Archive | June, 2009

Steamed Veggies with Horseradish Vinaigrette

29 Jun

A few weeks ago I received a bunch of green beans in my CSA box…  but not the regular green beans, the haricot vert French-kind green beans…  thinner and crisper than the regular ones.

As you may have read here already, I am not a bean fan.  But green beans are a completely different thing.  I grew up eating French-style green beans from a can.  It was one of the choices of ready-to-eat veggies we were given – green beans, canned corn or sliced tomatoes…  and they had to be the thin french ones, because the fat, stubby regular ones were not the same… you could see the little beans inside and that would be a no-no for me.

But evolving into fresh green beans is something much more recent… as I was explaining to a friend the other day, canned and fresh greens beans are two completely different things.  And after you’ve tried the fresh kind, you’ll never go back to canned, ever.

To me the easiest way to prepare them is steaming them…  and I top them with some sort of olive oil-based dressing.  This time around was with prepared horseradish.  Check it out…

 

 Steamed Veggies w- Horseradish Vin

STEAMED VEGGIES WITH HORSERADISH VINAIGRETTE

About 4-5 baby red bliss potatoes, washed and cut in half
A small handful of haricots verts or french-style green beans, trimmed
The juice of 1 lemon
1 tbs of prepared horseradish
Salt and Pepper to taste
About 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

 

  1. In a medium pot, I cook some potatoes in a little bit of salted water.  I boil/steam them over medium heat in the covered pot for about 15 minutes.
  2. Boiling potatoes
  3. When the potatoes are about to be done, I place the trimmed green beans on top of the potatoes, cover the pot again and let them steam  about 2-3 minutes.  After that,  I turn the stove off and leave them there for about 5 minutes more until the green color in the beans is super bright.  Super easy.   
  4. Steamed Green beans and Potatoes 1
  5. While the beans steam, prepare the dressing…
  6. In a measuring cup whisk together the lemon juice, horseradish, olive oil, salt and pepper.   Drizzle over veggie and enjoy.

     Horseradish Vinnaigrette 1               Horseradish Vinnaigrette 2

Watch out…  make sure the horseradish you use does not contain egg or egg yolks in it.  I bought mine at Whole Foods and as you can see by the labeling, it does not contain any egg.  Just be careful if you’re traveling with it, because airport security might consider it a liquid and might take it away.  I was LUCKY I got a nice security person and let it slide…

           Gold's Horseradish                 Gold's Horseradish - BACK

Mango Sorbet with Kiwi Fruit

26 Jun

You have friends over and little time to make dessert? 

Embellish a store-bought frozen dessert with fresh fruit…   easy peasy.  And if the colors are as striking as these, nobody will even question your culinary skills.

 

 Mango Sorbet w-Kiwi

MANGO SORBET WITH KIWI FRUIT

1 pint of Häagen Dazs Mango Sorbet
2 kiwi fruit, peeled and diced

 

  1. Take some pretty glasses or cups
  2. Scoop 2 sorbet balls and garnish with kiwi pieces on top
  3. Wipe the sweat off your face after all this hard work… :)

Broccoli and Cauliflower Stuffed Shells

24 Jun

  A few weeks back I was figuring out what to do with the broccoli I had gotten in my CSA box…  I like it steamed or as part of a salad… but the farmer had told me the leaves are really good and I just was not sure how to cook them.  In Puerto Rico, or maybe it’s just me, we are not too fond of cooked leafy greens.  It’s just not part of our regular culinary vernacular.  But lucky enough, I saw this recipe for stuffed cannelloni from Jamie Oliver’s Jamie at Home.  It was just the recipe I needed to use up a lot of broccoli in one single recipe.

The broccoli I get in my CSA box is small… sometimes I questioned if it was really broccolini or even broccoli rabe.  So that’s why I used a few bunches of my CSA broccoli, but the recipe calls for ½ a broccoli stalk.  I guess you could use it all if you wanted.  This CSA broccoli came with lots of leaves, so that’s why I really wanted to use up and not waste.

CSA - Brocoli

When I am trying out new recipes, I rarely like to cook them just for myself.  Some people call me brave because I am willing to test and try out things I have never cooked before on my friends.  So I invited my friends Annie Mariel and Laura to try out this recipe with me… these were the brave and lucky two who got to try this one first.  Since then, I have made this recipe a bunch if times… they loved it!!!  When my mom tried it she thought the filling had cheese in it…   it’s so creamy.

But don’t be intimidated by the ingredient’s list…  I looks like there are too many ingredients, but if you think of it in components in the dish, it’s neither that long nor very difficult.  You’ll see…

  Stuffed Shells - Broccoli 3

BROCCOLI AND CAULIFLOWER STUFFED SHELLS

½ of a large head of broccoli, chopped into medium sized pieces, including the stem and leaves
½ head of cauliflower, chopped into medium sized pieces too
2 tbs olive oil, divided for the filling and the tomato sauce
6-7 garlic cloves, sliced thinly
A pinch of Red pepper flakes – you can add more if you like the heat
About 12 -16 brown-rice pasta shells – I use the Tinkyáda brand
½ cup sour cream
½ cup Devon double cream – it’s a Jamie Oliver-inspired recipe, I had to use English cream…
¼ cup parmesan cheese
1/3 cup fried tomato sauce or pureed tomatoes
About 1 tbs vinegar – I’ve used white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
3 slices of fresh mozzarella cheese
Basil leaves – optional
 
  1. Bring a large pot filled with salted water to a boil. 
  2. While the water boils, chop the cauliflower and broccoli.  Make sure you peel the outer skin of the broccoli stalks and chop the leaves as small as possible.  Do not use the stems of the leaves, just the leaves.  The stems will never puree well… I tried. 
  3. P1070371
  4. Add the chopped broccoli and cauliflower to the salted boiling water and cook for about 10 -15 minutes.
  5. When the broccoli and cauliflower have been for about 5 minutes already in the pot of water, heat 1 tbs of olive oil in a medium sized pan with tall sides.  Add the garlic slices and the red pepper flakes and cook until the garlic is golden, but not browned or bitter.
  6. Very carefully pass the broccoli and the cauliflower to the pan where the garlic and pepper flakes are.  Drain the vegetables as much as you can before placing in the oil, because the oil WILL SPLATTER.  I usually have a splatter guard in hand to make sure the oil does not catch me.  Mix the veggies with the garlic and pepper. 
  7. brocoli y coliflor blanched
  8. Add some salt and pepper to season and cook covered for about 30 mins, until the vegetables turn into an unrecognizable mass where they no longer retain their vegetable shape.  The leaves will not disintegrate…
  9. While the veggies cook, let’s prepare the sauces…
  10. For the tomato sauce, mix together the tomato puree, salt, pepper, vinegar and a small drizzle of olive oil.  Set aside. 
  11. For the white sauce, mix together the double cream, sour cream, most of the parmesan cheese and season with some salt and pepper.  Set aside.
  12. Also, bring again the large pot of water (with new water please…) to a boil.  Add salt and add the pasta shells.  Cook for about 5-7 minutes until they have grown in size a bit, are flexible to the touch, but still not fully cooked.  Drain the pasta shells and rinse with cold filtered water to stop the cooking process and cool them enough to handle.  Set aside.
  13. Shells - Par Boiled
  14. After the veggies are cooked, use an immersion blender to turn the veggies into a puree.  Make sure all the leaves are pureed and remove any stringy parts that may be around…
  15. Now we assemble… in your baking dish pour the tomato sauce on the bottom.  Using a small spoon, fill each shell with the broccoli/cauliflower puree and place in the baking dish. 
  16. Stuffed Shells - Broccoli 2
  17. After all the shells are filled and placed on the baking dish, spoon the white sauce over the shells.  If you want, now is the time to add some basil leaves, put I have made it without and the dish doesn’t need it…  now sprinkle some additional parmesan cheese on top of the white sauce and finish with pieces of fresh mozzarella on top.
  18. Now we assemble25-30 minutes, or until the top crust is golden brown.  As always… when the time is up, just turn the oven off and leave it there for about 10-15 more so it finishes cooking.

  Stuffed Shells - Broccoli 1

I served this with a very simple tossed salad and sweet baked plantains.  We had mango sorbet with kiwi pieces for dessert…

Left –Over Salad Dressing

20 Jun

This is a concept I learned from Katy at the Yoga Center… 

When we cook at the yoga center, salad is a big part of each menu and we do a home-made salad dressing to go along with it.  The first time I was “in charge” of the salad dressing I did not know what to do.  I have never made salad dressings in such bug quantities or know how to season it.  One rule we have at the yoga center is that we do not taste food before it is finished and “offered” to the Supreme Being.

Here comes Katy to the rescue…  She told me to check if there was any salad left over from the lunch service and to start from there.  What!?!?!?  Well, this is how left-over dressing came about.  The SALAD in the name is two-fold – it’s a salad dressing and it’s made from left-over salad…  The concept is to take what you have in the fridge, particularly a little bit of lettuce or a little piece of onion to season the dressing.  You season it and voila – salad dressing that’s natural and free of preservatives…

Because this is a concept made to use up any leftovers you might have in your fridge before they go bad, this is more a method than it is a recipe… so bear with me in regards to the ingredients list.

 

 Leftover Dressing

LEFT-OVER SALAD DRESSING

A handful of whatever salad greens you might have… I have even used a bit if shredded cabbage for coleslaw, red cabbage, mesclun, arugula, icebrg lettuce, you name it…
½ carrot – if the salad already has carrots, you don’t need to add more
1 tomato – again, if the salad you have left over has tomatoes, no need to add more…
¼ onion
½ cubanelle pepper
1 tbs salt
1 tbs garlic and herbs seasoning
3 tbs vinegar or the juice of 2 lemons/limes
About ½ cup olive oil – I rarely measure this…
About ¼ cup water – to thin it out a bit… it may end up being too chunky
Optional add-ins:
1/3 cup yogurt
4 oz cream cheese
 ¼ cup egg-less mayonnaise

 

  1. In a blender add the salad, onion, carrot, pepper, tomato, vinegar or lemon juice and seasonings.  Add the olive oil and blend together well.  If you feel the mixture is too thick, add the water in little increments until it reaches your desired consistency. 

I sometimes add all the ingredients except the olive oil and drizzle it slowly through the chute on the blender cover to make sure the oil emulsifies and that it does not separate afterwards.

 

You can use this as a sald dressing over greens or sometimes I also like to drizzle on top of steamed/boiled veggies, like potatoes, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, etc.

Spearmint Infusion

18 Jun

I learned to drink herbal teas when I was living in NYC… I started making myself chamomile and linden teas to help me go to sleep.  Chamomile and linden are both commonly used as relaxers.   Later on, I also started to drink teas as part of natural treatments – that’s how I got to know lemongrass tea, peppermint tea, Siberian ginseng tea, cold care mixes, etc.  

But I have never been too fond of hot beverages while living in Puerto Rico… I just start sweating after drinking any hot tea, for a treatment or not.   But, when I visited Israel in 2000 , ittle did I know I would fall in love with a tea… or an infusion, I should really say.  At the end of each meal we would be offered a mint tea – a handful of spearmint leaves in hot water; mix the water up with brown sugar or honey and you have the loveliest after dinner drink.  It helps in digestion and tastes awesome.  During our visit to Israel, I would finish all our meals with a few cups of that…

But since then I have learned to be very careful when asking for a mint tea… in a Middle Eastern restaurant or otherwise.  Because tea is really a specific plant that’s dried or cured and commercial teas out there mix that plant with other herbs to make flavored teas…  Tea usually has caffeine, the main reason I do not drink coffee or chocolate.  So every time I get the craving of mint tea after eating falafels, etc.  I am usually left with the unfulfilled desire for one…  And since that trip I remember with fondness those spearmint infusions. 

Spearmint is not as widely available here in Puerto Rico and when I tried to grow it here next the beach, the leaves get too bruised by the constant heat. But now, with my CSA box, I get spearmint grown in Aibonito on a weekly basis. So I can enjoy my spearmint tea while watching my TiVo…

 

 Spearmint 1

 SPEARMINT INFUSION

2 sprigs of spearmint
About 1 ½ cups of water
Honey or Brown Sugar to taste

 

  1. In a small saucepan with a cover, bring the water to a boil.  When water is boiling (or at least shows little bubbles in the bottom of the pan), turn the stove off.  Place the spearmint sprigs in the water and cover.
  2. Wait for at least 15-20 minutes for the leaves to steep in the hot water.
  3. Strain the leaves from the water into a mug and season with honey, brown sugar or even agave nectar…. your preference.

 

This is great as an after-dinner drink… they serve it at Le Bernadin in NYC.  They use French presses used to make coffee to present the spearmint leaves and water… when you press on the lever, then you’re left with the liquid infused with spearmint flavor.  Yummy…

Asparagus Dip

15 Jun

Inspired by these asparagus sandwiches or maybe a little bit lazy for not wanting to roll out sandwich bread for an upcoming Francophones party…  I decided to make an asparagus dip.  All the flavor and texture of the sandwich filling in an easier-on-the-cook format…

 

Asparagus Dip 3

 

ASPARAGUS DIP

1 jar of asparagus spears
¼ cup of egg-less mayonnaise
8oz of cream cheese
Garlic salt to season to taste

 

  1. In the bowl of a food processor combine the asparagus, egg-less mayonnaise, cream cheese and the garlic salt.  Pulse until it becomes a paste. 

 

Serve with crackers or on top of crostini…

Provençal Sandwich

13 Jun

This is a sandwich inspired by the ingredients left-over from the Cheesy Lasagna I made with Natalia the other day…

I discovered Provençal Mushrooms during my trip to Montevideo, Uruguay.   I visited for work to shoot a TV commercial there and let me tell you… Uruguay is not a place too welcoming of vegetarians.  Just like Argentina, Uruguayan cuisine is filled with “parrilladas” and meat, meat and meat everywhere… what’s a vegetarian girl to do??

These provençal mushrooms were  in the menu of El Palenque, one of the most famous restaurants in Viejo Montevideo, next to the Mercado del Puerto.  I had them with French fries and the combination of the garlic sauce, parsley, lemon juice was exquisite.  I like it so much I went again to the same restaurant to eat the same thing a few times… not out of necessity, but out of gluttony.

When I saw the left-over spinach and sliced mushrooms I decided to combine them into a neat little sandwich inspired by those awesome mushrooms in Uruguay… perfect for a Sunday lunch at the beach.

 

 provencal sand 3

 PROVENCAL SANDWICH

¼ cup of defrosted spinach, squeezed dry
2 button mushrooms, sliced
1 scallion
1 small garlic clove, made into a paste with some salt
¼ cubannelle pepper, cut into strips
2 tbs fresh parsley, chopped medium
The juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
2 oz of goat cheese
Handful of organic arugula leaves, washed and dried
Olive oil
1 whole-wheat demi baguette

 

  1.  In a small skillet over medium heat, pour about 1 tbs of olive oil and sauté the scallion and the peppers.  Add the garlic paste and stir to combine to avoid the garlic to burn.
  2. After a few minutes when the peppers have softened, add the mushrooms.  Move them around a few times to make sure they cook on both sides and absorb the seasoning.  Add a little drizzle of more oil if you find the pan is too dry.
  3. When the mushrooms have acquired some color, add the spinach and parsley to the pan.  Season with salt and pepper and add the lemon juice.  Cook for just a few minutes and turn off the stove.  Let the residual heat of the pan finish cooking the filling.
  4. Now, cut the demi baguette into two halves and scoop out some of the soft dough inside to make some room for the filling.  Drizzle with some olive oil and toast in a toaster oven to your desired crispiness.
  5. Spread both sides with goat cheese.  Transfer the filling to the bottom bread.  Drizzle with a bit extra olive oil.  Place the arugula leaves and then cover with the top bread.

 Provencal Sand 2

 

All you need now are the French fries…

Orange’d Roasted Carrots

11 Jun

My CSA box has graced me with so many carrots this season that I’ve had to look for new ways to make them … they’re super cute, because they’re mini carrots.  But I, my mom and the yoga center have been blessed with so many carrots this year.   And they keep coming each week.

CSA - Zanahorias

Roasting is a great and easy way to enjoy carrots.  Just drizzle them with seasonings and leave them in a toaster oven for about 30 minutes, enough time for me to do my daily meditation. 

This is how I made them the last time…

 Orange Roasted Carrots

 

ORANGE’D ROASTED CARROTS

3-4 mini carrots, washed and peeled
The juice of one orange
About ½ tbs of Olive oil
A sprig of fresh thyme
Kosher salt and Freshly cracked pepper

 

  1. I wash well and peel the carrots… if you don’t peel them, they show this darker skin on top after you cook them that is not very appealing to me.
  2. Place carrots in a roasting dish, squeeze the orange juice over them, add the olive oil, and season with salt, pepper and thyme.  Make sure the carrots are well coated with everything.
  3. Place in a 400F oven for about 30 mins.  The juice will reduce quite a bit…

 

Enjoy as a side dish…

Cook with your Kids…

8 Jun

I have 2 “nieces” I have told you about… Mariana and Natalia.  “Nieces” is in quotations because they’re actually the daughters of my best friends – but to them I am their Titi Madelyn.

Fortunately and very grateful, they’re two very lucky girls whose parents can provide anything and everything to them.  So it became a challenge for me to choose a birthday gift for them every year.  Since last year, Titi Madelyn decided she would only provide experiences as gifts.  They do not need one more toy or one more t-shirt…  really.

Natalia turned 7 last month and as a birthday gift she got a cooking class by yours truly…  She had the choice of learning to make a cheesy lasagna, “pastelillitos de Shrek” or Italian Quesadillas.  She chose the cheesy lasagna, because I think in another life we were both mice…

I truly believe that when you get kids involved in preparing what they’ll eat, they’ll be more inclined to try new things and to eat whatever is on their plate.  I always tell Natalia and Mariana that if it wasn’t good tasting or good for them I would not even offer it.  They get it…

Natalia had to make several decisions to make her Cheesy Lasagna.  She had to choose between:

  1. Small or Large pyrex mold – she chose the larger one
  2. What ingredients to include in it – her choices were spinach, oven roasted tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, almonds and button mushrooms

She finally chose spinach, fresh tomatoes, mushrooms and skinned almonds.  She wanted it all…   She squeezed dry the spinach and I explained to her how all that green water would not be helpful for a cheesy lasagna.  She skinned almonds with me.  She arranged the almonds on a sheet to toast in the toaster oven.  She cleaned and sliced very carefully the button mushrooms and the organic heirloom tomatoes and placed it in separate dishes for the upcoming assembly.  She loved that the mushrooms looked like little trees.

                             Toasting almonds     slicing mushrooms 2

I explained to her we would make a cheese sauce to pour in between the layers we were going to assemble.  The cheese sauce was a mixture of every cheese I had in the fridge at the moment… I assure you I did not buy one cheese for this project.  We used cream cheese, ricotta, parmesan, shredded mozzarella, fresh mozzarella and goat cheese.  She tasted each cheese individually before adding them to the milk seasoned with sofrito, salt and pepper.  She already knew the cream cheese, parmesan and shredded mozzarella from making pita pizzas with me.   But she tasted ricotta and goat cheese for the first time. She LOVED the goat cheese… and ate 2 goat cheese toasts while we were making dinner.  Titi Madelyn tasted goat cheese for the first time about 7 yrs ago… figure that one out.

Natalia added each cheese to the cheese sauce pot and stirred it carefully to help the cheeses combine and melt together.  I was in charge of boiling the water for the Jerusalem artichoke pasta.  I just set some water to boil, turned the stove off and let the noodles soften in that water.  The cheese sauce would continue to cook the pasta perfectly when the lasagna is assembled and in the oven.

This is more a method of making lasagna more than a recipe per se… but if you would like to replicate what Natalia and I did, here’s the ingredient list:

Natalia Lasagna

NATALIA’S CHEESY SPINACH, ALMOND, MUSHROOM AND TOMATO LASAGNA

½ package of DeBoles Jerusalem artichoke lasagna noodles
½ cup defrosted cut leaf spinach
6-7 button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
3 small organic tomatoes, washed and sliced
a handful of almonds, peeled and toasted
1 tbs olive oil
1 tsp of sofrito
About 1 ½ cups of milk – I really used what was left in the carton so I didn’t measure it
½ brick of cream cheese
¼ tub of ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella – the one you use for pizzas…
½ log of goat cheese
About ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese – but you could also use pecorino romano, asiago, grana padano, etc.
Salt and Pepper to taste
3 slices of fresh mozzarella – to top the lasagna only
 

Natalia then assembled the lasagna.  She decided in which order she would add the filling components:

  1. We started with a layer of sauce, then noodles, then more sauce. 
  2. Now goes the filling layer – spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes and almonds. 
  3. Add a sprinkling of more parmesan cheese before adding the next layer of sauce, pasta and more sauce. 
  4. Repeat until you create 3 layers of filling. 
  5. Then finish off of with the fourth and last layer of pasta covered with the remaining sauce you have and topped with pieces of fresh mozzarella. 
  6. I helped out with the hot noodles and the hot sauce, but Natalia did all the rest. 
  7. I baked the lasagna at 400F for about 25 minutes in my toaster oven.   We basically waited until the top got a nice brown color.  

    8. Filling

Natalia was super hungry by the time the lasagna was in the oven and I was in a hurry to feed her…We served her a nice piece with a side salad dressed with my Left-Over Dressing.  She ate so much; I had to give her a few papaya enzyme chewables to help her with her digestion and overfull tummy.  Her mom loved it too and took a great big piece home with her so daddy would also get a chance to try it.

Natalia Lasagna in PLate

The moral of the story…   Cook with your kids OFTEN.  Allow them to make decisions into what they’ll have for dinner, as long as they’re within what you believe is good for them.  Let them feel they’re part of the process and they will in turn reward you with the satisfaction of enjoying what they eat, enjoying foods good for them, raving all about it and asking you for more.  Natalia already wants us to schedule another “cooking class” when her Summer Camp ends.

Arugula Pesto

6 Jun

My mom is a pesto lover… she sees pesto on a menu and she zones out anything else.

When we started getting bagfuls and bagfuls of fresh organic arugula in our CSA box, I decided to use some in a pesto for her.  There’s so much arugula salad one person can take in a given week. 

I loved the taste of this pesto because it’s much milder and fresher tasting than if you use only basil leaves. 

 

 Arugula Pesto 2

ARUGULA PESTO

About 4 cups of arugula leaves, well washed and dried
1 handful of basil leaves
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
3 garlic cloves, chopped a bit
2 handfuls of walnuts
Sea salt and freshly cracked Pepper
About ½ cup of olive oil

  

  1. Fill the bowl of a food processor with all the ingredients except the olive oil.  Turn on the food processor and drizzle the olive oil thru the cover chute.
  2. Process until a chunky paste forms.

Arugula Pesto 1

← Older Entries

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 642 other followers