As I used half of a GLORIOUS cabbage yesterday (I love those guys -- I am buying all of my cabbage from them!), I needed to figure out what I'm doing with the remainder. I think I'll cook Beekeeper's Cabbage as it looks tasty, and I have all of the ingredients that are begging to be used!
The question is what to cook for food tonight, since I'll be at work until close, but then having friends over. I make baked pasta a lot, so I'd rather avoid that. I also need to cook squash this week, and Thursday was a good day last year...
Man, I wish my crockpot wasn't in storage atm...
Also, some random recipes to save:
Pounded Walnut Pesto
Giant Chipotle White Beans
Bean Mole with Winter Squash <-- definately doing this next week! We have a bottle of mole that's been sitting here for as long as Mister and I have been together.
Showing posts with label walnuts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label walnuts. Show all posts
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Pumpkins as Food!
So we all remember my pretty little pumpkins sitting in a row on the window-sill. Sad to say, their numbers have been decreased by one.
I had intended on baking and pureeing all three pumpkins, but then realized that that's a lot of work just to have some pumpkin. So I cast around the internets for a good recipe that couldn't be subbed with canned pumpkin. As this was to be a bit healthier than the average pumpkin muffin/cake/yummy, I went to Heidi Swanson's site to check out her pumpkin options.
No surprise at all, she has quite a few tasty looking options. After looking at them all, and with varying degrees of heartbreak as I realize that I don't have the ingredients (damn this abbreviated kitchen/pantry!), I decide upon one.
This one, to be precise. Now, yet again, I do not have much of the ingredients -- but I can improvise here! If you'd like the original recipe, by all means follow the link above. But I shall list the ingredients and steps for my variant.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus oil for the dish
3/4 - 1 cup rice
1 small pumpkin, peeled seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 cup dried cranberries (or whatever one has left after snacking on them for two days...)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
oregano
2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup hot water
1/4 cup walnuts
Pick a pretty lamb for the slaughter.
Here she is all chopped and ready for cooking!
Preheat the oven to 375F, and generously grease with olive oil a 9x13 pan. Heat some olive oil (about 2 Tbs. worth) to toast the rice.
Toss about 3/4 c. - 1 c. of rice into the heated oil, and forget to take pictures of it toasting. But stir it all the while for about 3 minutes, or until the rice is popping out of the pan.
Put the toasted rice into the prepped baking dish, and top with the pumpkin, cranberries, and spices.
Dribble the maple syrup over the dish. Mix the hot water and the orange juice together, and slowly pour it over the ingredients. Cover tightly with tin foil and pop in the oven for ~45 mins.
Remove pan, carefully uncover and turn the oven to 400F. As discreetly as possible, sneak a taste and adjust the seasoning. If it looks too dry, add a spoonful or two of water or stock. As mine was fine now but was to cook for longer, I threw a little more water over it. Sprinkle the nuts on top, and return the dish to the oven.
Bake until the mixture bubbles and the top is browned, another 10 minutes or so. Serve piping hot or at room temperature.
Verdict? Delicious. I keep telling Mister he needs to come home and eat this and not his company Hallowe'en potluck...
I had intended on baking and pureeing all three pumpkins, but then realized that that's a lot of work just to have some pumpkin. So I cast around the internets for a good recipe that couldn't be subbed with canned pumpkin. As this was to be a bit healthier than the average pumpkin muffin/cake/yummy, I went to Heidi Swanson's site to check out her pumpkin options.
No surprise at all, she has quite a few tasty looking options. After looking at them all, and with varying degrees of heartbreak as I realize that I don't have the ingredients (damn this abbreviated kitchen/pantry!), I decide upon one.
This one, to be precise. Now, yet again, I do not have much of the ingredients -- but I can improvise here! If you'd like the original recipe, by all means follow the link above. But I shall list the ingredients and steps for my variant.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus oil for the dish
3/4 - 1 cup rice
1 small pumpkin, peeled seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 cup dried cranberries (or whatever one has left after snacking on them for two days...)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
oregano
2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup hot water
1/4 cup walnuts
Pick a pretty lamb for the slaughter.
Here she is all chopped and ready for cooking!
Preheat the oven to 375F, and generously grease with olive oil a 9x13 pan. Heat some olive oil (about 2 Tbs. worth) to toast the rice.
Toss about 3/4 c. - 1 c. of rice into the heated oil, and forget to take pictures of it toasting. But stir it all the while for about 3 minutes, or until the rice is popping out of the pan.
Put the toasted rice into the prepped baking dish, and top with the pumpkin, cranberries, and spices.
Dribble the maple syrup over the dish. Mix the hot water and the orange juice together, and slowly pour it over the ingredients. Cover tightly with tin foil and pop in the oven for ~45 mins.
Remove pan, carefully uncover and turn the oven to 400F. As discreetly as possible, sneak a taste and adjust the seasoning. If it looks too dry, add a spoonful or two of water or stock. As mine was fine now but was to cook for longer, I threw a little more water over it. Sprinkle the nuts on top, and return the dish to the oven.
Bake until the mixture bubbles and the top is browned, another 10 minutes or so. Serve piping hot or at room temperature.
Verdict? Delicious. I keep telling Mister he needs to come home and eat this and not his company Hallowe'en potluck...
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Baklava
So, on Friday I made baklava as per my plans. As I took pics of some of the processes, let's do a photo recipe!
Ingredients
1 pound phyllo (filo) dough
1 cup butter, melted and made into clarified butter*
1 cup pistachios, plus another 1/4 cup for garnish
2 cups walnuts
1 scant teaspoon cinnamon (okay, I just shook in however much I wanted, but it was around that much)
1/4 - 1/3 cup sugar (I used somewhere in between)
1 tablespoon rose water
1 batch of syrup (recipe follows)
[These are the original ingredients -- I subbed in ghee rather than clarify the butter myself -- why make more work?]
Preheat oven to 350F.
Combine nuts, cinnamon, sugar and rose water in a food processor and pulse until you have a nice, crumbly mixture. Or, alternatively, you could try to chop the nuts in the coffee grinder, and kill the motor, having your fiance continue the nuts by chopping, and then mixing my hand.
Melt the ghee in a small pan, and keep it on low/turn on or off repeatedly.
[There are no pics of the next steps, as my hands were covered with ghee and powder from the phyllo -- but it's pretty simple.]
Brush the bottom of a 13x9 pan generously with the clarified butter, then layer in 16 sheets of phyllo dough, brushing each sheet generously with the butter as you layer along, including the top sheet. Sprinkle half of the nut mixture evenly on top of the phyllo, then repeat the process with the next 8 sheets (don't forget to keep brushing on the butter!). After those 8 sheets have been added, evenly sprinkle the remainder of the nut mixture. Then layer the remaining sheets, brushing with butter in between. Some people like to pour the remaining clarified butter over the top, and some people do not. I like to brush on a little extra. You should do it the way you like to. Cut the baklava (if you wait until it's cooked, it won't go as well), either in diamonds or squares. Put the pastry in the oven.
Start making the syrup.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 small cinnamon stick (1-2" long)
10 cardamom pods
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon orange blossom water
[I added a little less sugar, and a bit of honey.]
Combine all of the above, and cook over medium heat, stirring continuously until the sugar melts. Let it continue to cook without stirring for 10-15 minutes, or until it becomes thick and syrupy.
Remove from heat, remove cinnamon and cardamom, then let stand until room temperature.
Bake for about an hour, or until it's nice and golden brown (but not too much so).
As soon as it comes out of the oven, pour the syrup evenly over the baklava and let it hang out overnight at room temperature to soak in. Makes 1 tray.
Verdict? Delicious. A little sweet for me, and I'm not overly a fan of the rose water/orange blossom water, but Mister and his sis were like OM NOM NOM.
Ingredients
1 pound phyllo (filo) dough
1 cup butter, melted and made into clarified butter*
1 cup pistachios, plus another 1/4 cup for garnish
2 cups walnuts
1 scant teaspoon cinnamon (okay, I just shook in however much I wanted, but it was around that much)
1/4 - 1/3 cup sugar (I used somewhere in between)
1 tablespoon rose water
1 batch of syrup (recipe follows)
[These are the original ingredients -- I subbed in ghee rather than clarify the butter myself -- why make more work?]
Preheat oven to 350F.
Combine nuts, cinnamon, sugar and rose water in a food processor and pulse until you have a nice, crumbly mixture. Or, alternatively, you could try to chop the nuts in the coffee grinder, and kill the motor, having your fiance continue the nuts by chopping, and then mixing my hand.
Melt the ghee in a small pan, and keep it on low/turn on or off repeatedly.
[There are no pics of the next steps, as my hands were covered with ghee and powder from the phyllo -- but it's pretty simple.]
Brush the bottom of a 13x9 pan generously with the clarified butter, then layer in 16 sheets of phyllo dough, brushing each sheet generously with the butter as you layer along, including the top sheet. Sprinkle half of the nut mixture evenly on top of the phyllo, then repeat the process with the next 8 sheets (don't forget to keep brushing on the butter!). After those 8 sheets have been added, evenly sprinkle the remainder of the nut mixture. Then layer the remaining sheets, brushing with butter in between. Some people like to pour the remaining clarified butter over the top, and some people do not. I like to brush on a little extra. You should do it the way you like to. Cut the baklava (if you wait until it's cooked, it won't go as well), either in diamonds or squares. Put the pastry in the oven.
Start making the syrup.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 small cinnamon stick (1-2" long)
10 cardamom pods
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon orange blossom water
[I added a little less sugar, and a bit of honey.]
Combine all of the above, and cook over medium heat, stirring continuously until the sugar melts. Let it continue to cook without stirring for 10-15 minutes, or until it becomes thick and syrupy.
Remove from heat, remove cinnamon and cardamom, then let stand until room temperature.
Bake for about an hour, or until it's nice and golden brown (but not too much so).
As soon as it comes out of the oven, pour the syrup evenly over the baklava and let it hang out overnight at room temperature to soak in. Makes 1 tray.
Verdict? Delicious. A little sweet for me, and I'm not overly a fan of the rose water/orange blossom water, but Mister and his sis were like OM NOM NOM.
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