Colcannon

To use yesterday's cabbage, I wanted to make this Irish treat. I based my recipe on Eating Well's version. Since I am not doing milk right now (and never have it in the house anyway), I needed a substitute to make it a little creamy. I added a little extra butter to saute the cabbage and then used wine, broth, olive oil and vinegar. Delish!


1 half head of cabbage shredded
1 lb red pototoes

2 T. butter

2 T. broth
1/4 C. white wine
2 T apple cider vinegar
2 T olive oil

salt and white pepper


Start the potatoes boiling. In a frying pan, soften the cabbage with the butter and a scoop of the potato water.

When the potatoes can be stuck easily with a fork, drain and mash. Add the olive oil and broth. Salt and pepper. Stir in the cabbage, add the wine and taste. If the tang of vinegar would be good, then add that.

Low cal, high fiber.



Verdict: B+ a tasty treat and better than plain potatoes.
Credits: Eating Well
Leftovers? Yes, potato pancakes tomorrow!

Notes: Vegan, if you skip the butter.

Pozole (or posole)

I was wishing for the food and the weather of Mexico during this horrible snowstorm and thought of this soup. This is an experimental version with tempeh, not pork.

4 dried chile guanjillo
4 cloves garlic
1 t. dried oregano
1/2 t. cumin
1 C. hot water

1 package tempeh cut in 1/2 cubes
1/4 C. soy sauce
1 T chili garlic sauce
2 limes

1 medium onion
1 qt. vegetable broth
2 whole cloves


1 can hominy
1 can black beans

olive oil
salt and pepper

Optional:
3 cups shredded cabbage
cilantro
avocado, white onion, scallions, cheese, fried tortilla strips (I didn't do any of these)

Marinate the tempeh in the soy sauce, chili sauce and juice of 1 lime.


Remove the stems from the dried chilies and cover with hot water and soak. When the chilies are soft, blend with garlic clove and oregano. I added the cumin, but recommend against it.

In the soup pot, fry the marinating tempeh in a little olive oil until browned a little and heated through. Set the tempeh aside.

Cut the onion in half and take the outer onion of one of the halves before chopping. Chop the rest of the onion. Put the whole cloves through the onion rib.

Soften the chopped onion in a little more olive oil. Add the chili puree and the vegetable broth. Drain the hominy and black beans and add to the soup. Add the cloved onion. Bring to a low boil and simmer for 20 or 30 minutes, occasionally skimming the foam off. Salt and pepper to taste (probably a fair amount of pepper). Add the tempeh and simmer for another 20 minutes. Stir in the juice of a lime before serving.


For the first bowl I put the raw cabbage in the bowl and ladled the soup over it. Later for leftovers, I just added the cabbage in the pot. Either way is good. Garnish with the cilantro. At Pancho's, they serve with many of the garnishes on the side.

Verdict: Yummy, B+.

Credits: Vegan Represent Forums

Leftovers? Yes and the flavor develops overnight.

Notes: Next time, I will not use the cumin, and will probably find hotter chilies. Or just use two or three and add some fresh serrano or jalepeno.

Spicy Sweet Potato-Coconut Soup

When I added sweet potatoes to my online cart at Fresh Direct, the site recommended the Spicy Sweet Potato and Coconut Soup recipe. When I prepared it, I hated the color of the broth and was considering dumping it out until I though of blending it. Now I love it!!



Verdict: A
Credits: Real Simple magazine [via Fresh Direct]
Leftovers? Yes, though you might need to thin with a little water.

Notes: Instead of the one inch dice, I just slice the sweet potato into pretty thick pieces and then after five or ten minutes to heat them (because I baked them a day or two before usually) use the hand blender to blend the whole thing. There's sesame oil in the picture but I usually don't bother.

Bloody Bowties

Fresh Direct recommended this recipe when I was shopping for beets, so I tried it. The recipe title is Shockingly Pink Pasta so I thought it would be a bright fuschia pink. It is when you first stir in a little beet sauce to a lot of light colored pasta, but by the time it is all added, it looks like blood. Now we're talking shocking!

Roast 3 medium to large beets in the oven, wrapped in foil with a little olive oil for an hour. At the same time, wrap a whole head of garlic in foil with a little olive oil and roast.

When the beets have cooled, take out of the foil and peel the skins off. They should just slip off by hand. Sometimes I have to use the paring knife. Slice into chunks. These can be stored, refrigerated for a few days and added to salads.



Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of the head into the beets. Add a couple of tablespoons of olive and puree. I use my hand blender in this tupperware container. Salt and generous pepper.

Make a box of farfalle. Add the beet puree to the drained pasta. Serve with parmesan cheese.


Verdict: A
Credits: Passionate Vegetarian by Crescent Dragonwagon [via Fresh Direct]
Leftovers? Yes, very good.

Notes: It was so good that I bought the book, Passionate Vegetarian I have also made it with raw, not roasted, garlic and it is way hot with garlic. If you are roasting the beets anyway, roast the garlic.

IMBB VI: Grillers' Delight

For my first participation in Is My Blog Burning?, I grilled up some pork tenderloin for the Grillers' Delight and made Grilled Pork Tacos.

I covered the pork with blackening spice rub and cooked it on my hot stovetop grill, about seven minutes a side.



Let the pork rest, then slice it up and assemble the tacos. I melted some pepperjack on a tortilla on the hot grill, added some black bean dip, pork and mango slaw (recipe below). Yum!



Mango slaw dressing

1 T. honey
Juice of 1 lime
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T. ginger, minced
2 T. red wine vinegar
2 T. cider vinegar
3 shakes of habenero sauce

Mix in a small bowl. In a large bowl mix:

1 mango, peeled, sliced from the pit and julienned
1 package shredded cabbage

Stir in dressing. Salt and pepper to taste.

Verdict: A
Leftovers? The pork keeps, but the slaw gets pretty soggy.

Fizzy Raspberry Lemonade

Looking for a summer cooler, I tried vodka-lemonade after reviewing recipes at Epicurious.

1 pkg frozen raspberries
1 can frozen lemonade
3/4 C. Vodka (for a lightly alcoholic drink, 1 1/2 C. for a stronger drink)
mineral water

In a blender, puree the raspberries with the lemonade and add the vodka. If it is too sour, add up to a 1/4 C. sugar. Strain to get the seeds out.

To make the drink, pour an inch or so of the syrup and add mineral water to fill the glass.

The first batch I made I was adding the vodka and the mineral water, but it is easier to just put the vodka in the syrup.



Verdict: B+
Credits: Epicurious Fizzy Sour Cherry Lemonade
Leftovers? Yes. Keep the syrup in the freezer.

Korean Supper

Inspired by a Korean picnic menu, I tried two beef dishes for dinner last weekend: a barbecued steak (bulgogi) and a cold noodle soup dish.

First, the shopping list:
1 1/2 lb of sirloin steak
1 lb other steak
ginger
garlic
scallions
cucumber
soba

Simple, eh? I had everything else on hand. I actually bought a 2 lb roast and sliced it into the two steaks.

Bulgogi

First get the steak marinating:

1 1/2 lb. sirloin steak
6 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 T. finely chopped peeled ginger
3 T. soy sauce
1 T. rice vinegar
2 tsp. ground toasted sesame seeds
1 1/2 tsp. vegetable oil
1 1/2 t. sugar
ground black pepper

For the ground toasted sesame seeds, toast 1/4 C. seeds in a dry non-stick skillet. Grind in mortar with salt (1 t. or so).



Score steak deeply (nearly through to the other side) in a 1-inch crisscross diamond pattern. Turn over and score the other side. Cover with plastic wrap and pound lightly with a heavy pan to tenderize.

In a shallow dish large enough to hold the steak, combine remaining ingredients. Add the stak and turn to coat with marinade. Cover and marinade in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or up to 8, turning from time to time.



Now get the broth started for the noodles.

Naengmyon

1 lb. beef for boiling (pot roast or round steak)
2 C. vegetable broth
3 T. soy sauce
1 T. sesame oil
1 T. ground toasted sesame seeds (see above)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
6 T. rice or cider vinegar
2 T. pepper vinegar (recipe calls for kimchi juice)
1 T. sugar
salt to taste
1 lb. buckwheat noodles (soba)
2 hard cooked eggs, peeled and sliced

Cover the beef in broth, plus a quart of water and bring to a boil. Skim the surface, then reduce heat, cover and simmer beef until tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Then, allow the meat to cool in the broth.



Once the broth is going, you have THREE HOURS before you eat. Make some Lettuce Wraps for an appetizer.

Now, make the other things that go on the noodles.

Hard cook the eggs: cover with cold water; bring to a boil for 5 minutes; turn off heat, cover pan and let sit for 20 minutes; rinse with cold water and let sit in cold water for 5 minutes before peeling.

Vinegar Mustard sauce:

3 T. soy sauce
4 1/2 t. rice vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. dry mustard

Mix together in a small bowl. I used dijon instead of dry mustard, because I didn't have any. I am sure it changed the texture, but it was good.

Marinated cucumbers:

1 T. salt
1 cucumber, cut lengthwise and sliced
1 T. rice vinegar
1 T. pepper vinegar
1 1/2 t. sugar
1/4 t. crushed red pepper

In a bowl, sprinkle the salt on the cucumber slices, then cover with water. Let sit for 20 minutes, then drain and rinse and squeeze out excess moisture. In a small bowl or tupperware combine the cucumbers, vinegars, sugar and red pepper. Refrigerate until serving.

When the broth is cooled, remove the beef, trim off any fat and thinly slice. In a small bowl, combine the sliced beef with soy sauce, sesame seeds, garlic and a generous grinding of black pepper.

Mix the broth with the vinegars, sugar and salt. Cool in refrigerator.

Prepare the noodles, drain and rinse in cold water.

To serve, put noodles in a bowl and add broth mixture to cover noodle halfway. Top with sliced egg, beef, cukes and mustard sauce. Set the beef, cukes and mustard out to be added individually. In this picture, the sliced bulgogi is on the left and the steak for the noodles is on the right.



Heat the skinny grill. Cook the steak 4-5 minutes on each side, to medium rare. Slice and serve.





Verdict: B+ for steak, B for noodles. Serve it hot to make it an A.
Credits: Marinated Grilled Beef (Bulgogi) and Cold Buckwheat Noodles (Naengmyon) from Eating Well May/June 1993
Leftovers? Keep the noodle elements separately. The beef is great the next day.

Notes: The noodles are actually better with warm broth. Serve the broth while still warm, or use the broth to cook the noodles. As a warm meal, it still works with cold toppings and gets an A. Beef soup to go with grilled beef is overkill. Save the bulgogi for another meal.