Recipes

I spent this morning cooking for my friends who are new parents (and ones who are abut to be). I wanted to do a hearty main dish that could be frozen easily and that was tasty but not too spicy for a nursing mother. I decided on chickpeas over bulgar wheat.

As I was poking around my spice box, I found my fenugreek seeds and recalled the stunning fenugreek tomato pasta Ken made at camp. Fenugreek, tomato and chickpeas - perfect! This is hearty, healthy (it's vegan) and smells so good that I nearly portioned some out for myself.

Fenugreek Chickpea Curry
serves 2-3

1 can whole tomatoes
1 can chickpeas
1/2 onion
1 clove garlic
2 sundried tomatoes
1/2 tsp whole fenugreek seeds
pinch cumin seeds
salt to taste
olive oil

Mince the garlic and chop the onion, Saute in olive oil until the onion is becoming translucent. Add in the fenugreek and cumin and cook for a minute to release the spices' oils. Add in the tomatoes and liquid, crushing the tomatoes through your fingers as they go into the pot. Drain the chickpeas, rinse well, and add to pot. Chop the dried tomatoes into bits and stir into stew. Add a bit of water as needed. Simmer for 20 minutes or until chickpeas are a little bit soft and the flavors are fully developed.

I like the idea of eating wild foods even when I can only discover them in grocery stores. Yesterday I spied some fiddlehead ostrich ferns, kogomi in Japanese, and bought them to try. Full grown ferns are toxic, so you have to be cautious about your preparation of fiddleheads - boiling for 10 minutes is necessary and you want to make sure that the curled up ferns are nice and tight.

If you can't find ferns in your market you could substitute asparagus, which is similar in taste but without the earthy overtones.

Fern, Farro & Feta Salad
serves 2 as a main dish or 4 as a side

1/2 cup farro
1 cup fiddlehead ferns
2" square feta cheese
1/2 onion
1 lemon
1/2 tsp sesame seeds
1/4 tsp sesame oil
olive oil
salt to taste

Boil the farro in water for 20 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool.

Chop the onion into bite-size pieces and prepare to steam them over the fern water. I use a metal strainer that sits nicely over my small saucepan.

Clean the ferns by scraping off any loose brown bits and cutting the stems close to the curls. Wash and rinse well. Drop into a pan of boiling water and cook for ten minutes. Steam the onions.

Zest the lemon and juice half of it. Combine the lemon zest & juice, sesame oil, sesame seeds. Adjust with salt and olive oil as desired.

Combine the farro, ferns, onion in a bowl. Crumble in the feta and drizzle the dressing over everything, giving it a good stir. Serve at room temperature.

I never seem to get the standard butter/powdered sugar buttercream right, and I really don't like the too sweet taste or the heavy texture, so yesterday I went searching for a new method. I learned about buttercream roux, traditionally used on Red Velvet cakes. I think I will be using this cooked frosting for a while; it is soft and fluffy and not too sweet. Even though is it a bit more effort than whipping together butter and powdered sugar the result is worth the extra pan to wash.

I would like to try it with soy milk instead of cow's milk, but of course that will change the texture and flavor - perhaps in a good way, certainly in a more healthy way. I am sure other flavourings could be substituted for the vanilla and I wonder if you melted chocolate into the roux if that would work. I foresee many cake experiments in my future.

Buttercream Roux Frosting
covers a two layer cake

1/2 cup milk
2 -3 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
vanilla to taste

Heat the milk and flour until it thickens, stirring vigorously. Remove from heat , pour into a shallow bowl and allow to cool completely. Cream butter and sugar until light. Check the roux for lumps; strain if necessary. Add in the cooled roux and beat until creamy and fluffy. It is possible to do this with a whisk but an electric beater is certainly less effort.

We spied a bulb of fennel at the supermarket the other day - just one, sitting overpriced and alone in the corner of the vegetable display - and snatched it up for salads. Last night I combined fennel with fruit for a surprisingly good dessert course salad. The licorice flavor of the fennel complimented the sweetness of pineapple and tangelo. Fresh basil, ginger and a touch of red onion pulled everything together. It is one of those salads that is definitely more than the sum of its parts.

Fennel Fruit Salad
serves 2-4

1/2 bulb fennel
1/2 fresh pineapple
1 tangelo
1 slice red onion
2 leaves fresh basil
1/4" slice fresh ginger

optional dressings
fresh black pepper
balsamic vinegar (cherry flavored)

Chop the fennel, pineapple and tangelo into bite sized pieces. Mince the ginger, onion and basil. Toss everything together. Sit it on the dinner table and ignore it while you eat your main dish and enjoy a lively conversation.

Remember the fruit. Grab the pepper grinder and some balsamic to drizzle on individual portions for variety.

Fresh beets are a favorite special treat as they aren't often available. When we can find them, they are expensive (400 yen each) so we usually only have one at a time and roast them for salads. Last night, I changed gears and made soup. It was simple and delicious and a stunningly bright red.

Beet and Tomato Soup
serves 2

1 medium onion, chopped fine
1/2 clove garlic
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
1 beetroot, cut into large bites
1/2 can whole tomatoes
500 ml water
salt and pepper to taste

Sautee the onion and garlic in olive oil until lightly browned. Deglaze the pan with white wine. Add the beetroot, tomato and water. Simmer, covered, for about 90 minutes, or until the beetroot is no longer crunchy. You may need to add liquid as the soup cooks. Adjust the seasoning to taste.

Tod wanted to take granola bars to a hanami picnic, so I made these. As I often do these days, I consulted Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" for the basics, then changed it all around to suit myself. These turned out to be more like candy than granola bars! Packed with energy (85 calories per piece) Tod has declared that he wants to have them on his 60km weekend bike rides.

Orange and Chocolate Granola Candy
makes 48 bite-sized pieces

3 cups (~400 g) organic granola (the kind without dried fruit)
1 cup chopped dried fruits and nuts (raisins, apricots, currents, mango, almonds, pinenuts, etc)
zest of 1 orange, peeled and chopped
50 g unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup oil

Mix the granola, fruits, nuts, zest, chocolate and spices. Boil the honey, maple syrup & oil. Drizzle the hot syrup over the granola, mixing well. Press into an ungreased 9x12 pan. Refrigerate until firm. Cut into bars and store in an airtight container. They won't last the four days that Bittman claims they stay good for.

Here is another recipe to use up some leftovers - in this case the too strong dregs of the teapot and some odds and ends of dried fruit.

Fruited Tea Cake
makes 2 small loaves

2 cups strong brewed tea
400 g dried fruit (raisins, figs, prunes, dates coconut, etc)
1/2 cup nuts
250 g white flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp quatre epices (or cinnamon, etc)
200 g brown sugar
1 egg, beaten

Soak the fruit and nuts in the tea for two hours or as long as overnight. Mix together the flour, sugar, spices and baking powder then add the egg, along with the soaked fruit, nuts, and tea. Pour into two greased and floured loaf pans (or line your pan with baking paper) and bake at 150C for about 45 minutes. The cake is done when a pick is inserted and comes out clean.

This eggplant spread received raves at a dinner gathering last night and the bowl was scraped clean, so I thought I'd better write the recipe out so I don't forget it. I decided to add some pomegranate molasses, which I only seem to use for muhammara, and that was the key to deliciousness.

Eggplant with Pomegranate Molasses
serves 4

10 small eggplants (maybe 2-3 big American ones?)
1 large onion
olive oil
1 Tbsp pomegranate molasses
salt and pepper to taste

Pierce the eggplants with a knife. Roast them whole in the oven at 180-200C for about an hour. Allow to cool. Scrape the flesh from the skin. You should have about 2 cups of eggplant flesh. You will wish you had more.

Chop the onion. Carmelise the onion in olive oil. Add the eggplant and stir together until soft and smushy. Add the pomegrante molasses and season with salt and pepper.

Serve warm or room temperature as a spread or sandwich filling.

I always make too much mujadara to eat in one sitting but the rice and lentil dish is so delicious that it's never a problem. Tonight I turned some of yesterday's leftovers into patties. I drew on Heidi Swanson's "Ultimate Veggie Burger" for inspiration but mine is really nothing like hers, except for the lemon zest and cilantro.

Leftover hummus would be an ideal addition or could replace the chickpeas and tahini altogether. If you have some, experiment.

I baked up some buns to serve the patties on, using a variation of Seriously Good's Whole Wheat Buns. I omitted the butter and egg, and used water instead of milk, making these somewhat less rich but entirely vegan. The black pepper and garlic added a nice kick to compliment the veggie burgers.

Mujadara Veggie Burgers
makes 8-12 patties

1 can chickpeas, drained
1/4 cup tahini
3 cups mujadara (including the onions)
zest of one lemon
1/2 bunch cliantro leaves and stems, cut fine
4-5 scallions, cut fine
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric
2 dashes ground cumin

Smush up the chickpeas until they are only slightly lumpy (by hand or in a food processor as you choose). Add the other ingredients and use your hands to squish it all together. Form into patties. Fry in a bit of olive oil for 6 minutes on a side, or until the patties are crispy and brown on both sides.

Serve on buns with greens, tomatoes and the sauces of your choice.

Cook's note: Although the flavor is great and the patties moist and tender, their structural integrity is a little bit too soft. I need to figure out a way to make them hold together better. Eggs would do the trick, but I want this to be vegan. Perhaps breadcrumbs or a different cooking method.

Last Thanksgiving my sister made us a raw cherry cobbler that was out of this world. Today I saw a jar of sour cherries at the supermarket and bought it, hoping that I could replicate the cobbler at home. What I ended up with isn't quite what Jenn served us, since hers used dates and I didn't have any, but it is truly good and worth sharing.

This is recipe not raw food, because the cherries are heat treated when they are jarred. If you wanted to be properly raw, you would use frozen cherries, thawed.

Vegan Cherry Cobbler
serves 4

crumb layer
1 cup coconut
1 cup mixed walnuts and almonds
3 prunes
4 dried apricots

Process everything until crumbly. Set aside.

fruit layer
2 cups jarred sour cherries, drained very well
2 prunes
6 dried apricots
dash of cinnamon
dash of cardamom
honey or sugar (optional)

Process everything until smooth or only slightly lumpy. Sour cherries can be a bit too sour, so sweeten to taste with honey or sugar.

Layer the fruit and crumb mixtures into clear glasses for a fancy individual presentation, or make a big bowl for family style pig-out.

This weekend has turned into a festival of food. Though I hoped to get out and about and to catch up on some creative projects, I really cannot fuss much about spending my time in the kitchen. Especially when the process is fun and the results are so delicious.

Around dinnertime, Tod offered to do the shopping while I worked on starters but the trip destroyed his bicycle. A Morsbag full of ingredients dangling from this handlebars got caught in his front wheel. Fortunately, Tod was spared injury and the bottle of wine that did the damage was opened with the help of tin snips and pliers. The bike will be replaced later today.

Dinner was a feast and we were happy to have Rob over to share it with us. We made crackers from Heidi Swanson's recipe and they were fabulously light and flavorful. I whipped up an avocado spread with dried tomatoes, and we served mohamara and oat crackers, too. And that was just the opening.

Our main was aqua pazza with clams, red snapper and Chilean sea bass served with green rice, which seems to be short grain brown rice and cooks up beautifully nutty and robust. Tod made an amazing salad of strawberries and rocket. I don't think we had dessert; we certainly didn't need it.

Oat Crackers
makes about a dozen

1 cup rolled oats (not instant)
1/4 cup warm water
salt

Mix the oats, salt, and water with your hands until a dough forms. Press the dough into a disc, sprinkle with oats and roll out thinly between sheets of waxed paper. Cut into cracker shapes and bake at 170C for about 15 minutes, or until the crackers are thoroughly dry and crispy. Store in an airtight container.

Muhammara
serves 1-6

2 or 3 large sweet red peppers
1 Tbsp water
2/3 c. walnuts, lightly toasted
2/3 c breadcrumbs
1/4 c olive oil
1.5 tsp ground cumin
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp pomegranate molasses
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt

Roast the peppers until charred all over. Peel, stem and seed them, then chop coarsely. Place everything in the food processor and process until smooth. Taste for salt. Rest at least a few hours, ideally overnight, and at most 7 days. Serve at room temperature.

Aqua Pazza
serves 4

Normally in aqua pazza the vegetables are removed from the liquid and discarded before the fish is poached, but I like to serve the vegetables so I leave them in.

1 carrot
1 stalk celery
5 small tomatoes
1/2 yellow bell pepper
3 cloves garlic, halved
1 bunch mitsuba (or parsley)
2 Tbsn black olives
3-4 firm fleshed fish fillets, skin on
2 dozen small clams
cheap white wine and/or water
salt & pepper to taste

Chop the vegetables into serving size pieces. Put all the vegetables and seasonings into a heavy pan with a lid. Pour in wine to a depth of 3 cm - or a little more if you like. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 10-15 minutes to soften the vegetables. Add the fish and clams, cover and simmer another 5 or 6 minutes until the fish is cooked and the clams are open. Serve with rice or bread to sop up the broth.

Strawberry Salad
serves 4

This was inspired by Tod"s love of strawberries and black pepper and Mark Bittman's strawberry salad recipe which incorporates both, plus balsamic vinegar and arugula.

1 pint strawberries
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
fresh black pepper
1 blood orange
1 Tbsp goat cheese
5 stems fresh spearmint
2 cups rucola/rocket/arugula
olive oil
salt

Quarter the strawberries, mix with balsamic & lots of black pepper and marinate ten minutes. Peel, section, remove the inner skin, and chop the blood orange. Mix with the strawberries, crumble goat cheese over, and toss with rocket and spearmint leaves. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Drizzle with your best olive oil.

Today is my first weekend off in what seems like forever, and it is a long weekend to boot, so Tod & I celebrated a lazy Saturday by spending most of it in the kitchen. After so many weeks of dinners at the office, I have access to my own kitchen and pantry. I am in heaven.

We started off our culinary day with "Wilty Frittata" made with three eggs and a leftover lettuce, tomato and parmesan salad with croutons that I found in the fridge. Leftover salad (undressed, of course) has a lot of possibilities and we often use it as sandwich filling or as the base for a fresh salad, but this is the first time I've made a frittata with lettuce. It was worth remembering.

Wilty Frittata
serves 2

1 Tbsp olive oil
3 eggs, beaten
2 cups of leftover salad, mostly greens
1 Tbsp parmesan
salt & pepper to taste
1 small tomato, diced
drizzle of salad dressing

Heat the oil in a fry pan that has a lid. Pour in the eggs, and arrange any non-lettuce bits of the salad and the parmesan evenly over the eggs. Reserving a few leaves of greens for the garnish, place the rest in the pan with the eggs. Cook, covered, over medium heat for about 10 minutes. The eggs should be cooked through. If not, slide the frittata out of the pan onto a plate, then invert the pan over the plate, turn the pan-plate over and remove the plate. Cook another 5 minutes or as needed to firm up the eggs.

Top the finished frittata with the reserved leaves, diced tomato, and a drizzle of salad dressing.

***

For lunch we had a surprisingly tasty fusion of Japanese "ganmo" tofu and shiso pickles with carrot and lettuce wrapped in flour tortillas. After lunch, I baked some oat crackers and made red pepper and walnut dip for tomorrow. Later on in the day, we tried making oven-roasted beet chips from Mark Bittman's excellent "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian", but they failed - they were either burned to a crisp or soggy. It was a sad mistake. However, Bittman redeemed himself with a recipe for popcorn brittle that I vamped on to make a spiced movie snack.

Spiced Popcorn Brittle
serves 4 or more

2 cups sugar
1/3 cup water
1/2 tsp each: ginger, cinnamon, cardamom
6 cups popcorn, salted
1/2 cup sesame seeds
oil for greasing

Grease a cookie sheet or baking pan and set aside. Mix together the spices, sugar and water in a saucepan. Simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes or until the sugar carmelises. Drizzle the sugar syrup over the popcorn, stirring to coat. (Take care not to actually stick your hands into the bowl to mix this - hot sugar hurts!) Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Spread in the greased pan and allow to cool.

Chatting with an old Pittsburgh friend last week, we reminisced about "Tony's Crispy Bean Curd," one of our favorite tofu dishes at a local Chinese restaurant. It inspired me to make my own crispy bean curd that night. This one has a fruit-based sweet & sour sauce over deep-fried tofu.

Kristen's Crispy Bean Curd
serves 2

1 block (200g) tofu (momen/firm/cotton style)
2 Tbsp cornstarch
oil for deep frying
1/2 cup orange juice (or juice of 3 mandarin oranges)
1 Tbsp onion paste (or 1 tsp minced ginger + 2 tsp minced garlic)
2 fresh red chili peppers, minced
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup water
2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1/3 cup vinegar
pomegranate seeds
minced green onion

Press the tofu under a weight for 20-30 minutes. Drain and pat dry. Cut the tofu into bite sized cubes. Set aside.

Saute the onion paste & chili in a little bit of oil. When lightly brown, add the juice. In a separate bowl, mix 2 Tbsp cornstarch with 1/2 cup of water. Add cornstarch mixture to pan and stir to thicken the sauce, adding more water to thin as it cooks. Season with vinegar, salt and sugar - adjust to taste. Remove from heat.

Lightly coat the tofu cubes in cornstarch and deep fry at 190-200 degrees until the tofu is light brown all over.

Pour sauce over tofu and top with pomegranate seeds and onions.

Nanakusa, the seven spring herbs, are a traditional Japanese medicinal meal. On January 7th, people eat rice porridge flavored with the first bitter wild greens of spring. It's refreshing and delicious (plus it's supposed to strengthen the immune system and prevent colds) so I try to remember to do this. It is hard to miss, since all the grocery stores sell packages of nankusa around this time.

The herbs are mainly all weeds: purslane/shepherd's purse, chickweed, dropwort, nipplewort, cudweed, plus turnip (root and tops), and daikon (root and tops). They are the first things to peek out green in the early spring.

This year, I went a little bit upscale and added some crab and other seasonings. It turned out so well, I'd like to share the recipe (and to not forget it for next year). If you're outside Japan, the nankusa herbs may be difficult to find, but feel free to substitute whatever edible wild herbs grow at hand.

7 Spring Herb Porridge with Crab
serves 2-4

2 cups sprouted brown rice
7 cups water
1 small turnip, cubed
2" daikon, cubed (or 2-3 radishes)
1/4 carrot, minced
1 cup wild herbs, chopped fine
1 tsp yuzu kosho (citrus chili paste)
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup crab (real or imitation)
1" ginger, shredded

Boil the rice (or use a pressure cooker) until it is soft. Add the turnip, daikon & carrot and simmer for 5-10 minutes, until the vegetables are soft. Remove from heat and stirr in the herbs and seasonings. Serve topped with crab and ginger.

This is a basic stir-fried curry that I learned from Shakti's Indian Spice Box cooking school in Udaipur when we went to India in 2006. I included it in Almost Vegan, so you may already have see this one, but I fear losing the photocopied recipe I got from Shakti, so here it is again!

Home-style Indian food is not as heavy as the ghee-rich dishes you get in restaurants. This curry is flavorful and light. Although it may seem complicated because it is prepared in several steps, each step builds on the next one, and can be set aside or varied along the way. I can whip up this curry while the rice cooks and it's always good, no matter what I decide to throw into it.

I specify tofu or cauliflower in this recipe, but you can use paneer, potato, eggplant or any other vegetable (or meat) that you like. If you're using chicken or meat, parboil it first or it won't cook through.

Khadai Curry
serves 1-2

Onion Paste
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
2” fresh ginger

Blend in processor with a bit of water. Keeps in fridge for a week. Can be used in all sorts of dishes.

Basic Curry Mix
2 Tbsp oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
5 black peppercorns
2 cloves
1 whole cardamom
2” cinnamon stick
½ tsp brown cumin seeds
1 Tbsp ground coriander
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp chili powder
2 Tbsp onion paste (above)
¼ cup water
salt to taste

Heat oil in pan and add onion slices. When onions begin to brown, add the whole spices. When onions are caramelized, add the powdered spices, onion paste and ¼ cup of water. Simmer on low heat for 3-4 minutes until the mixture thickens; the oil will separate and float on top of the mixture. This is basic curry mix and can be used as a base for many curry dishes.

Curry
2 small tomatoes, crushed
2 small green peppers, in bite-sized pieces
1 small onion, quartered
100 gr tofu or cauliflower, in bite-sized pieces
dash garam masala

To the basic curry, add the crushed tomatoes and cook until the mixture thickens and the oil floats to the top. (This is a basic tomato-based curry). Add green peppers and onions (and cauliflower, if using it) and cook for two or three minutes. Add tofu and cook for one minute, mixing well.

Remove from heat and serve with a sprinkle of garam masala.

We've recently finished reading Bill Buford's book, Heat. He tells the tales of a mid-life career change from editor to cook and everything along the way - including learning Italian and several long trips to Italy to learn to cook. One of his tutors is a 16th century Italian named Bartolomeo Scappi, who wrote a Renaissance cookbook called Opera dell'arte del cucinare.

Buford mentions in passing Scappi's mixture of beets and spinach as a tortellini filling and this intrigued me. Beets (yum!) and spinach (yum!) together? Wow. I wanted to try it. So I found a reference to Scappi's recipe. It wasn't beetroot, as I'd assumed, but beet tops, also known as chard. Still, it looked to be a delicious recipe with a surprising twist of cloves and cinnamon, so we tried it.

Scappi's beet and spinach ravioli

Here's Scappi's recipe (translated by Helewyse de Birkestad with my notes in []):

Per far minestra di tortelletti d’herba alla Lombarda Cap CLXXIX Piglinosi biete, e spinaci, taglianosi minute, & lavinsoi in piu acque, e strucchisi fuori l’acqua, faccianosi soffriggere con butiro fresco, & con esse ponasi a bollire una brancata d’herve odorifere, & cavinosi, & pongasi in un vaso di terra o di rame stagnato, & giungavisi cascio Parmeggiano grattato, & cascio grasso, tanto dell’uno quanto dell altro, & pepe, cannella, garofani, zafferano, uva passa, & uove crude a bastanza; & se la compositione fosse troppo liquida pongavisi pan grattato, ma se sarà troppo soda, mettavisi un poco di butiro, & habbiasi un sfoglio di pasta fatta nel modo che si dice nel capitolo 177. & faccianosi i tortelletti piccioli, & grandi, facendoli cuorcere in buon brodo di carne, & servanosi con cascio, zuccaro, & cannella sopra.

To make a dish of tortellini of herbs in the Lombard style, Chapter 179
Take beet (beet tops or swiss chard), and spinach [1 bunch each], chop very finely, and wash in more water and then drain out all the water. Put the greens to fry in fresh butter and with them add to boil a hand full of odoriferous herbs [we used parsley, chervil and oregano]. Take them out and put them (herbs and greens) into a jar of pottery or of tinned copper, and add grated Parmesan cheese and fat cheese [no fat cheese for us], more of the one than of the other. Also add pepper [1/2 tsp], cinnamon, cloves [dash of each], saffron [5 stamens softened in 1/2 tsp water], dried currants [we used about 10 raisins cut in half] and enough raw eggs [1/2 an egg, beaten]. If the mixture becomes too soft and bread crumbs, but if it is too hard, add a little butter. Have a sheet of pasta made in the way that is described in chapter 177. And make small and large tortelletti, and cook them in good meat broth, and serve them with cheese, sugar and cinnamon on top.

We made a few substitutions from the original recipe. Chard is not available in Japan, so we used a Chinese vegetable called ta-sai, which is related to mustard and broccoli. We made ravioli rather than tortellini, and we boiled our ravioli in vegetable broth instead of meat broth. With those substitutions in place, we found the recipe wanted no other changes. It was outstanding.

I'm looking forward to tracking down some other Scappi recipes and trying them.

Still, I want to try beets and spinach together. I think it would be interesting. Experimentation in the new year, I think!

In the West Village of New York City, I bought something called a drunken fig. It was a whole dried fig, stuffed with port-infused fig and chocolate filling and dipped in dark chocolate. It was pretty good, I liked the fig and chocolate combination, but the filling wasn't drunken enough and the whole thing was a little bit too dry. I thought I could do better. Tod & I brainstormed a luscious variation.

In our version the figs are soaked in cherry brandy, filled with white chocolate ganache and dipped in dark chocolate. The result is sweet, fruity and sinfully rich. At about 200 calories each, you might want to serve them split in half to reveal the pretty insides.

White Chocolate & Cherry Drunken Figs
makes 9

9 dried Turkish figs
cherry brandy
100 grams white chocolate
50 ml heavy cream
pinch salt
pinch nutmeg
100 grams dark chocolate

Cover the figs with brandy. Soak for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Finely chop the white chocolate and place it in a metal bowl. (Metal helps conduct the heat to melt the chocolate in the next step.) Add the salt and nutmeg tot the cream and bring to a simmer. Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate and whisk until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Refrigerate to cool.

When the ganache is cooled and the figs are soaked, drain the figs and gently squeeze out any excess liqueur. Remove the ganache from the fridge and whisk it into a slight fluffiness.

Using your pinky, carefully poke a hole in the fig on the flat bottom where there is probably already a small crack. You'll be able to open up the cavity inside the fig with your finger. Stuff in a teaspoon or two of ganache. This is messy, but kind of fun. You can use a pastry tube if you prefer, but I find the ganache too stiff to press through easily.

Any leftover ganache can be made into white truffles by forming them into balls (make sure the ganache is well chilled or it will melt in your hands) and rolling in minced nuts or cocoa powder.

Finely chop up the dark chocolate. In a double boiler, melt 2/3 of the chocolate, then remove from the heat and add the remaining chocolate, stirring until it melts. Dip or roll the figs in the chocolate to coat them and dry /cool on waxed paper.

While researching for this recipe, I came across this helpful and excellent madly scientific article on tempering chocolate.
I understand the mystery of heating chocolate now!

Mom asked me to share some well-seasoned vegetarian recipes with her. She doesn't eat a lot of meat and wanted to learn a bit more about the tasty stuff I'm always going on about. So I made her a little cookbook. I called it "Almost Vegan" because although the emphasis is on vegan things, there are a couple of recipes with optional shrimp and one with non-optional eggs.

We cooked quite a few of these together, and I think she liked them. I used the recipes while we were in North Carolina, too, and the dishes were well-received. Everyone at the NC beach house claimed they don't have time to cook. I think maybe they just don't enjoy it enough to make time for it. I love to cook and it takes up too much of my time, sometimes.

Anyway, I wanted to share the little cookbook with you, in case you're looking for some nicely spiced, healthy, vegetable rich homemade foods. It's divided into sections based on region - Middle East, India, South Asia, and Europe - with a few recipes in each section. You might recognise a few from past Recipe Thursdays. Hope you enjoy it!

Almost Vegan 132KB PDF

This is one of my favorite rice and bean recipes. It's a bit troublesome, as you have to cook the lentils and rice separately, so you need enough pans, but they can be cooked at the same time, so it doesn't really take long and the results are worth the minor effort. Fluffy rice, earthy lentils and a topping of carmelised onions. Comfort food from the middle east.

I usually make more onions than I call for here, because carmelised onions are so good. The black pepper and allspice is a mixture called baharat and there are many regional variations. I prefer this version for its simplicity.

Mujadara
serves 3-4

1 cup brown lentils
1 cup long grain rice
2 onions, thinly sliced
¼ tsp black peppercorns
¼ tsp whole allspice
½ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp ground cardamom
olive oil
4 cups water

Fry the rice in a little oil, until it starts to change color. Add the cardamom and two cups of water. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes, then remove from heat and let stand 20-30 minutes.

Fry the lentils in a little oil until they start to brown. Add the peppercorn, allspice and cumin. Pour in two cups of water and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the lentils have absorbed all the water.

Carmelise the onions in oil. Make sure they get really brown and soft.

Combine cooked rice and lentils. Top with carmelised onions.

This recipe is a part of one of our standby quick meals along with some tortillas and chopped vegetables. There's no need for an Old El Paso spice mix when you can easily make your own (and tailor the blend to your tastes, too!)

Spicy Mexican Beans
serves 2
(suitable for vegans, vegetarians, omnivores, low/no fat and gluten-free diets)

1 can beans (navy, pinto, black, etc)
1 pickled jalapeño, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 onion, minced
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp chili powder
oil
salt and pepper

In a deep frying pan or pot, sautee the onions and garlic in a bit of oil until the onions are translucent. Add the beans and stir vigorously to smush them up a bit. Additional oil will make the beans creamier, but isn't strictly necessary. Mix in the spices & jalapeño. Salt and pepper to taste.

Flavorful Italian-type sausage is difficult to come by in Tokyo, so I learned to make my own with ground meat and the right seasonings. Now I've learned to substitute faux meat for regular meat to make a low-fat vegan version.

I use this odd stuff called Pino Konnyaku or "Vegetarian Meat" that's a mixture of okara (soybean fiber) and konnyaku (jelly-like starch) and grinds up to a texture similar to cooked ground beef.

This recipe can be adapted easily for meat eaters by substituting real meat sausage (and breadcrumbs or rice as filler).

Butternut Squash with "Sausage" Stuffing
serves 4

1 butternut squash
1 onion
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup edamame
1 1/2 cups of "vegetarian meat"
seasonings: fennel seed, cayenne, onion powder, garlic powder, sage, thyme celery seed, salt, pepper, MSG

Mix the meat with the seasoning and allow to marinate for several hours. You should do this to your own taste - I like lots of fennel and a fair amount of cayenne with the other seasonings creating a flavorful background. MSG helps the flavors to blend. Do yours as as you like.

Cut the squash in half lengthwise. Roast on an oiled surface in a 180C oven for about 25 minutes, or until the squash can be easily pierced with a knife. Coool to room temperature. Remove seeds; scrape a channel for the filling, setting aside the scraped bits for the filling mixture.

Chop the onion & garlic finely, saute in oil. Add the seasoned "meat" and cook until slightly browned. Mix in the squash and edamame. Season to taste with salt and pepper and/or a splash of soy sauce.

Spoon the filing into the squash shells and bake at 180 for about 15 minutes, or until the top of the mixture is lightly browned. Serve with rice and salad.

Note: if you are using meat sausage, brown it and drain the oil before adding to the filling mixture. You may want to use rice or breadcrumbs as a filler, since 1.5 cups of cooked sausage is a lot!

I think my favorite meal at camp was the lunch Tod & I cooked together. We bought two whole salted mackerels (shiosaba) at the fishmongers', wrapped them in foil, and cooked them over a gas stove "fire" to share with all of our camping companions.

Camp Saba
serves 12

2 50cm salted mackerels, gutted & scaled
3 small zucchini
2 onions
2 tomatoes
oil
black pepper

Cut the head, tails, and fins off the fish, split each into two lengthwise. Leave the bones in, they are a lot easier to take out after cooking.

Cut the vegetables into bite size pieces but not too small as they will be steaming with the fish for a while.

Lay a piece of fish on a large piece of foil. Top with 1/4 of the vegetables; drizzle with oil & season with pepper. Wrap the fish tightly in the foil, using extra pieces to patch as necessary. Repeat for the remaining three fish pieces.

Place the foil packets on a grill surface over a flame or other heat source. We used a portable gas ring but a charcoal grill or campfire would be equally effective, as would an oven if you're not camping. Cook until you can smell fish and see steam escaping from the cracks in the foil armor, then carefully open a packet (beware of steam) and test for doneness. The fish should be juicy and soft but opaque all the way through. The vegetables will be cooked and fragrant.

After peeling back the foil, find the two fishes with bones, push the veg out of the way, and carefully peel the bones out of the fillet and discard. Serve the fish and vegetables with rice, a salad, and a view of the ocean (optional).

Tod showed me the peaches (yum) then held up a green pepper, "What do you think?" He said I looked dubious, but I was just imagining the combination, along with the ginger that we'd already agreed on. "Yeah, go ahead," I granted.

Wow! The green pepper is a fresh top note, then you taste the sweetness of hte peach, bit not it's flavor so much, then the ginger brings it home. I couldn't even tell there was rum in the drink until I started to type up this recipe...

Peach and Piman Fruity Drink
serves 2 generously

2 overripe peaches, cut into chunks
1 Tbsp chopped ginger
1 piman (small green bell pepper), seeds & pith removed
130 ml white rum
ice to fill the blender (~3 cups)

Put everything in the blender and whirl until smooth and drink-like. Pour into glasses with more ice as desired.

Pickle press in action

These are a refreshingly light side dish and go very well with the Lentil Tagine previously posted. Start the pickles about an hour before you plan to eat and they will be ready for you to serve. These don't keep well, so enjoy them all at once.

Lemon Cucumber Pickles
serves 2

2 Japanese cucumbers, or 1 American cuke
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 lemon
1 tsp olive oil

Cut the cucumbers into 1 cm rounds or quarter the American cucumber and cut into 1 cm slices. Sprinkle the cukes with salt, allow to sit until they start to weep. Press gently and pour off any dark liquid. Squeeze lemon over the cucumbers, drizzle with olive oil and press (in a pickle press or under a plate weighted with a can of soup) for 30-60 minutes.

Tagine on the table

A tagine is a kind of terracotta cooking pot with a conical lid, and also the food cooked in it - a stew. Normally a tagne has soft, falling off the bone meat and vegetables, but this version is meatless. It cooks at low heat for a long time. I don't have a tagine pot, but I use my cast iron pot or Japanese ceramic nabe and they both work fine. The Moroccan spice mix can be made ahead and stored.

Moroccan Spice Mix
makes about 4 tsp

2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp clove
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp cumin

Lentil and Vegetable Tagine
serves 4-6

2 cups yellow lentils, soaked for an hour
1 tsp olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp Moroccan spice mix (or up to 2 tsp for more intense seasoning)
2 dried apricots, cut fine
4 cups water (adjust as needed during cooking)
1 carrot, large diced
3 cups eggplant, zucchini, etc., large diced
1 cup green beans, broad beans, asparagus, etc, cut into 2 cm pieces
1 cup mushrooms, large diced
6 plum tomatoes, halved or quartered

In a tagine or heavy casserole, saute the onions and garlic in olive oil until lightly browned. Add the drained lentils, spice mix, apricots, and 4 cups of water. Cover and simmer until lentils are about 1/2 cooked. Yellow lentils take about 25 minutes to this point; red or brown lentils will take a little less time. Check the package and schedule accordingly. You may need to adjust the amount of water, too, so keep an eye on it.

Add in the carrots, cover the pot and cook for ten minutes. Add the remaining vegetables except the tomatoes and cook for 10-15 minutes or until the vegetables and lentils are both done. Mix in the tomatoes and serve.

In another "I'll give your ephemera back after I've used it" moment, I snagged This 1935 edition of General Foods seminal baking book, All About Home Baking from Greg.

It's an excellent primer on the fundamentals of baking from scratch. 23 Easy Picture Lessons promise to cover the keys to baking success. And they really do, not only through the recipes, but in the hints illustrated in Key Steps picture lessons.

Tod's promised to scan the book for me, so that I can return it to Greg for artistic repurposing. When I have the scans I will post them. But until then, I want to share some of the useful knowledge this book imparts.

Butter is generally preferred for greasing because of the good flavor it imparts to the crust. Melt the butter in a cup over hot water and use only the oil on top. Do not use the salt that sinks to the bottom, as salt tends to make the baked product stick to the pan.

I never knew that. I guess that greasing the pan with solid butter will make the cake stick because of the salt. Here's another tidbit.

Divide the baking time into quarters. It will help you controlling your oven heat if you know just when you ought to look at your cake and what you may expect to see. For that purpose, baking time for cake has been divided into quarters as follows:

1st quarter - Cake mixture begins to rise.
2nd quarter - Rising continues; surface begins to brown
3rd quarter - Finished rising; cntinues to brown
4th quarter - Finished baking; shrinks from sides of pan

Take a look at your cake at the end of each quarter and, if you find that it is not baking according to this schedule, adjust the heat.

This was written in a time when ovens didn't always have thermometers or good heat regulation. Here's a practical test suggested for checking your oven's temperature:

Set a pan sprinkled with flour in the oven and if the flour becomes a delicate brown in five minutes, the oven is slow (250 F to 350 F). If the flour turns a medium golden brown in five minutes, the oven is moderate (350 F to 400 F). If the flour turns a deep, dark brown in five minutes, the oven is hot (400 F to 450 F). If the flour turns a deep dark brown in three minutes, the oven is very hot (450 F to 500 F). These same tests may also be done with white tissue paper or white unglazed paper.

I'm not keen on substitutes for meat, dairy and eggs in my vegetarian diet. I don't really miss them all that much, and am quite content to eat vegetables, beans and other tasty whole foods without disguising them as "meat." However, a few weeks back in Kawagoe, we picked up a bag dried yuba (tofu skins) that was bunched into ugly little dessicated balls. The health food store lady told us they were delicious if breaded and fried. She was right. The texture is uncannily like chicken breast and this recipe makes a delicious meat-like side dish.

Yuba Kara-age
serves 2

6 dried yuba balls
warm water
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp black sesame seeds
chili powder
coriander leaf
cumin
1 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp corn starch
oil
Chinese mustard

Soak the dried yuba in warm water for about 45 minutes to an hour. When completely reconstituted, it will be doubled in size and spongy with no hard bits in the middle. Squeeze the water out. Drizzle the yuba with soy sauce then sprinkle with sesame seeds, chili powder, coriander and cumin. Toss to coat. Dredge in flour and allow to marinate for 20 minutes or so.

Heat oil quite hot in a fry pan or deep fryer. Coat the yuba in corn starch and fry until golden brown. Drain (or blot) and serve with spicy Chinese mustard.

Chilled tofu salad is a popular summer dish in Japan. Hiya-yakko traditionally is topped with soy sauce and ginger paste, green onions and bonito flakes. But that's not the only Yakko option. In Tofu and Beans Recipe 176, there are 10 more ideas for topping your tofu.

Some of them are unspeakable (squid guts with citrus peel - yuck!) but here are five that will make a delicious light meal on a hot night. Each of these recipes serves two people as a side dish or light main.

Anchovy-Yakko
200 g silken tofu
2 anchovy fillets
1/2 clove garlic, sliced
1 tsp olive oil
1 sprig parsley

Cut the tofu in half. Mince the anchovies and place on top of tofu block. Fry the garlic slices in olive oil. Arrange on top of anchovies. Garnish with parsley.

Unagi-Yakko
200 g silken tofu
30 g grilled unagi (eel)
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp pickled sansho (sichuan pepper)

Cut the tofu in half. Slice the unagi into 1 cm pieces. Heat the oil and lightly fry the unagi and sansho. Server on top of tofu.

Rakumi-Yakko
200 g silken tofu
1 bulb myoga (young ginger)
1 leaf aojiso
1 umeboshi (pickled plum)
bonito flakes

Cut the tofu in half. Finely slice the myoga and aojiso, allow to rest in a bowl of salted water. Pick the plum into small bits. Drain the herbs, mix with the plum and spoon onto the tofu. Garnish with bonito flakes.

Octopus & Kimchi-Yakko
200 g silken tofu
30 g boiled octopus legs
30 g kimchi
sesame oil
soy sauce
sesame seeds

Cut the tofu in half. Cut the octopus and kimchi into bite-sized pieces. Sautee briefly in a little bit of sesame oil. Season with soy sauce. Spoon onto tofu and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bleu Cheese-Yakko
200 g silken tofu
20 g bleu cheese
1 stem chives or green onion
bonito flakes

Cut the tofu in half. Crumble the bleu cheese. Finely slice the chives. Top the tofu with the cheese and chives and sprinkle with bonito flakes.

You might scratch your head over this, but Perl hackers like food so much that they add recipes to their source code. But the new maintainer, Andy, has deleted the recipes. Horrors! To preserve these two tasty vegetarian Middle Eastern ones, I'm republishing them here. Thanks to Sean Burke for including them in the first place.

Tangy Moroccan Carrot Salad
formerly found in Locale::Maketext

6 to 8 medium carrots, peeled and then sliced in 1/4-inch rounds
1/4 teaspoon chile powder (cayenne, chipotle, ancho, or the like)
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon honey
juice of about a half a big lemon, or of a whole smaller one
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon of fresh dill, washed and chopped fine
Pinch of salt, maybe a pinch of pepper

Cook the carrots in a pot of boiling water until just tender -- roughly six minutes. (Just don't let them get mushy!) Drain the carrots.

In a largish bowl, combine the lemon juice, the cumin, the chile powder, and the honey. Mix well. Add the olive oil and whisk it together well. Add the dill and stir.

Add the warm carrots to the bowl and toss it all to coat the carrots well. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

The measurements here are very approximate, and you should feel free to improvise and experiment. It's a very forgiving recipe. For example, you could easily halve or double the amount of cumin, or use chopped mint leaves instead of dill, or lime juice instead of lemon, et cetera.

Easy Hummus
Adapted from a recipe by Ralph Baccash (1937-2000)
formerly found in HTML::Element

INGREDIENTS:

juice of two smallish lemons (adjust to taste, and depending on how juicy the lemons are)
6 tablespoons of tahini
4 tablespoons of olive oil
5 big cloves of garlic, chopped fine
salt to taste
pepper to taste
onion powder to taste
pinch of coriander powder (optional)
big pinch of cumin

Then:
2 16oz cans of garbanzo beans
parsley, or Italian parsley
a bit more olive oil

PREPARATION:

Drain one of the cans of garbanzos, discarding the juice. Drain the other, reserving the juice.

Peel the garbanzos (just pressing on each a bit until the skin slides off). It will take time to peel all the garbanzos. It's optional, but it makes for a smoother hummus. Incidentally, peeling seems much faster and easier if done underwater -- i.e., if the beans are in a bowl under an inch or so of water.

Now, in a blender, combine everything in the above list, starting at the top, stopping at (but including) the cumin. Add one-third of the can's worth of the juice that you reserved. Blend very well. (For lack of a blender, I've done okay using a Braun hand-mixer.)

Start adding the beans little by little, and keep blending, and increasing speeds until very smooth. If you want to make the mix less viscous, add more of the reserved juice. Adjust the seasoning as needed.

Cover with chopped parsley, and a thin layer of olive oil. The parsley is more or less optional, but the olive oil is necessary, to keep the hummus from discoloring. Possibly sprinkle with paprika or red chile flakes.

Serve at about room temperature, with warm pitas. Possible garnishes include olives, peperoncini, tomato wedges.

Variations on this recipe consist of adding or substituting other spices. The garbanzos, tahini, lemon juice, and oil are the only really core ingredients, and note that their quantities are approximate.

For more good recipes along these lines, see:
Karaoglan, Aida. 1992. /Food for the Vegetarian/. Interlink Books,
New York. ISBN 1-56656-105-1.

It's blueberry season and the American imported blueberries are too tempting to pass up even though they come from much farther than 150 km away. This is a vegan, low fat dessert in case you don't want to eat your blueberries plain. Only 175 calories per serving, so it won't ruin your diet, either.

Vegan Blueberry Cobbler
serves 4

2 cups blueberries
1.5 tsp cornstarch
1/8 c honey
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
pinch cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
pinch salt
1.5 tsp canola oil
1/4 c unsweetened soy milk

Cook the berries, cornstarch, honey and lemon juice over medium heat until the mixture boils and thickens. Pour into an ungreased baking dish.

Mix the remaining dry ingredients, then stir in the oil and soy milk to form a thick batter. Drop by tablespoons onto the blueberries. Bake at 425F/220C for 15-20 minutes or until the topping is beautifully browned.

Serve warm with ice cream, if you like.

Years and years ago, our friend Tak taught us how to make tofu steak topped with soy sauce and bonito flakes. I loved it, but made it infrequently. Now that real steak is off the menu, this vegan variation topped with sauteed mushrooms will appear on our plates more often. It's takes about 30 minutes from start to finish, but ten minutes of that is pressing the tofu, which leaves you time to make a salad and steam some veggies.

Tofu Steak with Mushrooms
makes 2 servings

400 g tofu (firm, cotton type)
2-3 Tbsp corn starch
1 Tbsp oil
6 shiitake mushrooms, sliced
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp mirin
water

Drain the tofu and press under a weight for ten minutes to squeeze out the excess moisture. Slice in half horizontally to form two thin slices (like a layer cake). Pat dry with kitchen paper.

Dredge the tofu slices in corn starch on all sides. Make a slurry of the remaining startch and some water. You'll use this to thicken the sauce at the end.

Fry the tofu in oil on medium high heat for about five minutes on a side, or until they get crispy. After the first flip, add the mushrooms to the pan.

Mix together the soy sauce and mirin with about 1/4 cup of water. Remove the crispy tofu from the pan and plate. Deglaze the pan with the soy sauce mixture. Add the corn starch slurry and any additional water necessary to bring the sauce to a consistency you like. Pour mushrooms and sauce over tofu.

Notes: For Tak's version, skip the mushrooms. After removing the tofu from the pan, drizzle it with soy sauce and sprinkle katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) on top. • More alternate toppings: soy sauce with daikon oroshi, ginger paste or wasabi paste. • My pan is seasoned with turmeric from cooking Indian curries and my tofu steaks were slightly colored as a result. Bonus tasty!

Molasses Muesli cookies looking all healthy

For the last couple of weeks, I've been testing the vegan waters. In many ways, I am loving the increase in vegetables, lack of animal products, and the weight loss, too, but there are some drawbacks.

Sweets are one of them. When I had a sugar craving this afternoon, I searched around for recipes and ended up inventing my own based on a few that looked not too bad. These are exactly the sort of sweets that my mother mocked our vegetarian health-food fanatic neighbors for making. But now that I'm eschewing eggs, dairy and meat, I'm reduced to doing my best with these healthy ingredients.

The cookies turned out soft and chewy with a lightly oat-y texture. Mine have a slight overemphasis on the molasses flavor because I only had dark molasses on hand; I think light molasses would be a better choice.

Each cookie is 66 calories, is very low in fat and has a 3% of the US RDA of iron. Tod says they are evil because it's very easy to eat three of them for a total of nearly 200 calories. I just say "Aaaahhh, sweets. Please pass another cookie!"

Molasses Muesli Cookies
makes 24 cookies

1 banana
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup muesli (I used Dorset Luury Muesli)
1 sp baking soda
1 tsp ginger
1.5 tsp cinnamon

Mash the banana and stir together with the molasses, honey and sugar. Add the spices and baking soda, then the flour, mixing well. Stir in the muesli.

Drop rounded teaspoons onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 175C/350F for about 8 minutes.

Tod's New Spice Cake
serves Tod

2 1/3 cups flour
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1.5 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cardamom
1 tsp salt
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
2/3 cup butter
1 cup milk
3 eggs

In a large bowl, mix together flour, white sugar, baking soda, spices and salt. In a medium bowl, cream butter and brown sugar, then add milk. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until smooth. Pour into prepared round layer pans and bake at 350/175 for 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

I filled this year's cake with a layer of maple syrup flavored frosting and sprinkled the top with powdered sugar mixed with a little chai masala.

I was putting my new ravioli press to the test earlier this week and it did a good job once I'd figured out some of its secrets. Press the filling in tightly, don't overfill even a tiny bit. Allow the dough (rolled to indicator 5 on the Imperia) to dry slightly and/or flour it thoroughly so it doesn't stick to the press. Roll firmly with the rolling pin, being especially careful to cut the edges and use a bench knife on any inside seams that don't perforate sufficiently.

I cooked up three batches of ravioli that night: herbed cottage cheese; four mushroom; & today's recipe, walnut with sun-dried tomato. I'm sorry there's no photo of the ravioli made up but it was too quickly eaten for me to even think about the camera. It was gooooood. The walnut recipe is salty, bursting with umami and vegetarian (even vegan if you substitute for my egg-based dough). I didn't measure anything as I cooked, so this is an approximation. Adjust as desired.

Walnut & Sun-Dried Tomato Ravioli
stuffs 48 ravioli with a bit left over

1.5 cups walnuts
8-10 sun dried tomatoes (not in oil)
olive oil
black pepper

Put the nuts in a food processor. Snip the tomatoes into slices with your kitchen shears and add to nuts. Sprinkle generously with fresh ground pepper. Drizzle with oil. Blend until you have a rough paste - the mixture should stick together but still have texture. You may need to add a bit more oil as you go.

The Perfect Pasta Dough works well with this filling - good tooth and flavor to balance the boldness of the filling. I used about 2/3 of the dough recipe to make 48 ravioli (2 pans' worth). The leftover dough cooks up great as a side dish the next day or can be frozen. I topped the ravioli with an herbed tomato sauce, but a cream sauce would have been equally delicious.

This bread is a variation on my basic white bread recipe but the addition of tea and spices transforms it into a completely different loaf. The spices bring out the honey flavor, the tea makes it interesting. Delicious as breakfast toast, I'd hoped to fry some up some as French toast, but we ate it up before I had time to try!

Chai Tea Bread
makes 1 loaf

100 g bread flour
200 g all-purpose flour
1 c warm milk
1.5 Tbsp hot water
1 pkt instant dry yeast
2 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp oil
1 tsp Assam tea leaves
2 tsp masala chai spice (a mix of cardamom, ginger, black pepper, clove, mace & nutmeg)
1 egg

Mix milk, water, honey and tea. Add yeast and proof for 5-10 minutes. Mix flour and spices. Add yeast mixture and oil to flour and stir. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead about 10 minutes or until the dough passes the windowpane test. Place in an oiloed bowl, cover and allow to rise in a warm or room temperature place until doubled. Shape into loaf pan, rise again for an hour. Wash with beaten egg. Bake at 180C for 30 minutes.

Pressed cheese ready for curry

Cottage cheese is a simple thing to make - they don't call it cottage for nothing. It takes a bit of your attention, to ensure the milk doesn't scorch or boil over, but other than that, it's almost as easy as boiling water.

You need only two ingredients: whole milk and an acid like lemon juice or vinegar. Your yield will be about 15% of the weight of the milk. So a liter of milk makes about 150 grams of cheese and a gallon of milk makes a little more than a pound. The cheese will have a faint taste of the acid that you choose - lightly lemon-y if you use lemon juice. Of course you can season it with herbs or spices as you like. Do that after the cheese is drained.

Cottage cheese can be pressed to make a firm paneer for curries, or left in curds like Miss Muffett always liked.

Cottage Cheese
makes about 150 grams

1 liter whole milk
an acid: 1/2 lemon or lime, juiced, or 1-3 tsp vinegar
cheesecloth

Bring the milk to a boil over medium heat, stirring to prevent scorching. When it comes to a boil, stir in the acid and cook for another 2-3 minutes. The solids will clump together (curds) and the remaining liquid will become a thin watery white (whey). Turn off heat and allow to sit a few minutes to cool.

Strain through cheesecloth (or thin cotton cloth). When the liquid is mostly drained out, lift the cloth by the corners and twist to squeeze out remaining liquid. This is cottage cheese.

To make firm paneer, press the cloth-covered cheese under a 5kg/10lb weight for up to two hours. I usually fold the cloth around the cheese, press it into a pancake shape, sandwich it between two cutting boards, then balance the bowl of whey on top, adding water to increase the weight. After an hour, the cheese is firm enough to cut into cubes.

We splurged on an Imperia pasta machine for Christmas. It was a good investment - we've been enjoying making our own spaghetti, fettuccine and ravioli nearly every week.

The basis of a good pasta is the dough. This semolina and egg recipe never fails to make excellent dough that can be rolled and cut by machine or by hand. It's yolky yellow, with a chewy tooth and firm texture. It's such a joy to work with that I hardly every make anything else. And since it's usually just me and Tod, I make the whole recipe but freeze half the dough for another night. The frozen dough thaws quickly and rolls out like it was freshly made. Honestly, this is the perfect pasta dough.

Perfect Pasta Dough
makes 4 servings

125 g all-purpose flour
165 g semolina flour
3 eggs
1 Tbsp olive oil
pinch salt

Combine the flours and form them into a mountain on your counter. Poke a deep well into the center. Crack the eggs into the well and add the oil. Use a fork to whisk the eggs and oil, slowly incorporating the flour into the mixture. When the mixture gets thick, abandon the fork and use your hands. Knead for ten minutes, then wrap tightly in plastic warp and allow to rest for 30 minutes. (This is a just enough time to tidy the kitchen and get a sauce started!) To finish, roll out by hand or with a machine and cut into desired noodly shapes. Boil in salted water 2-8 minutes, depending on how thick the noodles are and how al dente you like them.

Homemade fettuccine topped with cabbage & bacon

Cabbage & Bacon Fettuccine
makes 2 enormous servings

10 slices bacon
1/2 large onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 head cabbage
olive oil
black pepper
freshly made fettuccine

Cut the bacon into bite-sized pieces. Slice the onion, roughly chop the cabbage. Thinly slice the garlic.

In a wok or large pan fry the bacon until crisp. Remove meat to towelling and drain bacon grease from pan but leave any crispy bits. Add some olive oil to the pan and sautée the onion and garlic until the onion turns translucent. Add the cabbage. Allow to cook while you boil the pasta. The cabbage will be completely wilted but still slightly crisp in the ribs.

Put the water on to boil for the pasta. Add fresh noodles, boil for about 3 minutes or until they are cooked through but still al dente. Drain, then drizzle with olive oil.

Return bacon to pan and mix with cabbage. Serve over noodles. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.

The morning after - leftover breads cosy up on the cutting board. JIm's white, my wheat.

Jim and I got together yesterday to trade bread-making secrets. His bread is always chewy and crusty. Mine is small crumbed and even. I like his better; he prefers mine. So we baked a loaf each and I took notes. His secrets: no oil, bake at a high heat for a short time. My secrets: I don't have any, but it seems to be the oil that gives the bread its fine crumb.

After we baked, we watched a great video on bread making, produced by a community college in Pennsylvania near where we grew up. It has some great tips in it, and a lot of silly local jokes: You're The Chef, #712: Bread Baking .

Here are recipes for both loaves. Jim's White Bread and Kristen's Wheat Bread.

Jim's White Bread
makes a very large loaf

2 cups water at about 40 degrees
2 tsp instant yeast
sprinkling of flour
6 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt

Mix the yeast and water, sprinkle with flour. Allow yeast to bloom for about 10 minutes. Add flour. Stir until the dough forms a ball that pulls away from the sides of the bowl (add more flour as necessary). Knead for about 4 minutes, or until you stretch a small ball into a translucent pizza without breaking it. Let rise at room temperature for about an hour (or until doubled) in an oiled bowl covered with a cloth. Punch down and form loaf. Allow to rise until doubled again. Slash bread and dust with flour. Starting from a cold oven, bake at 250C/480F for about 20 minutes.

Kristen's Wheat Bread
makes one huge loaf

2 cups warm water
2 tsp yeast
1 Tbsp flour
4 cups all-purpose flour
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt

Combine water and yeast, sprinkle with flour and let yeast bloom for ten minutes. Add flours, oil and salt. Stir until dough forms a ball that pulls away from the sides of the bowl (add more flour as necessary). Knead for about 4 minutes, or until you stretch a small ball into a translucent pizza without breaking it. Let rise at room temperature for about an hour (or until doubled) in an oiled bowl covered with a cloth. Punch down and form loaf. Allow to rise until doubled again. Slash bread. Bake for 20 minutes at 250C/480F.

Dense bread makes great toast - soaks in lots of butter!

This bread isn't the most exciting loaf ever, but it's simplicity is going to make it a staple in my kitchen. The crust is a tiny bit sweet, the bread is finely grained and neutral in flavor. It takes 3 hours from start to finish.

Basic White Bread
makes 1 loaf

2 cups bread flour
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp instant (quick) yeast
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp oil or melted butter
2 Tbsp honey
1 cup milk (heated very warm)

MIx the dry ingredients together. Add the wet ingredients and stir to form a soft dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for ten minutes. Allow dough to rise in a cloth covered, oiled bowl for an hour or until doubled. Punch the dough down and shape into a loaf. Allow to rise in oven (with the light on or with a pan of warm water) for about an hour. Bake at 180C for 40 minutes.

Rosemary and cheese focaccia ready for dinner

This focaccia is a breeze to make and comes out soft and chewy on the inside with a crispy top. From start to finish it takes under 2 hours. I used instant yeast, which can be mixed directly into the flour and makes the dough preparation quicker, but I'm not 100% thrilled with the flavor of that yeast. Next time, I'll try active dry yeast and see if that improves the recipe. Regardless of the yeast, this bread was yummy and gone in two days. Can't go too far wrong with rosemary, pepper and grana padano!

Focaccia
makes 16" round (8-12 servings)

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups bread flour (strong flour)
2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1 pkt instant yeast (11 g)
1 1/3 cup warm water (45C/110F)
2 Tbsp olive oil (plus some extra for oiling the top)
1 Tbsp rosemary, chopped
1 tsp black pepper
2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated

Mix together the flours, salt, sugar and yeast. Stir in the warm water to activate the yeast. Add the olive oil and continue stirring to incorporate all of the flour.

Knead on a floured surface until the dough is smooth but still quite soft, maybe 4 or 5 minutes. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turning to coat the dough with oil. Allow to rise, covered with a cloth, for 30-45 minutes or until doubled.

Punch down the dough. On a large oiled baking sheet, flatten the dough into a large disc about 1 cm thick. Spread with about a half tablespoon of oil. Use a rounded spoon handle (or a large cooking chopstick) to dent the dough all over at 3 cm intervals. Sprinkle with rosemary, pepper and cheese.

Sit a shallow pan of hot water in a cold oven. Put the bread pan on a shelf above the water. Close the oven and allow to rise about 20 minutes, or until doubled. Turn the oven on to 190C/375F and bake for 20 minutes or until browned on top. Cool on a wire rack.

Here's another quick and delicious tapas side dish to server with your favorite glass of Spanish sherry. This can be made in about 5 minutes entirely from pantry items, so no excuse not to show off a little next time someone drops in unexpectedly in the evening. You could also take this to the proper level and do it all from scratch. It woudl certainly taste fresher and more vibrant, but it will take longer than 5 minutes. Despite the ready-made ingredients, this is quite tasty.

Garlicky Tuna-Potato Salad
makes about 1.5 cups

50 g instant mashed potatoes
150 ml hot water
50 ml milk
1 can tuna, drained
1 tsp garlic chips, crushed
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp capers (or green olives or pickles), chopped
salt & pepper to taste

Prepare the potatoes by combining with hot water. Add milk and stir until smooth. Mix in the remaining ingredients. Season to taste. Serve on toasted bread or in small dishes as an appetizer.

This is the base of the meat sauce at Amoroso - a mixture of meat, wine and tomatoes. Maeda-san adds rosemary to the sauce to reduce the scent of the meat - nutmeg would also work, but nutmeg doesn't pair well with wine.

Maeda-san makes a huge batch and freezes it. He finishes it by adding extra ingredients if he feels it needs something special to match his menu. The original recipe calls for 2kg of beef and filled a huge saucepan. Since I don't have a pot that big, I've cut it to a more manageable size.

Amoroso Bolognese

100 g onion
100 g carrot
100 g celery
olive oil
1/4 tsp fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp salt
500 g ground beef
1/2 bottle (or so) red wine
1 can (250 g) whole tomatoes and water to rinse can

Mince the onion, carrot and celery. Cook over medium-low heat until onions are translucent (about 20 minutes). Add ground beef, increasing heat slightly to brown beef. Season with salt and rosemary. Pour in enough red wine to cover the meat mixture completely. Simmer slowly until the wine is reduced and the meat is no longer covered (it will look dry on top, but will be wet if you stir it). Crush the tomatoes and add to the meat. Simmer on low for two hours.

This is the base sauce which can be frozen.

To finish: Heat a ladle of sauce in a skillet. Add a big lump of butter (maybe 2 Tbsp) and cook until the sauce looks creamy. Toss in your cooked pasta. Salt to taste. Remove from heat and stir in a handful of grated Parmesan cheese.

Curried Salmon Spread would look even tastier with grapes.

I wanted to celebrate the solstice with a spread of tapas, so I went to the store and bought a bunch of unrelated ingredients, then came home to turn them into little dishes to top toast points. Here's one that made me shout "Wow!" to myself as I tasted it. Like everything I make, it's super simple.

Curried Salmon Spread
makes 1 1/2 cups

1/2 onion, minced fine
1 clove garlic, minced fine
1 can (about a cup) salmon, picked clean of bones
1/2 cup walnuts, minced fine
1/4 tsp curry powder
2 Tbsp mayonnaise
olive oil

Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil until they are brown. Mix in the salmon and walnuts. Sprinkle the curry powder over everything, then stir in the mayonnaise. Serve warm or chilled. If you have grapes, they'd make the perfect addition on the side or mixed in.

Bite-sized nuggets of fruity goodness

Here's a cookie recipe to use up all the leftover dried fruits and nuts from your other holiday recipes. I included shredded apple and cream cheese to give the cookies a moist and dense texture. I left the choice of spices and flavouring up to you and what's in your pantry.

The cookies pictured include walnuts, raisins, dates and figs because that's what I had in the cupboard. I mixed cinnamon and cloves for my spicing, and for the flavouring, I used one tablespoon each of freshly squeezed mandarin juice and a sweet-spicy digestif called Managlore.

Fruit(cake) Cookies
makes 4-5 dozen

1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup dried fruit, chopped
1/2 cup shredded apple
2 Tbsp flavouring (juice, liqueur, etc)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup cream cheese
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp spice (cinnamon, cloves, etc)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups flour
(optional) glace cherries

Cream the butter and cream cheese. Stir in the sugar. Add the eggs and mix until smooth. Stir in the "flavouring liquid" and vanilla. Mix in the apple. Add the spices, baking powder and salt, mixing thoroughly. Stir in half of the flour, then all of the nuts and dried fruits. Add the remaining flour to form a soft slightly sticky dough. Be careful not to overmix the flour, or you you will have baked cookie-rocks.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto a baking sheet. Top with bits of glace fruits, if desired. Bake at 180/350 for 10 minutes.

Whole Carrot Soup from "My Precious"

I can imagine this soup being served in a rural Japanese restaurant that was trying hard to serve posh Western dishes. It may be the strangest recipe I've come across this year. It's from a food gift catalog, opposite the page selling carrots and sesame oil.

Whole Carrot Soup
serves 2

2 carrots
1 packet consommé (bullion)
700 cc water
dash salt
dash black pepper
dash sesame oil

Peel the carrot. Add to a pot with the water and consommé. Simmer over medium heat until done. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle sesame oil over each serving.

Karanjee pastries smell like India's sweet shops

I noted down this recipe from Sanjeev Kapoor's "Quick Cook" column in the November 16th issue of Gomantak Times as I sat reading it at breakfast in Panaji, Goa. Half moon shaped pastries filled with cardamom spiced dried fruit and nuts seemed like a perfect holiday baking project.

The pastry is crisp and thin. The filling is sweet but without any sugar - all the fructose goodness from the dates. It's a heavenly combination of flavor and texture.

The recipe calls for ghee, which you can buy easily in India, of course. If you don't have ghee handy, make your own by melting butter and cooking until the solids separate. Then skim the white foam, or strain through cheese cloth. The golden yellow liquid is ghee. It's semi-liquid at room temperature (like butter left out in the summer) and solid when chilled.

Date and Anjeer Baked Karanjee
makes 12

Pastry
1 cup white flour
2 Tbsp semolina flour
2 Tbsp ghee
1/4 cup milk

Combine ingredients for dough. Divide into 12 parts, roll into circles on semolina-dusted surface. Allow to rest while you make filling.

Filling
3/4 cup finely chopped dates
3/4 cup finely chopped dried figs
15-20 cashews, crushed
15-20 pistachios, crushed
1 tsp green cardamom powder
1 Tbsp roasted poppy seeds (white is better, but black's ok)
2Tbsp milk
2 Tbsp ghee, melted

Chop and crush as necessary, then combine the filling ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Fill each circle with a heaping tablespoon of fruit mixture, fold in half and pinch edges shut. Brush with ghee and bake at 180C/350F for 20-25 minutes.

I think the most important of all Indian foods is masala chai, a sweet milky spiced tea. The chai wallahs who sit on street corners are surrounded by men sipping the strong stuff from tiny disposable cups or real glass glasses. You can get chai (masala or plain) whether you are at a restaurant or sitting on the beach. You can also make it at home.

There are as many combinations of spices as cooks, but every mix includes ginger, cardamom and clove. Some also add cinnamon, black pepper, nutmeg and/or mace.

I learned two different techniques for making masala chai: one with whole spices started in cold water, the other with ground spices added to boiling water. In both methods, the milky tea is repeatedly brought to a boil before being served.

The tea should be Assam granules/powder (not leaf), because it can be boiled without losing its flavour. Delicate teas like Darjeeling won't work as well.

Alu's Masala Chai
serves 2

3 cardamom pods
2 cm cinnamon stick
1 cm fresh ginger root
2-3 cloves
2-3 black peppercorns
1 cup ml water
1 tsp Assam tea powder
1/2 cup milk

Bring the water and spices to a boil. Add the tea and allow to boil for two minutes. Add the milk and bring to a rolling boil. Remove from heat to stop the boil. Return to heat and bring back to a boil. Repeat several times. Strain and serve with sugar to taste.

Shakti's Masala Chai
serves 2

Chai Masala spice mix: 1 tsp ground ginger, 1/2 tsp ground cardamom, and a generous pinch each of ground black pepper, clove, mace, and nutmeg. This makes enough for four pots of chai. You can buy this mix ready made from Shakti's Indian Spice Box if you happen to be in Udaipur.

250 ml water
1/2 tsp chai masala spice mix
1 tsp Assam tea powder
2 tsp sugar
125 ml low fat milk

Add spice mix to boiling water. Boil one minute then, add tea and sugar. Boil one minute, then add milk. When the chai is likely to boil over, lift it from the heat to stop the boiling, then put it back on the flame. Repeat 5-7 times. Remove from heat and allow to steep, covered, for 2 minutes. Strain and serve with additional sugar to taste.

Caramel corn is an American autumn tradition and turned into popcorn balls, a classic Halloween treat from my childhood when neighbors could still be trusted not to poison us kids.

This is a particularly good recipe, creating buttery caramel that cools to an uneven but crispy coating on the popcorn. Making the caramel isn't too difficult, but you need to understand the stages of candy making. Alternately, you can use a candy thermometer, but that's not nearly as much fun.

This is not a quick recipe - making the caramel takes a good long half hour and lots of stirring. But it is entirely worth the time and effort.

Caramel Corn
makes 10 cups

10 cups freshly popped corn
1 cup peanuts (optional)
200 g (2 sticks) butter
1/2 cup light corn syrup
2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Spread the popcorn and peanuts evenly on two non-stick baking trays. Keep warm in a 120°C/250°F oven.

Over medium heat, bring to a boil butter, sugar, corn syrup and salt. Cook to firm ball stage (245°F), stirring frequently. Remove from heat and add in the baking soda. The caramel will foam.

Drizzle caramel over the popcorn and peanuts, mixing to coat as evenly as possible. Return to oven and bake for 30-45 minutes, stirring well every 15 minutes or so. Cool to room temperature to crisp the caramel. Store in an airtight container.

If you want to make popcorn balls, form the coated corn into fist-sized balls after removing the caramel corn from the oven. Be careful not to burn yourself. Cool them to set the shape and wrap in a twist of waxed paper.

I post a lot of recipes here and many of them are my own original dishes. Perhaps I have misled you into believing I am careful in the kitchen, a stickler for measuring, and always prepared at mealtimes. That's not real life in my kitchen. Most nights, I make do with what's around me because I am too lazy or busy to go shopping. For Tuesday dinner, I made a soup that is the ideal example of how I truly cook.

Real Home Soup
Serves 2-6, probably

Take a two-day old chicken carcass from fridge. Use your fingers to pick off any edible meat bits, cutting them into bite-sized pieces as needed and setting aside in a bowl. Decide not to make stock; toss picked-over carcass in garbage.

Open vegetable crisper bin. Remove contents and array on kitchen counter. Separate into two piles: Safe and Bad. Consider whether the Bad pile has anything salvageable by cutting, washing or peeling. Reconsider the wilting carrot, as it's only black at the pointy end (the rest would soften in the soup anyway, right?). Rearrange piles accordingly and dump the discards into the garbage. Prepare the Safe vegetables for soup. Use everything, including unlikely candidates such as the heart of lettuce and half a cucumber. Add chopped vegetables to chicken bowl.

Open freezer. Remove plastic container of stock you made last time you roasted a chicken. Regret tossing the carcass - now you won't have stock in stock. Run container under hot water to thaw the edges, then slide contents into soup pot. Turn stove to high and wait for stock to liquefy, stirring when you feel like it.

While the stock thaws, root around fridge for possible side dishes. Find an unopened package of Havarti cheese. Wander into office and chat Darling Husband to ask him to pick up some bread on the way home. Get distracted checking mail. Take a call from a friend asking if there's an extra place at the table tonight. Tell him yes, of course, then consider what will extend the soup a little bit.

Return to the kitchen when you hear the stock boiling. Dump in the chicken and vegetables. Add some cold water to bring the soup to a suitable veg-liquid ratio. Stir in a dash or two of salt and MSG, cover the pot and simmer.

About 20 minutes before Darling Husband and the guest arrive, rummage around the pantry for that half package of egg noodles from 6 weeks ago. Perfect soup extender! Crush nests in your fist to make spoon-sized noodle bits. Toss into simmering soup adding a little more water then a little more again just in case the noodles expand more than you remember (They do).

Put on your apron and smile when DH and the guest walk in the door. You've just slaved over their dinner, lucky guys.

I'm really fond of gnocchi as a base for sauces of all sorts, but if you prefer a different pasta, this sauce will work well on pretty much anything. You might even try it over beef or chicken.

Nira is a sort of garlic-y chive that's very popular in Japan. Sold in large bunches, they are often used in Chinese foods, like ramen and gyoza. In this dish, little flakes of nira coat the pasta like confetti!

Mushroom-Nira Gnocchi
serves 2

3 cups mixed mushrooms (shiitake, eringi, shimeji, etc), chopped
1 clove garlic
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup nira, chopped into 1/2 cm bits
1 Tbsp soy sauce
250 g gnocchi

Saute the chopped mushrooms and garlic in butter while the gnocchi boils. Add nera and shoyu just before draining the gnocchi. Toss the gnocchi with the mushrooms and serve.

This was adapted from a Bon Appetit recipe for Bourbon Barbecue Sauce. I had no bourbon on hand, well none that Tod would let me cook with, so that's where the deviations began. On top of that, I'd just received some Mexican Guajillo chiles from a friend. There are a lot of changes to the orriginal, and it turned out to be quite delicious on our grilled pork ribs, so here is the recipe for you to try.

Spicy-Sweet Barbecue Sauce
makes 1 cup

1 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp dark molasses
1/4 cup corn syrup
3 Tbsp brandy
2 Tbsp wholegrain mustard
1.5 Tbsp Chipotle hot sauce
1 Guajillo chile, minced
1 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder

Combine everything in a saucepan, bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer (stirring freqently) for about 15 minutes, or until thickened.

Figs are in season now. I love the big dark figs we get here - beautifully pink and sweet on the inside, the skin is a little tart. Mmmmm. This recipe adds just the right extra touch, whiskey, to turn a fresh fig and a dollop of cheese into a light but luscious dessert. And it's only 81 calories - go ahead and make a double serving!

Fresh Fig with Spiced Cheese
serves 1

1 large fresh fig
1 Tbsp Marscapone or cottage cheese
1/4 tsp powdered sugar
1 dash quatre epices (or white pepper, clove, cinnamon)
1/2 tsp whiskey
1/8 lemon (wedge)

Mix together the cheese, sugar and spice. Stem and quarter the fig. Plate with the cheese. Drizzle with whiskey. Serve with a lemon wedge to squeeze over.

Acqua pazza means crazy water in Italian. It's a delicious way to poach fish to add lots of flavor. How can you go wrong with garlic, anchovy and a lot of vegetables? I made this version the other night .It's healthy as well as delicious, see the recipe analysis.

Acqua Pazza
serves 2

200 gr swordfish fillet or fish of your choice
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 tsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
2 anchovy fillets
1 cup tomatoes, diced
50 g carrot, diced
50 g green pepper, diced
4 button mushrooms, chopped
2 tbsp fresh parsley
1/4 cup wine (red or white)
1 cup water
salt & pepper to taste
1 wedge lemon

Saute the onion, garlic and anchovy in olive oil. Add tomatoes, carrot, pepper, & mushrooms, Cook until just tender. Splash in the wine and water, allow to come to a boil. Lay fish in broth, cover and allow to simmer until cooked through. Top with parsley and season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon.

Serve over spinach egg noodles.

I'm beginning to believe that I can bake with a nearly empty larder, the same way I can make a meal from what Tod calls "nothing in the fridge." I wanted to bake a treat for the Matsudai folks who will be dancing in the Kinseees program on Friday, but my fridge was a little bit lacking.

I'm all out of eggs. That's one strike against baking. There wasn't enough butter for a full recipe of anything. But I found some walnuts so I took advantage of the walnut oils to shorten my cookies. And I had a lemon to flavour the dough. So I decided on a variation of a holiday favorite: balls of walnut shortbread.

And the cookies are lovely: delicately lemon scented, strongly walnut flavoured, and when rolled in powdered sugar, they are just sweet enough.

Lemon-Walnut Shortbread Cookies
makes 48 cookies

3/4 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 cup powdered sugar

Cream the butter and sugar. Add the lemon zest & juice, mixing throughly. Stir in the walnuts. Add the flour a cup at a time, stirring until just mixed. The dough will form a soft ball. Roll 1" balls and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 180°C for about 12 minutes, or until not-even-lightly-brown.

Remove from cookie sheet while hot and roll in powdered sugar. Be careful not to burn your fingers. Cool completely on trays.

Another South African classic in my new repetroire. I wasn't sure I'd like this - it's a fruity meat curry topped with a layer of savory custard. Sweet main dishes have never been a favorite. But this was delicious - delicately flavoured and not too sweet at all - and Tod loved it ,so it will be seen on our table again.

Bobotie
serves 4

1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp oil
1 whole dried chili
400 gr beef-pork mince
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 slice bread, ripped into crumbs
1/2 lemon, juiced & zested
1 Tbsp chutney *
1 Tbsp raisins
1 Tbsp milk
1 egg, well beaten
1 bay leaf (or 1/4 tsp thyme)

Topping
1/2 c milk
1 egg
salt & pepper to taste

In a large frying pan, saute the onion, garlic and chili in oil until the onion turns translucent. Add in the meat and cook until lightly brown and crumbly. Remove from heat. Mix in the spices, lemon juice & zest, chutney, raisins, bread, milk & egg.

Pack into a greased, covered casserole and bake at 180C for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, carefully smooth the meat flat with a spoon to form an even base for the custard.

Whip together milk, egg, salt & pepper to taste. Pour over meat and return to oven, uncovered, for 20 minutes or until the custard is golden brown.

Serve with yellow rice and a salad.

* Variation: instead of chutney, try a mix of 1/2 grated apple, 2 minced dried apricots, and 1 tsp sliced almonds.

This week I've discovered South African foods and flavours thanks to some very tasty boerewors sausage from The Meat Guy, a specialty meat purveyor in Nagoya. I was trying to figure out what to serve with our corriander-clove spiced sausages, and started reading South African recipes and cuisine information. There are lots of sweet potato, corn and bean dishes in various combinations, so I decided to improvise with a Japanese pumpkin (kabocha). This was truly delicious, with a subtle hint of cinnamon that made the dish almost sweet.

Spiced Pumpkin
serves 2-4

1/4 kabocha (Japanese pumpkin)
dash cinnamon
dash white pepper
dash onion powder
water

Cut the pumpkin into large chunks. Put chunks in a saucepan and just cover with cold water. Sprinkle in the spices. Boil until soft. Remove the pumpkin from the water, reserving the water. Rice or mash the pumpkin and mix in a little bit of the cooking liquid to adjust consistency.

This is another one of those quick sauces you can make while the water boils and the pasta cooks. I served this last night over gnocchi but it would be good over just about any shape of noodle.

Smoked Salmon Cream Sauce
serves 2

120 grams smoked salmon, cut into bite sized pieces
5-6 white button mushrooms
2 tsp capers
2 Tblsp butter
1 Tblsp flour
1-2 cups whole milk
black pepper to taste

Slice the mushrooms and saute in 1 Tbsp butter. Remove from pan and set aside. IN the same pan, melt the remaining butter, add flour and allow to cook until the roux is light brown. Very slowly and steadily add in about 1 cup of milk, stirring briskly to prevent lumps. When your sauce is acceptably smooth, return the mushrooms and any mushroom liquid to the pan of cream sauce and add the capers. Allow the sauce to simmer gently, thickening while the pasta cooks. Add more milk as needed. At the very end, stir in the salmon and adjust the sauce with a little milk to your preferred consistency. Season generously with black pepper.

As much as I love the 1902 potato salad, I love this one, too. It's texture is smooth potato interspersed with bits of fresh vegetables. You'll find this kind of potato salad in every supermarket deli in Japan - sometime spread thinly as a sandwich filling on crustless white bread. Starch heaven.

Japanese Potato Salad

4-5 potatoes
1/2 cucumber (thin Japanese type)
1/2 carrot
mayonnaise
optional: mustard, salt, pepper

Peel and boil the potatoes. Mash roughly, leaving lumps. Thinly slice the cucumber and carrot (a mandolin works perfectly for this) and sprinkle with salt in a bowl. Allow to stand until the vegetables begin to sweat, then rinse and pat dry. Mix potatoes and vegetables with enough mayonnaise to hold the mixture together. Season to taste with salt, pepper and/or a little mustard if desired.

From "Popular Amusements for Indoors and Out of Doors," published in 1902. This is my all-time favorite picnic salad. It combines all the best elements of cole slaw and potato salad into one bowl.

4 potatoes, boiled and chopped
1.5 cups cabbage, chopped
6 eggs, hard boiled & sliced
1 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp sugar
7 Tbsp vinegar
1/4 c butter, melted

Stir spices, sugar and vinegar together. Add melted butter. Pour over potatoes and cabbage, tossing to coat. Add in egg slices, reserving some for garnish.

The new Weber grill has been busy. John & Tod cooked up a whole chicken using this marinade - it was succulent and citrus-y. I've included the grilling directions Tod supplied, too. I can see many grill-roasted chickens (and lots of chicken soup) in our future.

Yuzu Chicken Marinade

1 yuzu, green/unripe
1 lemon
6-10 thin scallions
2 cloves garlic
1/4 onion
olive oil
salt & pepper
3 Tbsp honey

Grate the rind of the yuzu. Juice the lemon. Slice thin rings from a couple inches of the green end of the scallions. Puree the onion and garlic together. Combine zest, juice, scallions, and garlic-onion mixture with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Rub solids inside and over the chicken, and marinate for a few hours, turning once or twice. Before grilling, insert 1/8 of the yuzu into the cavity.

"Throw that bad boy on the grill - coals on one side, chook on the other, for indirect heat," Tod directs.

While the chicken is roasting, mix the honey with the remaining marinade. Every 20 minutes or so, baste the chicken with the honey-laced marinade. Rotate the chicken on the grill as needed to prevent too much browning on one side. A 1 kg chicken takes about an hour to roast. After removing from the grill, allow to "set up" before carving.

Ashley's birthday is today and I wanted to bake a cake to celebrate. It had to be carried across town and survive a dinner cruise before we tucked into it, so I decided on a sheetcake, simply decorated. It was well-received - even cake-hating Troy ate a piece (or he tossed it out the window while I wasn't looking).

Lemon Cake
makes 1 round layer or a thin sheet

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs, separated
1/2 cup milk
1 lemon, juiced and zested
1/2 tsp vanilla

Cream the butter with 1/2 cup of sugar. Beat the egg yolks and add to butter mixture. Sift together flour and baking powder. Measure the lemon juice & zest. In a separate container, measure enough 1/2 cup milk minus the quantity of lemon juice. Alternate adding flour and milk to butter mixture, beating well. Mix in lemon juice and vanilla. IN a clean bowl whip the egg whites until stiff. Add 1/2 cup sugar to the whites. Fold into batter. Bake at 170C in a greased and floured pan for about 20 minutes.

Lemon Curd
This is a nearly clear, sweet-sour spreadable jelly to top the cake. It would also go great between layers. The amounts are dictated by the juiciness of your lemon, but I've given some guidelines in parentheses

1 lemon, juiced and zested (3 Tblsp)
sugar (9 Tblsp)
water (6 Tblsp)
2 Tblsp cornstarch
2 Tblsp water

In a small pan over medium heat, mix the lemon juice with about twice that quantity of water. Add twice that in sugar and allow sugar to dissolve. As the mixture comes to a simmer, dissolve the cornstarch in an equal amount of cold water. Whisk into the simmering mixture, being sure to avoid lumps. Remove from heat and whisk til smooth and thick. It will thicken a a little more when it cools.

Coconut Frosting

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup coconut
1 tsp rum
~2 cups powdered sugar
vanilla

Sprinkle the coconut with rum and allow to sit until the coconut softens. Cream the butter, add the sugar until you get a spreadable consistency. Add the vanilla. Mix in the coconut.

To put the cake together: spread the lemon curd over the cooled cake. Freeze until firm. Spread the coconut icing on top, sprinkle with more coconut. Top with chocolate pastilles. Sing happy birthday very loudly.

Just about every time I want to have a special dinner, romantic candlelight, or fancy occasion meal and I ask Tod what he'd like to have, he answers "beef stroganoff." And this is the one he means.

Tod's Favorite Beef Stroganoff
serves 4 or Tod

650 gr beef tenderloin, cut into 2x2x4 cm strips
olive oil
2 Tblsp butter
6 shallots, minced
40 white button mushrooms, thickly sliced
1 cup beef broth
2 Tblsp cognac or brandy
150 ml heavy cream
1 Tblsp dijon mustard
1 Tblsp fresh dill, minced
salt & pepper
paprika

Sprinkle the beef with salt & pepper. Heat a couple tablespoons of oil in a heavy skillet until very hot, then brown the meat on both sides. Work in small batches so you don't overload the pan, and transfer the browned beef to a baking pan.

Reduce the heat to medium and melt the butter. Saute the shallots, scraping the pan to release the beef drippings. Add the mushrooms and cook about 10 minutes, or until the liquid evaporates. Add the cognac or brandy and the beef broth. Simmer 15 minutes or until the liquid is reduced by about half and coats the mushrooms. Stir in the cream and mustard. Add meat and any juices from the pan. Cook until beef is heated through, about 2 minutes. Season with dill, salt & pepper.

Serve over buttered egg noodles and garnish with paprika.

I can tell summer is here because I'm making a lot of salads now. The secret to good salad dressing is enough salt--don't use too little or your dressing will be flat.

Here are three dressings I whipped up this week. Nothing was measured carefully when I made these, so adjust to your liking. These recipes make enough salad dressing for 2-4 people, depending on how much dressing you use.

Umeboshi-Garlic Dressing

1/4 carrot
1 clove roasted garlic
1 soft umeboshi (Japanese pickled plum)
olive oil
white wine vinegar
salt
pepper

Press the garlic and ume through a garlic press. Grate the carrot very fine. Add olive oil and vinegar in your preferred ratio. Season with salt and pepper.

Creamy Ginger Dressing

fresh ginger
3-4 Tbsp mayonnaise
1/2 tsp soy sauce
milk

Finely grate about 2 cm fresh ginger root. Mix together with mayonnaise and soy sauce. Thin with milk to dressing consistency.

Green Lemon Dressing

1 lemon
2 stems parsley
1 clove roasted garlic
1/2 tsp capers
olive oil
salt
pepper

Juice the lemon, removing seeds. Mince the parsley. Run the roasted garlic and capers through a garlic press. Mix together with olive oil to your liking and season with salt and pepper. This was especially nice on a salad with smoked salmon in it.