Curry Chevre and Cilantro Toast

It's funny how tracking your diet for a project becomes the mother of culinary invention. The prospect of telling someone my favorite snack of the moment happens to be wheat toast, 1 oz chevre cheese, a drizzle of honey and smoked sea salt from trader joes seems harmless enough. That is, until I realize that I am adding both sugar and salt to something that has a decent amount of both already. So, I set about my kitchen to find things with a nominal amount of caloric input to replace the honey and salt.

Freebies in this regard are generally spices and herbs. I also consider any vegetables to also be freebies since they are usually not very calorie dense.

So, this is what I came up with:

1 piece whole wheat toast
1oz Chevre
1/4 tsp curry paste
1/2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

This may not seem like a giant difference. Both snacks are within a decent calorie range and have a good portion size. They both contain whole grains, dietary fiber, and calcium. The total calorie difference is probably about 20 calories and perhaps half the added sodium. The more important differences are that I substituted empty honey calories for vitamin rich cilantro (A, K, C, antioxidants) and straight salt for curry paste which has trace vitamins and is spicy enough to keep me from going back and eating seconds when I am not hungry.

Divine Carrot, Ginger, Coconut Soup

So, this soup is amazing. I'm not gonna lie. And easy.

Super easy.

If you want a thai flair to your soup, add some fish sauce for a little tang. I think it tastes best that way. If you are watching your sodium, omit it.

1.5 pounds carrots, peeled and chopped the same size.
2 Tbsp fresh ginger root, minced (halve this if you think ginger is spicy)
5 cloves garlic
Enough water to cover the carrots by about an inch.
10 oz. coconut milk
2 tsp rice vinegar

Serves: 8

Boil the carrots until they are easily pierced by a fork (about 40 minutes). Blend until smooth.* Add extra water if you need it to make sure the carrots blend smoothly. I found that a standard drink blender gives you a much smoother product than blending in a food processor does.

Pour the carrot mix back into the pot. Add the coconut milk and vinegar. Bring up to a boil while stirring. And that's it.

*Remember to take special care when belnding hot foods. Always use a lid to cover the blender and hold the lid tightly to the machine with your hand while processing. Thick liquids like this will also save a giant air bubble to burst right as you pull the top off to look in. I can tell you from personal experience that hot soup puree hurts like the dickens.

(Dairy Free) Creamy Potato Corn Chowder

So, I desperately wanted to make a dairy free version of chowder since I am trying not to eat any dairy at all. This particularly tough since the best part of chowder is the thick, rich dairy flavor and the butter drizzled over the top.

To begin with, I wanted to make a veloute sauce which is a standard french sauce made with a roux made of flour and butter/oil/animal fat, cooked, with chicken or beef stock added until the flour cooks out and your are left with a silky vat of soupy deliciousness. Think of a thin thanksgiving style gravy. I know it sounds terrifically unhealthy, but, properly prepared, it is quite healthy, especially when compared to a cream base for soups.

This soup takes about an hour and a half to make, but for 45 minutes of it, you only have to pay attention enough to stir it occasionally. I will tell you what I did, then tell you what I would have done if my pantry had been a little better stocked. As it was, the soup got rave reviews.

SOUP BASE:

1/2 cup olive oil

2/3 cup flour

2 quarts water

3 red potatoes, peeled and cut into small pieces

2 tsp rosemary and thyme, chopped fine

Heat a large stock pot over medium heat and add the oil and flour. Cook until lightly browned, stirring constantly. Using a whisk, add half the cold water while whisking vigorously to break up any lumps that want to form. Add the rest of the water. Turn up the heat and bring the pot to a boil. Once it has boiled add the potatoes and herbs and bring to a boil again. Turn the heat down to low until there are very few bubbles forming. Allow the soup base to simmer for about 45 minutes or until the flour taste disappears an the base no longer tastes starchy. Skim the foam that forms on the top. Adjust the thickness of the soup base by adding more water if it gets too thick.

Most of the potatoes should have broken down by now. If they haven't, cook until they are very soft. Use the whisk to break up the remaining lumps of potatoes. This is your soup base.

GARNISHES:

3 pieces of bacon (optional) cut into 1/4 inch pieces

1/2 cup onions, diced

1 red potato, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

1 can corn (not drained)

1 tsp thyme, rosemary and parsley, mixed and chopped fine

salt

pepper

1/2 tsp red wine vinegar

Saute the bacon pieces until they are brown and crispy (don't drain the fat, this will add flavor to the soup and be a negligible amount of fat when dispersed over all 10 servings). Add the onions and cook until fragrant, add the potato. Cook on med-high heat until the potatoes are evenly browned (approx. 10 minutes). Add the can of corn with the liquid in the can (adds more corn flavor). Add everything in the saute pan to the soup pot and bring up to a boil. Turn off the heat and add salt, pepper and red wine vinegar to taste.

10 servings

If I had my way when I was making the soup base, I would have used vegetable or chicken stock instead of water. I also would have added 2 bay leaves and half an onion. I also really wanted to added smoked salmon to this, but had none. If I had added salmon, I would have used fish stock in the soup base and garnished with chives or green onions.

Easy Braised Greens

This is the simplest and quickest way I know of to prepare braised greens. It even won over my dad who was dead set against liking them.

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 cups braising greens (see previous post)

1 Tbsp water

1 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1/4 santaka chili flakes (optional)

Salt and Pepper

Heat a large saute pan that has a lid. Add the oil and garlic and heat until fragrant. Add greens, water, vinegar and a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir quickly and put the lid on. Cook until the greens have collapsed and turned bright green. You still want the greens to have a bit of structure to them. If you cook them too long, then they will turn slimy.

How to Clean Braising Greens

Using braising greens can be a bit daunting for a novice. But, once you get used to them, they are an invaluable way to add more vegetables to cooked dishes and they make a delicious side dish when braised. They can also be marinated in a vinaigrette for a couple hours until they break down a bit and are easier to chew and digest.

Braising greens is kind of an umbrella term that encompasses (but is not limited to) the following: kale, tuscan kale, beet tops, rainbow chard, turnip greens, and collard greens. This general term indicates the darkly pigmented leaves that are generally quite sturdy and hold up to cooking. Some are tougher than others. You can roughly gauge how long it will take to cook greens relative to each other simply by feeling how tough the leaves are between your fingers.

One thing to note with braising greens is that, by definition, they have a very strong taste. Each of the greens are chock-full of vitamins which can make them tend towards a bitter flavor. This is why it is a good idea to mix your greens. Since each plant has a distinct flavor, by mixing them, the flavors cancel each other out to a small degree. Beet greens and tuscan kale are more neutral flavored than many braising greens, so they are a good place to start.

To prepare greens, rinse all dirt from them, especially the bottom of the stems where dirt tends to cling. You want to separate the leafy green parts from the fibrous stems. Begin by holding the stem in your hand and pulling the leaves off trying to leave as much of the stem intact as possible. Then, tear the leaves into manageable sized pieces (approx 3 in by 3 inches or less). Remember that the greens will cook down a lot. A full 9 inch saute pan will cook down to about 1/2 cup of cooked greens.

Now, keep your braised greens in a sealed plastic bag in the refrigerator until you can use them. Leaving them in the open air in the refrigerator will cause them to wilt.

Carrot Top Vinaigrette

Using the produce from previous post, I was loathe to treat such delicious looking carrot tops in my usual manner (which is just to chuck them in the trash). So, a few quick google searches later, I find out that not only are they not poisonous, they are in fact a good source of vitamin K which is generally deficient in the carrots themselves.

Carrot tops, in case you are as ignorant to their flavor as I was, taste very green and are pretty bitter. They are similar to curly parsley in respect to flavor, texture and usefulness. Used in a vinaigrette, they are quite good and this made a delicious salad dressing as well as a fantastic sauce on salmon. The measurements are approximate as I had to adjust the flavoring and didn't write down my measurements.

I wouldn't suggest trying this recipe with limp or old carrot tops as they are not as likely to have the same great flavor.

1 cup loosely packed carrot top greens (very fresh)

1/4 cup green onions, chopped (white and green parts)

1 Tbsp cut chives

1 tsp mustard

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2/3 cup rice wine vinegar

1/3 cup olive oil

1/2 tsp sugar or natural sweetener

salt and black pepper to taste

Put all but the sugar/sweetener and salt and pepper in a blender or food processor and blend until uniform. Adjust the flavoring with the remaining ingredients.

I chose to use the rice wine vinegar because it would not compete with the green flavors of the vinaigrette. Red wine vinegar could be easily substituted. I also used olive oil to complement the green flavors. If you don't like olive oil, grapeseed oil or rice oil could be easily substituted.

Roast them beets!

Two days ago, my mom stopped to pay a house call on a friend in a somewhat doctorly capacity. In return, her friend let me have at her garden with scissors and only my conscience to check my zeal. It makes me wonder why they ever stopped paying house calls that paid in trade. Alaskan grown produce pulled straight from the dirt on the sunny side of the valley is about as fresh as you can get.

For the last two days, I have been cooking from what we got and here are a few recipes. It turns out, the fresher your produce is, the less you want to manipulate it. So, these are generally simple, healthy recipes.

I will post them separately for ease of later reference.

My meal last night consisted of roasted beets, carrot top vinaigrette, braised greens, garden salad, grilled salmon patties (frozen from costco, but delicious), and israeli couscous cooked with a small amount of salt.

Here's my failsafe method for roasting beets. It's a well established method and I don't dare take credit for it lest someone's great-great-grandmother haunts me for my impudence.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. If you are cooking other things in the oven, you can turn the heat down, just be aware that they will take much longer to roast at lower temperatures. Even at 425, beets will take a minimum of 45 minutes to roast.

So, scrub the beets clean of dirt, cut the greens off the top one inch up the stalks (save the greens for braised greens) and cut the root off leaving about a half inch of the root. The reasons for leaving the extra inch of stem and root are to keep the beet as sealed in its skin as possible. If you cut the tops off or cut the beets in half, they will lose a lot of their moisture and the delicious beet juice that keeps them sweet.

So, take your beets and put them in the smallest covered dish you have that they still fit in while in one layer. If you need to roast a large amount, you can put the beets in a roasting pan and cover with foil. Add 1/4 inch of water in the bottom and put in the oven on the middle rack. The cooking time depends on the oven temperature and the size of the beets. Unless the beets are the size of ping pong balls, they will cook for at least 45 minutes.

Check for doneness by poking with a fork. The fork will easily pierce through the flesh of the beet through the middle. If they are still resistant, put them back in the over for a minimum of 8 minute intervals. Remember, each time you poke them with a fork or open the roasting dish, you are losing moisture in your final beets.

When they are finished, let them cool until you can handle them. Peel by pushing on the skin fairly lightly. The skin will be loose and you can peel it just using your fingers. If you have a dark red variety of beet, the juice will stain your fingers quickly. If you have a problem with that, you might want to obtain some plastic cooking gloves or buy the golden or chioggia varieties of beets that have very little pigment comparatively. Cut them in the shape desired and serve.

Beets cooked in this manner can be stored and reheated by roasting in an oven until they start to brown or cooked quickly in a saute pan. They can be used cold on salads or as their own salad with a little vinaigrette.

If you attached to the beautiful colors of the rainbow or golden beets (some of them are even candy cane colored) I suggest storing them away from the deep red beets. Almost immediately on contact, the red pigment will dye the other beets.

Adding Flavors:

Straight out of the oven, fresh beets barely need any flavoring added. Generally, I just add a tsp of olive oil, 1/4 tsp red wine, and a dash of salt and pepper to approx. 3 cups cut beets.

Alternatively, you can drizzle a vinaigrette that matches the rest of the meal you are serving.

If you wish to add flavors while roasting, feel free to add garlic and strong herbs such as rosemary or thyme. You can also add whole spices to add to the flavors. Many people like to add sweet spices such as cinnamon sticks and allspice, but I find that they bring out bitter notes in the beets that I don't particularly like.