and rinse. The beans will still be uncooked.
Cut all the vegetables in a small dice, 1/4”
Put everything except the pesto, so all the beans, vegetables, spices, stock, in the slow cooker. Start with a teaspoon of salt and a grind of pepper. It will be underseasoned, but you’ll correct this at the end. It took 8 hours on high for the beans to cook through, or if you're cooking on the stove, it will take a few hours. I started with 4 cups stock, then added more midway to thin the soup. If you’re using beans alone (no barley), you may not need to do this.
When the beans are tender, taste and correct the salt and pepper. I added just a touch - about 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar at the end as well.
Serve each bowl of soup with a good dollop of pesto on top.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Miso and vegetable soup
It was time to use up some of the bits of vegetables in the refrigerator (and a little chilly outside), so I made a semi-composed miso soup. We've had composed soups in restaurants a few times lately, and it makes a pretty presentation. Mine was more rustic, which is a nice way of saying that I just made little piles rather than working toward food art, but it was pretty nonetheless.
Aaron made and froze a batch of vegetable stock a few weeks ago that was particularly flavorful, and with a spoonful of dark miso, just a drizzle of tamari sauce, and slivered ginger, the broth was over the top. I sautéed (separately from each other) cubed sweet potato, mustard greens with garlic, mushrooms, and tofu with tamari and mirin. The base of the bowl had soy noodles, the sautéed vegetables added in little piles, and the broth was ladled over the top. A squirt of Sriracha in my bowl to gave it a little extra love, while Aaron opted for the more tame version.
Friday, January 29, 2010
The Texas Birthday Feast
We put together a menu to accommodate varying taste preferences, food allergies, new year’s resolutions, and lack of resolution. The idea is to have a lot of different, simple salads, vegetables, meats, and starches in separate bowls to allow people to build their own experience, so a big salad, a meat-fest, a few nibbles, or whatever. The flavor profile can vary easily with spices, so the plan works for Spanish, east or south Asian, French, etc. Lee requested Mediterranean, so we used cumin, coriander, paprika, oregano, and a lot of garlic in the veggies. Manchego, hummus and baba ganoush rounded out the nosh.
Texans love meat, and Aaron and Larry went all out, making beef tenderloin on the smoker, lamb stew, and marinated, broiled shrimp. Aaron will have to blog separately about the beef, but it was quite the production, involving a large outdoor multi-chambered smoker, low heat, and a fair amount of manly consultation throughout the afternoon. On the veg side, we made orzo salad with feta and tomatoes, couscous with caramelized onions and raisins, cooked spinach with garbanzos, a salad with spinach, oranges and red onions, a tomato salad, spicy carrots, and zucchini with raisins. It was a nice mix of hot and cold, spicy and savory, carbs and greens.
I asked people through the evening what they liked best on the buffet, and it seemed evenly split between the tenderloin, shrimp and lamb. There was a lot of ecstatic groaning over the meat dishes, and not many leftovers. One woman, bless her heart, raved about the tomato salad; the salads, particularly the orzo, green salad and couscous, were a hit. We could have had fewer kinds of salad, and I’m not sure people knew what to make of the zucchini and carrot relishes. As for me, the spinach and garbanzos, heavy with garlic and coriander, was the winner.
One final note on the meets-all-desires menu. For dessert we made small bites rather than cakes, again with the idea that it would be easy for people to compose their own plate with a little or a lot. We made little turnovers of walnuts in puff pastry, chocolate chili bites (which Aaron and Larry helpfully tested throughout the day), and a melon-berry salad. When we were cleaning up, Jenny started to package the remaining chocolate bites, and someone quickly grabbed the plate back from her so they could keep nibbling. Obviously a hit.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Road trip dining
Our road trip through the Southwest featured carbs, mostly from diner breakfasts and Mexican restaurants. Comparisons of green chile and cheddar omelets (me) and corned beef hash (Aaron) across state lines didn’t break up the monotony as much as made a game of it, and we had a few standout examples. Aaron says the hash and biscuits at Harris Ranch in the California valley were hands-down the best of the trip. The Copper Queen Hotel in Bisbee, Arizona, gets a nod for grilling the chiles for the omelet, and a diner in Blythe, California made a pattern on top of the omelet with a sliced square of Kraft American cheese, earning the honorable mention for the chef. You have to appreciate cheese art.
In the midst of all the sameness, two meals featured sauces that were interesting and well-deployed within the meal, enough so that these would have been noteworthy even in a foodie mecca like San Francisco or Manhattan.
Roka Cafe in Bisbee offered a risotto cakes with grilled vegetables and three sauces, a savory habanero, a basil puree, and a mild smoked chile cream. Habanero sauces are often sweet and hot, but this was savory with a vegetable stock, and medium-spicy. The basil sauce was pesto-like, but without cheese and just the barest touch of roasted garlic so it didn’t overpower the freshness of the basil. The chile cream wasn’t made with cream but had that consistency, so was smooth without heaviness. The spice level was low, so the flavor the chile and smoke came through without mouth heat. A generous portion of bite sized pieces of roasted carrots, onions and green beans were served over the sauces as a bed for the risotto cakes. Each sauce was tasty on its own, and the combination so good that I pushed the risotto cakes out of the way to make a meal of the underpinnings.
Trinity restaurant in Carlsbad, New Mexico, is an anomaly in a town full of barbecue-pizza-fast food joints. I’m usually not a fan of pasta primavera, the token vegetarian dish in far too many restaurants, but it was welcome that night when compared to the only other veg option in town, potato salad and coleslaw sides at a barbecue joint. Plus, Trinity used fresh vegetables rather than canned so the pasta tasted okay. A pleasant surprise, though, was an appetizer of fresh local goat cheese with chipotle-blackberry sauce. The sauce was made either with fresh berries or with good quality, not-too-sweet preserves, so had a powerful berry taste which was terrific with hot, smoked chile to flavor it. The sauce had a real kick--no shyness with spice here--and was delicious with the cheese.
In the midst of all the sameness, two meals featured sauces that were interesting and well-deployed within the meal, enough so that these would have been noteworthy even in a foodie mecca like San Francisco or Manhattan.
Roka Cafe in Bisbee offered a risotto cakes with grilled vegetables and three sauces, a savory habanero, a basil puree, and a mild smoked chile cream. Habanero sauces are often sweet and hot, but this was savory with a vegetable stock, and medium-spicy. The basil sauce was pesto-like, but without cheese and just the barest touch of roasted garlic so it didn’t overpower the freshness of the basil. The chile cream wasn’t made with cream but had that consistency, so was smooth without heaviness. The spice level was low, so the flavor the chile and smoke came through without mouth heat. A generous portion of bite sized pieces of roasted carrots, onions and green beans were served over the sauces as a bed for the risotto cakes. Each sauce was tasty on its own, and the combination so good that I pushed the risotto cakes out of the way to make a meal of the underpinnings.
Trinity restaurant in Carlsbad, New Mexico, is an anomaly in a town full of barbecue-pizza-fast food joints. I’m usually not a fan of pasta primavera, the token vegetarian dish in far too many restaurants, but it was welcome that night when compared to the only other veg option in town, potato salad and coleslaw sides at a barbecue joint. Plus, Trinity used fresh vegetables rather than canned so the pasta tasted okay. A pleasant surprise, though, was an appetizer of fresh local goat cheese with chipotle-blackberry sauce. The sauce was made either with fresh berries or with good quality, not-too-sweet preserves, so had a powerful berry taste which was terrific with hot, smoked chile to flavor it. The sauce had a real kick--no shyness with spice here--and was delicious with the cheese.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Lactose-free Popovers
Travis is home for a few weeks for the holidays, so we’ve shifted into lactose-isolated cooking mode. It’s easy enough to use olive oil rather than butter, or if a dish has cheese, say feta on a salad, to serve it on the side. I usually avoid baking when he’s home because so many recipes use milk and butter, but last night had a craving for popovers to go with the vegetable stew we were making.
Popovers use a simple egg-milk-butter flour, and a dairy-free version would need to substitute something for the milk. I made cornbread for Travis at Thanksgiving, substituting water for milk in the batter, and while the flavor was okay the texture was a bit tough. Milk adds something to the recipe that water does not, and my guess is that the protein and fat in milk are important in baking. I’m haven’t researched this, but in thinking about the texture of water-based baked goods like bread, as opposed to milk-based baked goods like cake, logically the composition of milk makes a difference. Credit to Aaron on the solution for the popovers; he suggested adding an extra egg to add protein and fat, and reducing the amount of water accordingly.
The substitution worked. The popovers really popped -- they were well puffed, light, crisp and delicate. The flavor was slightly more eggy than normal, but in a pleasant, subtle way.
If you need a recipe, try Mark Bittman’s version from the New York Times. To make the recipe lactose-free, substitute 1 cup milk with 1 egg and 3/4 cup water. (You’ll have three eggs total, then.) Also, substitute olive oil for butter in the recipe, and also in preparing the pan. By the way, a little oil or butter goes a long way. He suggests a teaspoon per muffin-cup, but I find this makes the popovers greasy and instead just generously oil the cups.
Popovers use a simple egg-milk-butter flour, and a dairy-free version would need to substitute something for the milk. I made cornbread for Travis at Thanksgiving, substituting water for milk in the batter, and while the flavor was okay the texture was a bit tough. Milk adds something to the recipe that water does not, and my guess is that the protein and fat in milk are important in baking. I’m haven’t researched this, but in thinking about the texture of water-based baked goods like bread, as opposed to milk-based baked goods like cake, logically the composition of milk makes a difference. Credit to Aaron on the solution for the popovers; he suggested adding an extra egg to add protein and fat, and reducing the amount of water accordingly.
The substitution worked. The popovers really popped -- they were well puffed, light, crisp and delicate. The flavor was slightly more eggy than normal, but in a pleasant, subtle way.
If you need a recipe, try Mark Bittman’s version from the New York Times. To make the recipe lactose-free, substitute 1 cup milk with 1 egg and 3/4 cup water. (You’ll have three eggs total, then.) Also, substitute olive oil for butter in the recipe, and also in preparing the pan. By the way, a little oil or butter goes a long way. He suggests a teaspoon per muffin-cup, but I find this makes the popovers greasy and instead just generously oil the cups.
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