Mushroom Quinoa Pilaf with Sundried Tomatoes and Pesto

I am still cooking out of the pantry and the freezer. I think this is the last bit of quinoa in my house. So far the pantry challenge is going fine. If you missed it, look at my cupboard and freezer here. 

When I make quinoa pilaf all the veggies tend to rise to the surface during cooking. This one was different than my usual, with the addition of pesto and sun-dried tomatoes. The concentrated tomatoes gave it a wildly deep complex flavor. It is full of summer sunshine. Try it in your own kitchen. Made with frozen vegetables it a matter of dumping it all together and setting it to cook. Even the mushrooms and pesto were from the freezer.

Obviously it is easy as pie. Switch up the veggies, add in carrots or kale, you really can't go wrong.

I have a bowl as a meal by itself. It would make a luscious side to grilled fish. 

Mushroom Quinoa Pilaf with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Pesto

2 cups quinoa

4 cups water

1/2 cup frozen or fresh leeks (sliced)

1/2 cup frozen green peas 

1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil

1/2 cup mushrooms cooked in olive oil (frozen or fresh)

1/4 cup basil pesto

generous pinch of salt

If using fresh mushrooms, slice and saute in olive oil with a pinch of salt. Slice the sun-dried tomatoes into bite sized pieces.  Put tomatoes and green peas, leeks, mushrooms and pesto into a pan with a tight fitting lid. 

This is a quick pilaf, the kind your whip up when you want to eat soon. The sun-dried tomato richness means we can skip a sauté step and still have complex flavors.

Add the water and quinoa to the same pot. Bring it to a boil. Give it a stir, cover, and cook for 20 minutes on low heat.

Enjoy!  

Millet, Oat, Peach & Apple Gluten Free Muffins, and thoughts on Snow

Winter is here. Waist high snow fall and towering eight foot piles of it have zapped much of my energy and enthusiasm for life.  At good moments I like to marvel at the surreal landscape around us, wind carved drifts and epic icicles.  I am most grateful for my new snow boots keeping me warm and dry. Seriously, if you are looking for the best boot ever, look no further. 

And I think it may be wise to invest in some Westeros Wildling fashions. 

Because, see, winter is here. These are my windows after the last storm. And we live on a raised first floor, I usually have to stand on my tiptoes to reach the windows from the outside in the summer. 

I have not been outside today, since this scary guy seems to be out there right now... 

Winter and I are not friends. Mostly I have been making meals out of melted cheese and various corn products; tortillas, chips, corn bread. Cooking out of the freezer and the pantry a lot. And filling the rest of my calories with chocolate in the form of vegan brownies, and obviously hot cocoa. This is me with winter the winter snow sadness, nachos in one hand and rum laced hot cocoa in the other. Actually the two do not taste so well together, don't try it.

I did make an effort of cheerfulness with some peach muffins for breakfast. Inspired by the Millet and Oat muffin recipe in Le Tartine Gourmonde, I of course changed some things by adding peaches and removing some sugar.

This is how I keep my oatmeal; with the ratio on the front for making oatmeal so I don't have to wonder if my brain is remembering correctly first thing in the morning!

Mixing up the muffin batter up is easy.

for a double batch of muffins which makes 24. I used one bag of frozen peaches. Defrost them to make slicing easy.



Fill your muffin cups 3/4 of the way with batter. Divide the peach chunks evenly around them, poking them into the batter a bit. Sprinkle the tops with dry oats. My peaches did not sink much, you can see them here on the baked muffins. I find the frozen peaches have a good flavor, but are less tender and juicy than fresh ones. In muffins this might be a bonus, as prevention against soggy muffins.



Millet, Oat, Peach & Apple Gluten Free Muffins
makes 12 muffins

2 eggs
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons tahini paste (well mixed)
3 1/2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup millet flour
1/4 cup sorghum flour
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup oats (plus more for topping)
5 ounces cut peaches (frozen is OK!)

Preheat oven to 350°

Mix eggs and sugar in a bowl until combined and sort of creamy. Add oil, tahnini paste, apple sauce and vanilla. Mix well.

Combine the millet flour, sorghum flour, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl, ensure there are no lumps. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Add the oats. Stir until it is well mixed, with no dry spots.

Line a muffin pan with papers, or grease it. Or if you have a super easy silicone mold like mine, it needs no grease! Scoop 3/4 full of batter. Add peaches. Poke into the batter. Sprinkled with oats for garnish.

Bake for 25 minutes. Check that a toothpick comes out clean, indicated they are done.

Enjoy :)

Italian Meatball Subs Sandwiches for Superbowl Sunday!

There are three kinds of people who get excited about Superbowl Sunday. Firstly, the football fans, those who watch every game and get excited by reading stats all season are in the same camp this weekend with the fairweather-playoff-only-fans. Secondly, there are those people who save all their attention for the commercials, with the football footage as a moment to go to the bathroom or read twitter. Thirdly, there are those of us who are happy hunkering down in the kitchen, excited to have a reason to make guacamole, nachos, meatballs and and whatever else. 

Can you tell I am a happy member of the snack-food-making group? I support my Pats and am pro-football watching for everybody else. I just can not keep my attention on that game for more than 2 minutes. My mind wanders and then I am like "...what is happening? Don't I have something else to do?" That is the story of me and football. I will make sure to visit the living room during half time to catch Katy Perry.

So what are we making for the SUPERBOWL? 

MEATBALL SUBS! They epitomize football for me, messy, greasy, cheesy, total guy food, with bold flavors. They are a favorite of my husband, and both the subs and the meatballs themselves are totally easy to put together. This is my recipe from Global Meatballs, my brand new cookbook! 

Firstly, we need ground beef, onion, eggs, milk, bread crumbs, oregano, chili flakes (or powder because I cant find the flakes), parsley, garlic powder (you don't even need to use fresh garlic!) It's dead easy. Remember to get some sort of sub roll, all I could find at TJ's was the baguette, which is a good substitute ;)  And cheese, don't forget the provolone.

Friends, I recommend always making you stuff from scratch, like tomato sauce. And 95% of the time I do. Making marinara sauce isn't hard, especially with canned tomatoes. But sometimes we all have busy days. For those days, keep a jar of a good quality organic marinara sauce in you cupboard. An organic one without preservatives or added junk. Put that in a pan to warm on the stove, if you are using jarred sauce a squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of sugar can do wonders to freshen it up. And chili flakes if you roll that way. 

Mince up a yellow onion, saute it in olive oil until softened. Mix bread crumbs, milk, salt, spices and herbs. Add the eggs, ground meat, parsley. Preheat the oven to 400°.

Mix by hand, incorporating all the ingredients together. If things feel dry, add a splash more milk, this is what makes them tender. I like to let the mixture fall through your fingers, sort of sorting it over and over, rather than kneading and massaging it. This will keep the breadcrumbs light and fluffy, helping the meatball to stay tender. 

When you are pleased with the mixture, rinse your hands. Get out two sheet pans to bake the meatballs on. To roll nice smooth balls, moisten your hands under cool water occasionally. I find it makes the process go much faster. I make my meatballs golf ball size. I know some people like really big meatballs in their subs, so ok, just cook them longer. 

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. When done they will be sizzling, cooked though, and crispy on the bottom. Don't fuss over crisping all sides, they all get smothered in sauce. 

Use a thin spatula to remove them from the sheet pans. Deposit them into the red sauce. turning to coat. Set aside. 

Get out the bread and cheese.

slice that bread crosswise, sandwich ends connected. (Hard baguette problems? Pssst...put in it in microwave, makes it all soft.) And LAYER up that cheese. 

Is your oven still hot? No, ok, turn on your broiler for a moment while we melt this. Looking good! And a little line of meatballs, with extra sauce.

Some grated parmesan cheese makes it a pretty picture. 

Enjoy the game, in whatever way you like it. Ill be there making meatball sub sandwiches talking over all the important parts. Here is a good story you can distract people with. Did you know that meatball subs are a totally American food? Subs, hoagies, grinders, or whatever you call them where you are from have only been around for like 100 years or less. I have read they were developed sometime between the year 1900 and 1940. The exact New England city is not known, somewhere between Maine and Pennsylvania lies the home of the sub sandwich. What better thing to eat while our New England Patriots go and crush Seattle! (No offense Seattle, you have cool people in your city.) Cheers to a fun weekend! 

Meatball Sub Sandwiches

for the meatballs:

• 2 pound ground beef
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 4 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 2 teaspons dried oregano
• pinch of red pepper flakes

For sandwich making:

• Sub rolls or french bread
• marinara sauce
• provolone cheese
• (mozzarella and parmesan cheese optional)

Poached Salmon Balls with Cucumber Dill Yogurt Sauce

Salmon Balls are funny to think about. Lets get it clear, these are pureed salmon made into balls, not anything weird! These taste very much like the poached salmon you know, only more light and airy. They are almost without texture and melt in your mouth. Much like a French quenelle, if you have ever eaten those. 

Delicate pink dumplings of fish are held together only by egg and just a tad of potato starch. They take only moments to cook, literally two minutes in hot water.

Some might wonder, why bother making balls when plain salmon is so good itself? Novelty, great texture, interesting party food!

If you have family members who don't enjoy fish much, fish balls may be an easy way around that. Often texture or flavor is the offending characteristic. By pureeing it, both of those change. We all have heard that fish is an important food to include in our diets. Wild salmon especially has great nutrients and Omega 3's that make it a super healthy choice.

Most children should be eating more fish that they probably do, if they are not big fans of fish filets, try these poached fish balls. Changing the presentation makes fish accessible and fun, you can even eat them with your fingers!

It would be a very sophisticated choice for a party appetizer, served warm. I really enjoy them served just above fridge temperature as a luncheon dish. or stuck with toothpicks at pot luck. Once poached, they keep in the fridge for a day or two. So it would be possible to make the salmon balls one evening, stick a platter in the fridge and bring them to the afterwork party the next day, drizzled with sauce.

Warning:

The first time you make fish balls you may feel that you are committing a crime. When you put the nice fillet into the food processor, your heart may catch in your throat and you wonder if you should just pan-fry the thing. I know the feeling. But I urge you to take a deep yoga breath and just trust in trying something new. The paste may look terrible at first, just keep calm and fish-ball on! 

The cream sauce in my book is made with sour cream. But here I would like to share my yogurt sauce recipe, which is what I gravitate to. Plain yogurt, greek yogurt, goat yogurt, and sour cream are different but would be totally interchangeable here. Though plain yogurt will result in a thinner sauce. 

They are dead easy to make, fish and other ingredients go into the food processor. Get a big pot of salted water at a rolling boil. Then, very important, turn the heat on the water down, so it is no longer boiling. A very light simmer means the water is moving but not aggressively at all. (If the water boils, your fish balls will break apart.)

I use a mini scooper, it holds near to 2 teaspoons. If you don't have one use two small spoons to fashion ball-like portions. 

As each portion of fish-paste is scooped up, deposit it into the very-lightly-simmering poaching water. Continue, working in batches, each ball will fall in the water, puff up a bit, and then rise to the surface when it is near done. I find mine require about 2 minutes total in the water to cook. 

Remove them with a slotted spoon to a plate. Much of the excess water will steam off. Repeat with all remaining fish paste.

Mix up the dill sauce, chopped dill, peeled diced cucumber, yogurt, salt, pepper, a squeeze of lemon. 

Poached Salmon Balls

makes 25 fish balls

Cucumber sauce:

• 1/2 cup peeled, diced cucumber
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• fresh ground pepper to taste
• squeeze of lemon as needed

Salmon balls:

• 1 pound salmon, skin and bones removed
• 1/2 cup whole milk (goat milk or non-dairy milk)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon (12g) potato starch

To make the sauce, simply mix the peeled and diced cucumber with the yogurt, dill, salt, pepper and squeeze of lemon as liked. 

Cut the salmon into chunks small enough to fit into a food processor. Puree the fish until it becomes a fine paste. Add the milk and remaining ingredients. Puree about 10 seconds or as long as necessary to make the mixture very smooth. 

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil on the stove. Turn the heat down to a bare simmer. With a spoon scoop up a small bite sized portion of the salmon paste. You can form egg shapes with two spoons, or use a mini scooper. As each is formed, drop it into the poaching water.

Each salmon ball will sink before floating. Allow to cook another minute or two on the surface (total about 2 minute cooking time depending on size of the balls.)

With a slotted spoon, remove the poached salmon to a warm plate. Cover with the dill sauce and serve warm or at room temperature. If you have leftovers, they are good chilled.

Chorizo Meatballs Tapas Style

It's meatball season! Seriously, not only did my Global Meatballs cookbook come out on bookshelves and kindle this week, (buy it here!) but I have been seeing meatballs everywhere. On magazine covers, menus and all over twitter. Even my favorite Parisian chocolate king David Lebovitz is making meatballs this week.

Meatballs are economical comfort food, they both feed a crowd and make good leftovers. Meatballs are a canvas, easy to try some funky and try new things, but not too far out of a comfort zone.

In keeping with Sunday Night Football and the day when many of you make food for those who sit back and watch the AFC Championship, I give you these Spanish Chorizo meatballs. The meatballs are bite sized, use toothpicks or fingers, no forks necessary. They have a country style chunky texture and a smoky flavor that pairs well with chips, guacamole, wings and other game day foods.

The meat you will likely need to go to a store for, but all the other ingredients are simple and likely in most pantries. White wine, bread, paprika, parsley, salt, pepper. And an egg.  Note- you could use a light beer in place of the wine with good results!

I laid out all the ingredients today and then realized the egg carton was empty! What a nasty trick, an empty egg carton in the fridge, and I had just been to the store. I heaved a sigh and pulled on winter boots, enormous parka complete with fuzzy hood, and mittens. In the 15° sunshine I walked down the road to my aunt's house to buy some of her chicken eggs. I found her chickens in a barn door  huddled from the wind and basking in a slice of strong sunshine.

Eggs resupplied, onward I moved with meatball making. 2 slices of bread soaked in white wine. All bread is good, but best to stay away from seeded bread here, and if the crusts are very tough, omit them. This time I used white gluten free white bread from Canyon Bakehouse and it worked great! Mince parsley and garlic. Crack in one egg and measure salt, paprika, and pepper. To this, add ground pork and chorizo removed from the casings.

Roll into balls smaller than golf balls, about 1 inch across, like a ping pong ball. After I roll about 8 balls the meat gets sticky on my palms. I find a brief rinse of my hands in cool water will stop the stickiness from happening.


As they are made, place onto a baking tray or two. Parchment paper or foil makes for easy cleanup, but is not necessary to avoid sticking while baking.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350° for 30 to 40 minutes.

When done the meatballs will sizzle on the pan, they will have tightened up, taken on a golden color, and an internal temperature of at least 160°.


Pile onto a serving platter with napkins and toothpicks nearby and watch them be enjoyed. I like a glass of crisp white wine with mine, but beer would is just as good, if not more appropriate for the Patriots vs. Colts and the Seahawks vs. Packers playoff games. It will be a tense afternoon.

Stay tuned for two opposing meatball recipes for Superbowl Sunday!

Chorizo Tapas Style Meatballs

• 2 slices bread (regular or gluten free)
• 1/3 cup white wine or light beer
• 4-6 ounces uncooked chorizo sausage 
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 egg
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350°

Soak the bread in the wine for 10 minutes.

Mince garlic and parsley. Mix in a bowl with the egg, paprika, salt, black pepper and mushy bread and wine mixture.

Remove the chorizo sausage from their casings. Add the sausage meat and ground pork to the bowl as well. Using a hand, squeeze everything together over and over to combine it very well.  Bread, herbs, and meat should we well mixed, yes you can see the independent parts but they are evenly distributed.

Roll into ping pong sized balls (1 - 1.5 inches) place on a baking tray, bake for 30 to 40 minutes at 350°. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Favorite Spiced Frikkadels, Meatballs of the Rainbow Nation

I have made and eaten a lot of meatballs by now. You see, I wrote a book with over 100 meatball recipes, and that requires eating hundreds of meatballs. I have many favorites, and sometimes they change, but these Picnic Favorite Spiced Frikadelles from South Africa are always in the top 10. Why are they called that, because they are loaded with fragrant spices and because of the nice crust, seem to be the type of food which would travel well. Bring them for picnics, lunches or healthy snacks. No sauces necessary.

I do think that these are one of my favorite meatballs my entire Global Meatballs book. They have an ideal texture, first we encounter a distinct crispy crust fragrant with spices. These spices foretel even more spices inside. The interior is tender with a perfect ratio of breadcrumbs to meat. A mixture of ground beef and pork is used. I like a 2:1 beef:pork ratio, for texture, flavor and fat. Similar to a meatloaf and stuffing but mostly they are unique. 

In writing the book we wanted a representative group of meatball from around the globe. I ended up with recipes from over 40 countries and cultures. In doing the research some were easier to nail down than others. Denmark's national dish is a sort of meatball sandwich (Frikadeller Smorrebrod), lamb meatballs from Greece or Sweedish Meatballs are all well known emblematic dishes of their countries. 

Some parts of the world have huge traditions of meatballs, where it is impossible to pick an iconic one of the many. This may be due to the tradition and popularity of the meatball as a foodstuff, but I note this tends to happen in to areas of the world where diverse cultures have coexisted (often not so peacefully) for years. 

This overlay of cultures and usually results in cooks borrowing the best things from different traditions, food fusions and blurry lines. Regions like the Middle East, the Americas, and South Africa have rich traditions of meatballs with blurry lines of where they "came from" resulting in some of the most innovative and modern recipes. 

South Africa has an fascinating history, local tribes, tribes from further lands, spice traders, displaced people from India and East Africa, the Dutch and English colonists, and more, making up the people of this southern cape. Imagine all the different types of food they liked to eat. But I swear, all of them probably had some type of meatball tradition. 

In my research I found that the people of South Africa have as many favorite meatball recipes as there are cooks. I find this Spiced Frikkadel recipe emblematic of the Rainbow Nation, the taste, ingredients and and how it is made is made, is from everywhere and nowhere in particular. Could we go so far to call it a democratic meatball? There are European, African and and Indian elements in this one delicious food.  

You will find they are flexible at the table, I like them served alongside a big green salad. Or a rice pilaf, cous cous, potatoes, or a pile of cooked vegetables would support them well. Use leftovers in a sandwich the next day. They are equally good eaten hot or at room temperature.

(Note about temperature: The jury is still out about pork, the FDA recommends cooking ground pork to 160° and that what I put in my book. A lot of cooks say 145° is good, this is a hamburger cooked at Medium. I cook mine to 145°. You can Google it and make your choice. I take no responsibility for your overcooked, undercooked, or unnecessary fears of meat.)

Holler back if you try them and tell me what you love about them! I would like that.

Favorite Spiced Frikkadels
22 large meatballs, 5 servings

• 1 cup (115g) unseasoned bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup (115g) plain yogurt
• 1.5 (680g) ground beef and pork
• 1 egg
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 yellow onion, minced
• 1/3 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin 
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1.5 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 
  
• 1/2 cup chickpea flour
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 2+ tablespoons safflower or canola oil

Combine the breadcrumbs and yogurt in a bowl. Allow the mixture to rest for 5 minutes. Add the meat, egg, garlic, onion, cilantro, coriander, chili powder, salt and pepper to the bread crumbs. Using your hands incorporate all together. Add the meat and incorporate into the bread mixture.

In a shallow dish, mix together the chickpea flour, turmeric, paprika, and a pinch of salt. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350° (180°C) Line a baking tray with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Heat a frying pan on medium high with the safflower oil.

Wet hands will keep the meat from sticking. Form 2.5 inch (6 cm) balls in by rolling them in between your hands. Roll each in the chickpea flour, covering the surface. Place in the hot frying pan and cook the balls in batches. Shake the pan a few times, to brown the surface all over. Cook for 5 - 7 minutes, remove to the prepared baking tray. Repeat with remaining meatballs. 

Finish cooking the meatballs in the 350° oven, 10 -14 minutes should cook them through. A meat thermometer should read 160° for well done meat. (The jury is still out about pork, the FDA recommends cooking ground pork to 160°, a lot of people say 145°. I cook mine to 145°. You can Google it and make your choice.)

Perfect Baked Beans in a Slow Cooker

I know a few of you who got new slow cookers over the holidays and some of you at our Christmas table who wanted a copy of this recipe. These baked beans are for you. They are super easy to throw together last thing before going to bed and in the morning you will wake wondering what the amazing smell in your apartment is.

My family has always eaten baked beans on Christmas since my mother was a young girl. The story is, one year my grandfather decreed they should have a proper filling nutritious breakfast on Christmas, grilled steaks, baked beans and broiled English muffins with butter. For half a century or so. 

Last year was the fist year I succeeded in adding vegetables to the table! Now we include vegetable laden frittatas which make everyone from the gourmands to the vegetarians satisfied. 

Making your own baked beans costs just pennies and ingredients which are probably in your pantry. And unlike prepared or canned ones you will know just what's in them, no preservatives, no mystery. Just a little planning ahead.

This recipe is for 1 pound of beans. Easily doubled if you are feeding a crowd and your cooker can handle the size. 

Soak 1 pound of navy beans. They are the little white ones that look like this. This is the actual brand I used, just toss the "ham flavor packet" into the garbage, ok!

Instead of industrial "ham flavor" we can use real ham! Bacon, ham, or maybe you are like me and have chunks of leftover fatty ham rind in the freezer from Easter. 

Cook the pork product of your choice in a small skillet on medium low heat. Dice one yellow onion and add it to the ham in the pan. Cook this on medium low for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once the onion is softened and the ham is sizzling deglaze the pan with 3 tablespoons of whiskey. It will sizzle, cook off the whiskey. Set the ham and onion aside while the beans are arranged. 

Measure the water, molasses, brown sugar, tomato paste, salt and spices into the slow cooker. Stir to combine. Drain the beans of their soaking water.  Stir in the beans. Spoon the onion and fatty ham on top of the beans, don't stir this in, it will act as a layer to help the beans not dry out during cooking. 

Turn the cooker on high, go to bed, wake up 7 hours later to glorious smells. (If you have longer like 9 or 10 hours set the cooker to low. 

Stir 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar into the beans, this gives it a great bite. Taste them and add more salt or sugar as you desire, but they should be pretty perfect at this point! Serve hot. 

At Christmas we serve ours from a bean pot which is rhrumored to be my great great grandmothers. It might be true. 

Baked Beans in the Slow Cooker

• 1 lb dry navy beans. (Soaked)
• 1 yellow onion
• 4 strips bacon or equivelnt ham product
• 3 Tablespoons bourbon
• 3 cups water
• 1/2 can of tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 2-3 teaspoons salt
• 
  
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

(If you want to make these vegetarian, replace the bacon with coconut oil.)