Christmas Dinner

Mark Bittman's Beet Salad

Cream of Celery Soup

"Steak" Diane

Mashed Potatoes with cashew gravy

Brussels Sprouts Ubuntu

Armagnac-Glazed Apricots

Coppola Pinot Noir 2008

Christmas Eve Supper

Guacamole and chips

Ensalada verde

Green Corn Tamales with Tamale gravy

Cabbage with pico de gallo

Arroz Mexicana

Frijoles negros con cotija

Rosie's Chocolates

Neighborhood Christmas Open House

Lentil Pecan Pate
Spiced cashews
Endive with blue cheese and walnuts

Mulled wine with homemade acquavit
Spiced cider (TJ, doctored)

From Trader Joe:

hummus and pita (make pita chips)
brie and crackers
chocolate covered ginger
lebkuchen
ginger cookies

Whole Grain Mustard Vinaigrette

This was inspired by the dressing on the Apple Glazed Parsnip Salad at Feast. I don't think that dressing had tahini in it, but I thought it might make a good base.

1-1/2 Tablespoons tahini
1/4 cup water
1 small garlic clove, minced
1-1/2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons whole grain mustard
Scant 1/2 Cup olive oil
salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste

In a blender, combine the tahini, water and garlic and process until throughly combined. Add the vinegar and mustard and process briefly until combined. With the motor running, add the olive oil in a stream. Correct the seasoning as necessary with salt, pepper and/or lemon juice. The first time I made this, I found the dressing a tad on the sweet side until I added the lemon. Hasn't been the case subsequently.

Sesame Asian Kitchen: Ashland, Oregon

Stopped in Ashland for lunch today, the result of a yarn emergency. Just around the corner from the destination yarn-weaving store The Web-sters, found Sesame Asian Kitchen. It’s a bright sunny space that looks out onto Lithia Park. The interior is sleek and attractive and the food is good. We started with vegetarian eggrolls which were beautifully presented and fine, but not exceptional. The Asian slaw on which they were sitting was great however, as were our entrees. I had the crispy eggplant with tofu and Mr. Gastronome had the pumpkin curry. Both were winners. Service was mostly attentive and very friendly. We’ll definitely plan to stop here again. As far as I can tell, Ashland is the only outpost of civilization between Portland, Oregon, and Sacramento, California, in a valley that regards the “theory” of evolution as a communist plot. And I’m not that sure about Sacramento… But Ashland is definitely solid. Actually upon further reflection, Corvallis and Eugene obviously have progressive leanings.

Carrot Ginger Soup with Curry Leaves and Cumin Seed

2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ teaspoon asafoetida
1 tablespoon cumin seed
1 ounce ginger, peeled and chopped
5 cups of water or vegetable broth
1 pound of carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
Generous pinch red pepper flakes
6 cardamom pods
15 curry leaves


Put the oil in a stockpot and heat until almost smoking. Add asafoetida and cook 30 seconds, then add the cumin seed and cook, stirring, until the seeds are evenly golden brown – 30 seconds to a minute. Add the ginger and cook until fragrant. Immediately add the water or broth to keep the mix from burning.

Add the carrots, salt, pepper flakes, cardamom and curry leaves. Bring the pot to a simmer and cook until the carrots are very soft, 20 to 30 minutes.

Allow the soup to cool enough to handle. Remove the cardamom pods (just like a surgeon with clamps and sponges – count ‘em going in, count ‘em coming out). Puree the soup in batches in a blender. Taste for seasoning and correct as necessary.

Reheat the soup and serve. Like almost all soups, this tastes better if made a day ahead reheated.


Serves four.

Vegetarian State Dinner

Although there is a prawns option for the main course, tonight's state dinner honoring Prime Minister Manmohan is vegetarian. Is this a first at the White House? I don't know. Guest chef is Marcus Samuelsson of New York's Restaurant Aquavit who is working with White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford. Looks like a great menu.

Cookbook: Vij's Elegant & Inspired Indian Cuisine

This is a brilliant book. I have been cooking Indian food for over 30 years, and this book has totally changed the way I think about Indian cooking. Where many Indian cookbooks have a long list of ingredients, this one tends to have fewer ingredients, but they are absolutely the *right* ingredients, and not in stinting quantities. The result is flavors that are crisp and bright.

Because of the clear instructions and illustrations, I am now making my own paneer (cheese) at home. It’s far superior to anything available in the stores and is much cheaper (less than $2 a pound if you get milk on sale).

I hesitated to buy this book because so many of the recipes are for meat and seafood, but I’m very glad I got it. The non vegetarian recipes can often easily be adapted for meatless use. And there *are* quite a few meatless recipes.

There are some editorial anomalies. For example in the recipe titled “Sautéed Arugula and Spinach with Paneer and Roasted Cashews,” the arugula and spinach is in fact never sautéed. It is added to the liquid curry at the very end and cooked until wilted and heated through. Go figure. (Great recipe by the way, but reduce water to one cup from three.) Two recipes call for three cups of pureed tomatoes. One calls for “six large” the other for “nine medium”. Why not just give us the weight? I’ve found that a 28 ounce can of tomatoes yields just over three cups of pureed tomatoes and that’s what I use.

I also found that the authors tend to use more liquid than I would. If you are an experienced cook and you feel that a recipe calls for too much liquid, trust your instinct and go with less to start with. You can always add more if you need it. The only time this was a problem for me was when I made a lentil rice pilaf, using the quantity called for – it was one of the first recipes I made. There was so much liquid I had to cook it down much longer than I would have liked and the result was mushy. The flavor, however, was superb. I’ll make it again often, but with much less liquid. (In this recipe, the problem could simply be a difference in the rice and lentils these cooks use compared to what I’m using, although other reviewers have mentioned the same problem.) I have often also significantly reduced the amount of salt called for.

Despite these quirks I’m giving the book a full five stars. It’s a beautiful book and the food is magnificent.

Double Corn Pudding

This is basically a cheese strata (remember the 70's?), but it uses cubed polenta instead of bread. It can be made ahead, and it's familiar enough, at least to those of a certain age, that it won't frighten carnivores. The key is to use good sharp white cheddar -- you don't want some neon orange monstrosity. I use Trader Joe's Cabot Extra Sharp, $5.99 a pound. It can be served hot, warm or at room temperature, and it travels well, cut in slices or still in the pan, making it perfect for picnics or potlucks.

I always have cooked polenta in the freezer, but if you're making it from scratch, a pound of dried polenta makes a bit over 3 pounds of cooked. I suppose you could use the store bought polenta that comes in rolls, but I haven't had to try that, and you could probably substitute frozen or canned corn, but I haven't had to try that either.

1 pound cooked polenta, cut in 1/2" cubes
3 ears of corn, kernels cut off the cobs
4 eggs
1 cup of buttermilk
1/2 t curry powder
1 t vegetarian Worcestershire sauce
2 t Dijon mustard
4 ounces sharp white cheddar cheese, grated
grated parmesan cheese
olive oil for pan

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the polenta, corn, eggs, buttermilk, curry powder, Worcestershire sauce and mustard, and stir well until thoroughly mixed.

Lightly oil a glass pie plate with the olive oil. Sprinkle a little parmesan over the bottom to promote a brown crust. Add one third of the corn mixture, top with one third of the grated cheese. Repeat twice. Sprinkle additional Parmesan on top.

Bake until nicely browned and puffy, an hour or so.

This recipe serves four to six, depending upon what else is going on.

Three Layer Chocolate Cake

This cake is a birthday tradition in our family, and has been since 1968 when I found the recipe in the Time/Life American Cooking cookbook. The frosting is about the only thing I still use sour cream for, having discovered Trader Joe's 2% Greek yogurt. As good as that yogurt is though, I don't think it would cut it for frosting.

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate squares
12 T butter (1-1/2 sticks), at room temperature
2 cups of sugar
4 eggs, at room temperature
1 t vanilla

2 cups flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 t salt (omit if using salted butter)

1-1/2 cups of milk

FROSTING

3 ounces walnut pieces
21 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
1/4 t salt
1-1/2 cups sour cream, at room temperature


Melt the unsweetened chocolate and cool it to room temperature. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs singly incorporating well after each addition, then the melted chocolate and vanilla.

Sift together the dry ingredients. Add 1/4 cup of the dry ingredients into the batter, then 1/4 cup of milk. Continue alternating milk and dry ingredients, incorporating well after each addition until the batter is smooth.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. On a baking sheet, toast the walnuts until they are lightly golden and fragrant. If you are over 45, set a timer so you don't forget about them. Remove and cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, butter and flour three 9" cake pans, and line the bottom of each pan with parchment paper. Divide the batter equally AMONG (NOT between -- bad grammar is almost as bad as bad food!)the pans. Bake the cakes for about 20 minutes -- until the cakes are pulling away from the sides of the pan a bit and are firm to the touch. A toothpick or cake taster should come out clean. Turn the cakes out on racks to cool and remove the parchment paper.

Make the frosting: Melt the chocolate. Add it to the sour cream and salt and blend until well combined.

Frost the top of each cake(about a quarter of an inch thick). Stack the layers on a cake plate and frost the sides. Add additional frosting to the top if you have it. Strew the walnut pieces on top of the cake and push them gently into the frosting so that they adhere.

Avocado Buttermilk Soup

This is quick, easy and delicious -- a great soup for when the weather is hot. Makes a wonderful light meal accompanied by a salad and a baguette, or an elegant starter. Quantities can be multiplied, although for very large quantities you'll need to blend it in batches. This soup can be made ahead and kept chilled in the refrigerator. If you do this, bring it to near room temperature -- that is slightly chilled not cold -- before serving.

1 avocado, peeled, coarsely chopped
2 small cloves of garlic, chopped
1 cup of buttermilk, or more to taste
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon lime juice
chives for garnish

Combine all ingredients except the chives in a blender and process until everything is smooth and well incorporated, scraping down the sides with a spatula as necessary. If the soup is thicker than you would like, thin with additional buttermilk.

Pour into indivual bowls and garnish with chives. I think zest of lemon and/or lime would be a nice garnish as well, and next time I make this I want to see how it is with a bit of pimenton as a garnish.

The quantities given here make enough soup for two to three people.

Asparagus Risotto

1 small bunch of asparagus
1 quart homemade vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
½ stalk of celery, minced
1 shallot, minced, or equivalent amount of red onion
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons butter
¾ cup of Arborio or canaroli rice
¼ cup dry white wine or dry vermouth
Zest of one lemon
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon flat leaf parsley, chopped

Trim the woody ends from the asparagus and reserve. Slice the rest of the asparagus on the bias into pieces about an inch long. Blanch the asparagus in the broth until just barely cooked through (time will vary with the thickness of the asparagus). Remove it to an ice bath with a slotted spoon, drain when cooking has stopped and allow to come to room temperature in a colander.

Put the woody stem ends and the bay leaf in the broth and simmer. (Recipe can be prepared ahead to this point.)

Cook the shallot, celery and garlic in 1 tablespoon of the butter until soft, about four to five minutes. Add the rice and cook stirring constantly until the rice is well coated and starting to become translucent – two to three minutes. Add the wine and cook, stirring, until it is all incorporated. Stir in the stock in ladlefuls until the rice is cooked al dente, 15 to 20 minutes.

Stir in the lemon zest, parsley, cream, and reserved asparagus, and cook until just heated through. Serve immediately with additional Parmesan cheese.

Black Bean Chili

This recipe is adapted, simplified basically, from one in Deborah Madison's The Greens Cook Book. It makes eight very generous servings at a cost of 62 cents (Seattle) or 40 cents (Tucson) exclusive of garnishes and polenta. Like most soups and stews, this is better made a day ahead and reheated, making it excellent for entertaining. Additionally, chili is a familiar concept and won’t frighten the carnivores.


2 cups black beans
1 bay leaf
4 teaspoons ground cumin
4 teaspoons oregano
2 tablespoons chili powder
4 teaspoons sweet (mild) paprika
¼ teaspoon cayenne
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 medium yellow onions, ¼ inch dice
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 14 ounce cans diced tomatoes, including juice
½ teaspoon chipotle puree, or to taste
½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, or to taste


Garnishes:

pasilla peppers, roasted, peeled and diced
green onions, sliced
crumbled cotija or feta cheese
sour cream or Greek yogurt


Put the beans and bay leaf in a large kettle and cover them with water by a couple of inches. Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.

Put the cumin in a large ungreased skillet and toast until they begin to color. Add the oregano and chili powder, stir and continue to toast until the mix is very fragrant but not scorched. Turn off the heat, add the paprika and cayenne and stir to combine. Remove the spice mix and reserve.

In the same skillet sauté the onions in the oil until they are soft. Add the garlic and spice mix and cook five minutes. Add the tomatoes and chipotle puree and simmer 15 minutes.

Add the tomato mixture to the beans and continue to simmer until the beans are quite soft. Season to taste with salt, vinegar and additional chipotle, if necessary.

Serve over polenta, garnished with cheese, peppers, sour cream or Greek yogurt, and green onions.

Lemon Cornmeal Cake with Blueberry Sauce

This quick and easy cake is an adaptation of a recipe I found on epicurious.com. You don't even have to get out the mixer, and it cooks in about half an hour. It has been very well received every time I've made it. In place of the blueberry sauce, you can substitute sliced, lightly sugared stawberries and whipped cream.

Cake:
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
½ cup sugar
3 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 cup buttermilk at room temperature
2 large eggs at room temperature
Zest of two lemons
¼ pound butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

Glaze:
1 ¼ cups powdered sugar, sifted
Juice of two lemons

Sauce:
4 cups whole fresh or frozen blueberries
½ cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Zest of one lemon


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9” pyrex pie plate with deep sides and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar and baking powder in a mixing bowl and stir to combine. Combine buttermilk, eggs, lemon peel vanilla and butter in small bowl and stir to combine. Pour the liquid mixture into the dry mixture and fold in with spatula until just blended. Pour the batter into the pie plate and bake until the cake pulls away from the sides and a tester comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

While the cake is baking, make the glaze: Put lemon juice into powdered sugar and stir until well combined and free of lumps. If the glaze is too thick, add a bit more lemon juice or water until glaze is of spreadable consistency.

When the cake is done, remove it from the oven, place a plate over it, and, using oven mitts, invert the cake onto the plate. Remove the parchment paper and, while cake is still hot, ice the top with glaze. Cool completely to room temperature.

Make the blueberry sauce: reserve half the blueberries. Combine the remaining ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat and cook, stirring, until the berries are soft and the mix is syrupy. Remove from the heat and add the reserved berries. With the back of a wooden spoon, gently crush some of the fresh blueberries. The sauce can be made up to two days ahead and stored in the refrigerator. Before serving, bring to room temperature, or rewarm

Herbs in Pots

Today's New York Times has a great little article on growing herbs in pots.

Sugar Snap Pea Salad, Endive Cheese Tart

Today's NY Times Dining section has a good recipe for sugar snap pea salad with radishes, mint and ricotta salata.

The endive cheese tart also sounded good, if a bit on the rich side.

Mexican Rice and Beans

I've seen Mexican recipes where cooked beans and raw rice are cooked together to make a rice and beans dish. I can't put my hands on such a recipe at the moment, and I've forgotten what the dish is called in Spanish, but I threw together something along those lines for lunch this afternoon. It was quick, easy and tasty.

1 cup frijoles de olla, including some of the cooking liquid
1/3 cup of rice
1/2 cup of water
2 T chopped onion
1/2 ripe tomato, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced very fine
salt
few leaves of cilantro, chopped
white cheese, preferably Mexican, but Jack cheese will work

Combine the beans and their liquid, the rice, water and chopped onion in a sauce pan. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat and cook over very low heat until the rice is done and the liquid is fully absorbed.

While the rice is cooking, combine the tomato, garlic, salt to taste and cilantro. Stir well to combine.

Set the oven to 350.

When the rice is fully cooked, put the rice and beans in a baking dish, top with the cheese, and bake until the cheese is just melted.

Top with the tomato/garlic mixture and serve immediately.

A cabbage salad would be good with this.

Spinach Zucchini Empanadas

The Cooking Habit blog has a recipe for Spinach Zucchini Empanadas that sounds fabulous. I can't wait to try it.

Bonsai Bistro -- Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

Incredibly enough we left Montana reasonably early (for us), which put us into Coeur d'Alene for lunch. That meant we had a lot more food options than on a typical road trip. We settled on the Bonsai Bistro, a pan-Asian place in downtown, as it had plentiful parking. We ordered Malaysian vegetable tofu stir fry and the carmelized garlic noodles. Both dishes were very good. I especially liked the tofu stir fry. The tofu is artisanal and you can really tell the difference. The noodles were just that -- a plate of noodles -- although they were delicious. But better for a larger group to split. I would definitely go back, although since the portions are so generous for two, I think we would order just an appetizer and one main dish.

They have an extensive sushi menu, which we didn't sample, so I'm unable to comment on that.

The service was prompt and attentive and the space was attractive. The restaurant is located just across the street from the lake and the main resort.

Home Made Ricotta

Today's Seattle Times magazine has a wonderful article on making ricotta at home. It includes a recipe. This is one I will definitely try.

The Splendid Table also has a recipe for ricotta.

"Pork" with Red Peppers

In the late 1960's the Time/Life company had a "Foods of the World" cookbook series. My family had just returned from a year and a half in Europe, and we came back to a pretty dismal food scene. Even though I was only in high school, I subscribed to the series and taught myself to cook from it. These cookbooks, which I still have, are now widely and cheaply available in used book stores and thrift shops and each and every one of them has at least a few recipes I make over and over again. Hard to believe I've been making some of these recipes for forty years!

My mother was a fairly adventurous cook and used to make a fabulous Portuguese pork dish (Lombo de Porco com Pimentos) from the The Cooking of Spain and Portugal book. I suspect part of the fabulousness was the quarter cup of lard the original called for. My vegetarian version substitutes butter -- and less of it -- and I think it's still good.

Ingredients:

6 oz faux chicken strips, thawed and cut into uniform pieces
2 generous tablespoons butter
4 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 large red bell pepper, seeded, deribbed and sliced
1/2 cup dry white wine or white vermouth
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 lemon wedges

Method:

In a nonstick pan, melt a scant tablespoon butter and saute the strips until they are lightly browned. Remove and reserve.

Remove any bits of the strips sticking to the pan and melt the rest of the butter. Add the minced garlic and cook until it is just beginning to brown lightly. Add the red pepper slices and saute for a couple of minutes until they soften slightly. Add the wine, stock, and salt. Simmer over very low heat for about half an hour (adding more stock if necessary) until the pepper is very thoroughly cooked and the liquid has a sauce-like consistency. Add the reserved strips, stir to combine and cook until they are just heated through.

Serve over rice, garnished with the lemon wedge. Serves two. Recipe can easily be doubled, tripled or quadrupled.

Vios Cafe - Seattle

Met a dear friend at Vios Cafe for lunch today. Vios serves wonderful, home-style Greek food -- not the greasy stuff you sometimes find. Vios is very family-friendly, with a place for kids to play. Large tables may seat more than one party. Place your order at the counter, pick up utensils, find a place to sit and the incredibly friendly and skillful server will bring your order to the table. The vibe is very laid back and the food is extremely fresh and tasty. There is a small market section, and food is available by the pound to go.

Our friend Mary had a mezze salad plate (third picture)which I think was not on the menu but looked great, Mr. Gastronome and I split two orders, a grilled eggplant sandwich with Haloumi cheese and sweet onion relish, and an appetizer trio sampler with hommus, tzatziki and babaganouze (their spellings) pita, olives, onions and cucumber (pix one and two). This evening Mr. Gastronome admitted that he could happily have eaten all of both our orders. It's that good. We'll be back often.

NY Times: Bibimbap, Mexican Chocolate Pudding,

Today's NY Times Dining section has a recipe for Bibimbap, a traditional vegetable casserole on top of crispy rice. I'm not familiar with this dish, or Korean food in general, but it sounds quite good. I like one dish meals.

If this were anybody but Mark Bittman, I wouldn't trust it, but he has a recipe for vegan Mexican chocolate pudding, made with tofu. It looks very easy to make and I can't wait to try it. There's also a video of Bittman making the pudding. The recipe calls for a teaspoon of vanilla; in the video he says a quarter teaspoon. I think I'd be inclined to go with the latter, at least for starters.

Finally, there's an interesting article on the ubiquitous Sriracha hot sauce. It's made in Los Angeles. Who knew? The article includes a recipe for Sriracha Mayonnaise Sauce, although you probably don't really need a recipe. It's just mayo, sriracha, condensed milk and salt. I'm not so sure about the condensed milk...

The Price of Beans . . .

I used to feel pretty smug when I'd find canned refried beans on sale for a dollar a can, one pound. That was before the recession hit and I discovered bulk pinto beans for 74 cents a pound, 50 cents on sale. I knew there would be a big savings cooking dry beans from scratch, but until today I didn't have access to a food scale to do the math.

Right before we left Tucson, I bought a large bag of bulk beans -- six pounds -- at 50 cents a pound. I should have bought twice that, or more. Today I made up a batch of frijoles de olla, using exactly a pound of dried beans. They cooked up to just shy of three and a quarter pounds, which comes out to 16 cents a pound, and they taste much better than the canned beans.

I was curious to see whether "water" is the largest ingredient in canned beans. It is and it isn't. To avoid listing "water" as the first ingredient, they describe the main ingredient as "cooked beans." And what do you suppose those beans are cooked IN?

Dining - NY Times - May 13 2009

In today's New York Time's Dining section, Mark Bittman has a wonderful sounding recipe for Asparagus with Morels and Tarragon.

Melissa Clark has an intriguing recipe for spicy calamari with tomato, caperberries and pine nuts, (with Israeli couscous, which I love) that could probably be done in a vegetarian version, although I'd be inclined to use the original Mario Batali recipe from Babbo. The Batali recipe doesn't include the recipe for his "Basic Tomato Sauce" but I happen to have it in his Molto Mario cookbook which does include it. It really is basic tomato sauce: an onion and four cloves of garlic sauteed in olive oil, fresh thyme, and half a carrot, and two 28 ounce cans of tomatoes. I think if I didn't have Italian canned tomatoes, I'd probably also add a bit of tomato paste.

Also Italian is Elaine Louie's (The Temporary Vegetarian) recipe for crespelle, the Italian version of crepes. I'll bet they're great, but I'll only be serving them for a special occasion. Can anyone say fat bomb? Ingredients for five servings include a pound of cheese, 4 eggs, a quarter pound of butter, most of a cup of heavy cream, and a quarter cup of pine nuts.

A feature article on competitive cooking in Brooklyn mentioned two winners: Ethiopian Empanadas and a vegetarian chili made with tempeh, but included no recipies. Nor did my cursory googling result in a recipe for either.

Finally, there's was an article on the resurgence of absinthe, but at $50 to $111 a bottle, it's not something I'll be trying anytime soon.

Sonoran Cheese Soup - Caldo de Queso de Sonora

Photo by Greg Bryan, Arizona Daily Star.

Yesterday's Arizona Star had a feature on Mexican cheeses that included a recipe for Caldo de Queso (inexplicably titled Caldo con Queso) from Adolfo Cabrera, executive chef at the Doubletree Inn in Tucson. Caldo de Queso is a Sonoran specialty, and I found several recipes online from Sonoran cooks. The recipe that follows is my adaptation of these.

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 red or white boiling potatoes, 3/4" pieces
1 white onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1-1/2 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
6 cups of vegetable broth
1 cup of tomatoes, diced
1 cup of roasted Anaheim peppers, diced
1 large or two small ears of corn, cut in 1" slices
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons butter
red pepper flakes to taste (optional)
1/2 cup milk, half and half or cream
8 ounces queso fresco, diced
8 ounces queso panela, diced
salt and pepper to taste

For garnish:
tortilla triangles
cilantro leaves

In a non-stick pan, saute the potatoes in half the olive oil until they are lightly brown, but not fully cooked. Set aside.

Add the rest of the oil to the pan and saute the onion, carrot and celery until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and oregano and saute a couple of minutes longer.

In a stockpot, combine the sauteed vegetables, the vegetable broth, the reserved potatoes, the tomatoes and peppers and simmer until the potatoes are nearly done. Add the corn and simmer a minute more.

Meanwhile, in a clean, dry pan, toast the flour until it is lightly golden brown. Add the butter and cook until it is melted and mixed well with the flour. With a spatula, scrape this mixture into the stock pot (along with the optional red pepper flakes) and simmer for five minutes.

Add the milk and cheeses and simmer two minutes, or until fully heated through. Garnish with tortilla triangles and cilantro. Serve with hot tortillas or French bread.

Bittman's Zuppa Arcidossana

In today's Minimalist column, Mark Bittman has a terrific sounding recipe for Zuppa Arcidossana.

I see a couple of ways to make this into a vegetarian recipe. You could replace the four ounces of sausage with vegetarian sausage. Or you could just omit sausage altogether and season the soup with sausage seasoning -- fennel seed, marjoram, thyme, nutmeg, red pepper flakes. You could substitute four ounces of garbanzo or white beans for the sausage and also add sausage seasoning. Or, as Bittman suggests in the video, you could simply leave out the sausage.

Mexican Cheeses

Photo by Greg Bryan, Arizona Daily Star. Clockwise from bottom left: Oaxaca, queso fresco, Meononita or Chihuahua, Cotija (queso seco), Cotija (enchilado), panela and requesón.

Today's Arizona Daily Star's food section has several great features on Mexican cheeses, including this primer on the different varieties. Since the paper's content is available online only for a week, I'm copying and pasting instead of linking. Here's the article:

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Mexican cuisine cheeses
Karen Hursh Graber, senior food editor for Mexico Connect, a monthly electronic magazine on all things Mexican, lists the cheeses most frequently found in Mexico:

Fresh cheeses:
• Queso blanco — Creamy, white cheese made from skimmed cow's milk and described as a cross between cottage cheese and mozzarella. Softens when heated but doesn't melt. Good for stuffing enchiladas.
• Queso fresco — A spongy white cheese, used to crumble over snacks as well as on enchiladas and taquitos. Usually made of cow and goat milk. A very mild feta is an acceptable substitute.
• Queso panela — Also called queso de canasta because it carries the imprint of the basket in which it is molded. A soft, white cheese most often served as part of an appetizer or snack tray. It absorbs other flavors easily, and is sometimes coated with a garlic-and-chile paste, or wrapped in toasted avocado leaves, to be served with cocktails.
• Requesón — A loose, ricotta-like cheese used to fill enchiladas and to make cheese spreads. You may substitute a mild but not salty ricotta.

Soft cheeses:
• Queso añejo — An aged version of queso fresco. Classified as a soft cheese, but can become quite firm and salty as it ages. Used primarily as a garnish, crumbled or grated over a variety of dishes. Substitute Romano.
• Queso Oaxaca — Also called quesillo. The most popular cheese for quesadillas. A stretched curd cheese, kneaded and wound into balls. Pull it apart into thin strings before using to fill tortillas or melted on cooked food. Substitute mozzarella or string cheese.


Semi-soft cheeses:
• Queso asadero — Specifically a melting cheese, used to make the Mexican fondue called queso fundido, a dish that adapts well to other ingredients and is usually eaten as a late-night supper. Fontina and Monterey Jack are fine substitutes.
• Queso Chihuahua — Also called queso Menonita, after northern Mexico's Mennonite communities where it was first produced.
It is pale yellow and varies from mild to a nearly cheddarlike sharpness. Used in a variety of dishes; especially good in queso frito, a breaded, fried cheese dish. Chihuahua cheese is available outside Mexico, so substitutes shouldn't be necessary. However, you could use a very mild cheddar or a flavorful Jack cheese in many recipes.
• Queso jalapeño — A smooth, soft white cow's milk cheese with bits of jalapeño chile in it. Serve as a snack or use to make quesadillas.

Semi-firm cheeses:
• Queso criollo — Pale yellow; a specialty of the region around Taxco, Guerrero. So similar to Munster, one easily can be substituted for the other.
• Queso Edam — Although not considered a Mexican cheese, Edam has become such an intrinsic part of Yucatecan regional cooking that it is worth including here. The cheese round is scooped out, filled with a seasoned meat picadillo, and steamed in the oven the same way a custard is prepared. It then is presented whole, accompanied by a salsa roja.
• Queso manchego — Introduced to Mexico from Spain's La Mancha region. Buttery yellow and also popular outside Mexico. Good for melting or serving with fruit or crackers. Widely available in the U.S., but Monterey Jack may be used instead.

Firm cheeses:
• Queso añejo enchilado — Queso añejo with a spicy red chile coating. Aged to the point where it serves as a condiment. A strong feta cheese could be substituted for it.
• Queso Cotija — Named for the town of Cotija, Michoacan, where it originated. A sharp, crumbly goat cheese called "the Parmesan of Mexico." Usually served over beans and salads.
• Queso manchego viejo — As its name implies, this is manchego aged to the point where it hardens with a more intense flavor. Quite often shaved over botanas, appetizers or snacks.

Information from Karen Hursh Graber. More information and recipes, here.
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It's my sense that most, if not all, of these cheeses are available at the Food City markets in Tucson.

Chihuly at Desert Botanical Gardens, Phoenix

Today we drove up to Phoenix to see the Dale Chihuly exhibition at the Desert Botanical Gardens. The gardens are well worth seeing anyway, but the Chihuly installations were outstanding.

This doesn't really have anything to do with vegetarianism. Well, we did find several vegetarian options at the Terrace Cafe. We had veggie burgers and an order of garlic fries, and there were several other options as well. And we did stop at Ikea on the way back to replace the frying pan I ruined by forgetting the flame was still on low and not off, and compounding the error by leaving a rubber spatula in it.

But mostly I'm just looking for an excuse to post a pictures of a few of the Chihuly installations.

A few more from Dale Chihuly

MORE Chihuly

These two are from Mr. Gastronome, who is a better photographer than his wife.

Meatless "Chicken" Strips

Although these are quite expensive, I do keep some on hand because they are so convenient. The Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Veggie Chicken Strips are regularly priced over $11 a pound, but Safeway often has them on sale for $3.50, which brings them in at a more tolerable $7 a pound.

Trader Joe's Chicken-Less Strips are 2.99 for a half pound package. They taste remarkably like the Morningstar Farms chicken strips. And there's a reason: both products are made by Gardein.

I haven't personally used Quorn products, but they were recommended in recipes from the late, great vegetarian restaurant Tipu's Tiger in Missoula, Montana. Tipu's Tiger was a wonderful restaurant, and if Quorn is good enough for them, that's all the recommendation I need. Originally sold in health food stores, it was slow to show up in grocery stores, but is now available at QFC (Kroger), Albertsons and Fred Meyer stores.

I use these faux chicken strips not only in recipes calling for chicken, but in any recipe calling for white meat, including pork and white-fleshed fish.

If you prefer not to use meat substitutes, garbanzo beans can be used instead.

Fideos

Fideos are a Mexican wheat noodle, like pasta. They typically come rolled up in little bundles (bottom picture)and are often sauteed until golden (top)and then cooked with broth. Sometimes they are added raw and cooked in the soup itself. In recipes calling for fideos, vermicelli or thin spaghetti is a good substitute.

Three ounces of fideos is a reasonable serving for one person. I get them in 12 ounce packages at the hispanic market for 75 cents a package, or less on sale.

Fideos - Sopa Seca de Fideos

4 cloves of garlic
6 oz. fideos
olive oil
1/2 white onion, sliced
1 14 oz can tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon chipotle puree, or to taste
1/2 Mexican grey squash, chopped
2 Anaheim peppers, roasted, peeled and chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
1/4 cup peas
crema, sour cream or Greek yogurt, to taste
1/2 avocado, sliced
cotija cheese, crumbled
green onions
pickled onions and/or green olives
chopped cilantro or Italian parsley

Roast the garlic in foil in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

Saute the fideos in oil in a nonstick pan, in batches if necessary, until they are light golden. Remove and dry on paper towels.

In the oil remaining, saute the sliced onions for a few minutes until they are translucent. Remove the garlic from the foil and peel.

Put the garlic, onion, tomatoes and chipotle puree in a blender and process until smooth. Return the puree to the pan and add the fideos, the squash,the chile peppers and the oregano. Bring to a simmer and cook until the fideos are done and most of the liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes. If necessary you can add a little additional hot water or broth. Add the peas and cook until they are heated through.

Put the fideos on plates and garnish with the crema, avocado, cheese, onions, olives and cilantro or parsley. These quantities make two servings, or three if you have other courses.

NOTES: If you don't have Mexican grey squash, zucchini is a fine substitute. If you don't have cotija cheese, feta will work well. If you don't want to bother with roasting the garlic, you can sautee it with the onion. If you don't have a white onion, use red or yellow. No one will notice.

"Pork" in Chile Verde

This is based on a pork in chile verde dish my carni-vorous friends enjoy at the Chile Pepper Mexican restaurant in Seattle. (I usually have their excellent chiles rellenos, although their cheese enchiladas in mole are pretty terrific too. But I digress).

I make this dish using either Trader Joe chicken-less strips or Morningstar Farms meal starter chik-n strips. In fact I often use faux chicken strips in recipes calling for pork and even white fleshed fish.

If you prefer not to use meat substitutes, you could use garbanzo beans instead. Or this would be a fabulous brunch or supper dish with hard boiled eggs, chopped, added at the last minute. (Or poached eggs for masochistic cooks.)

4 to 6 ounces faux chicken strips
1 tablespoon butter, oil, or a combination
1 white onion, quartered and sliced
1 clove of garlic, minced
4-6 pasilla or anaheim chiles, roasted and chopped
1-1/2 cups salsa verde
1 t dried Mexican oregano, crumbled
3/4 cup broth, water or a combination
chopped cilantro
salt and pepper to taste

Cut the strips into fairly uniform chunks. Heat the butter and/or oil in a nonstick frying pan and saute the strips until they are lightly browned. Remove from the pan.

Saute the onion until it is becoming translucent. Add the garlic and saute for a couple of minutes more. Add the chiles, salsa, oregano and broth. Stir well to combine and simmer for ten to 15 minutes. Add the chopped cilantro and the strips and cook until the strips are just heated through. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve over white rice.

This makes about three servings. Two if ravenous, four if there is a lot of other stuff going on. If you have the salsa verde already on hand and can buy roasted chiles, this is a pretty quick and easy supper. If you're starting from scratch, better start before lunch.

Green Sauce - Salsa Verde

1-1/4 to 1-1/2 pounds tomatillos
3 or 4 poblano or anaheim chiles, roasted and coarsely chopped
1/2 white onion, coarsely chopped
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, quartered
chopped cilantro to taste
salt and pepper to taste, if necessary

Husk the tomatillos, rinse them and cook them in simmering water for five to ten minutes until they are soft and have lost their bright green color. With tongs, remove them to a blender. Reserve the cooking liquid. Add the chiles, onion and garlic to the blender and process until well combined.

Put the sauce in a non stick frying pan. Add about a cup of the cooking water to the blender and process briefly to get the bits sticking to the sides of the blender. Add the water to the frying pan, stir to combine. Simmer the sauce for about ten minutes, until it is the thickness you want and the onion and garlic have lost their raw taste.

NOTE: Traditionally this sauce would be sauteed in lard or butter. If you want a richer sauce you can melt butter in the frying pan before adding the liquid ingredients, but I don't think it's necessary. The roasted peppers give the sauce a rich, smoky taste.

Add cilantro, and salt and pepper if necessary. I find that salt and pepper are usually unnecessary. The salsa is best if used promptly but will keep for a day or two in the refrigerator.

Mole Verde de Cacahuate - Green Mole with Peanuts

This is adapted from a pork recipe in Diana Kennedy's 1978 cookbook Recipes from the Regional Cooks of Mexico. The original recipe is from Veracruz state.

5 ounces shelled peanuts, unroasted, unsalted
1-1/2 pounds tomatillos
1/2 white onion
4 cloves of garlic, whole
1 bay leaf
6 sprigs of cilantro
jalapeno or serrano chile(s) to taste, seeds and stems removed
salt and pepper to taste


Toast the peanuts in a 350 degree oven until golden.

Husk the tomatillos and rinse them in cold water. Put them in a saucepan along with the onion, 2 cloves of garlic and bay leaf. Cover generously with water and bring to a simmer. Cook for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until the tomatillos are done.

Transfer the tomatillos, onion, and garlic to a blender, reserving the cooking liquid. (The sauce will puree more easily in the blender if you chop the onion and garlic a bit. If you are using a food processor, this isn't necessary.) Add the remaining 2 cloves of garlic, the cilantro, the jalapeno or serrano pepper(s) and the roasted peanuts. Add 3/4 to 1 cup of the cooking liquid and process until smooth. If it seems too thick, add a little more cooking liquid. The sauce will keep for a few days in the refrigerator and it freezes well.

I use this with faux chicken, either Trader Joe's or Morningstar Farms. Cut the "meat" strips in uniform sizes, and saute briefly in butter or oil in a nonstick pan until they are just starting to brown. Remove from the pan. Add more butter or oil and saute some white onion (sliced, slices cut in thirds) until it is becoming translucent. Add some of the mole to the pan along with a cup or more of the tomatillo cooking liquid (or broth or water if you are using mole from the freezer) and simmer the sauce and onions for about 15 minutes. Just before serving, add the "meat" and cook just to heat through. Serve over rice.

If you prefer not to use faux meat, this is also good with sauteed mushrooms, garbanzo beans, or both.

Black Bean Chili Supper

This is a good menu for a casual evening with friends, as everything can be made ahead and chili is familiar to carnivores and therefore not too threatening.

Starters:

Salsa
Guacamole
Sliced carrots
Sliced jicama
Tortilla chips

Salad:

Mixed greens with walnuts, dried cranberries and blue cheese.

Main Course:

Black Bean Chili, served over:
Polenta

Garnishes:

Roasted poblano peppers, diced
Greek yogurt (or sour cream)
Sliced green onions
Crumbled Cotija cheese

Dessert

Lemon sorbet with blueberries

or

Lemon cake with blueberry sauce

Spanakopita Pie

This is basically spanakopita, but baked in a pie shell instead of filo dough. I don't have the patience for filo dough. This is a forgiving recipe, and you can vary the amounts of everything. The dill is essential, but you can substitute a smaller amount of dried dill for fresh if necessary. You don't need salt at all because the feta is so salty.

This is a good dish for a picnic, or a potluck. It's what I always take to friends when there's been a death in the family because it will keep for several days, and it's familiar enough that it doesn't frighten carnivores. You can serve it at room temperature, or reheat it in a moderate oven until heated through. It also freezes well.

2 10-ounce packages frozen spinach, thawed
2 small yellow onions or one large, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of olive oil
4 eggs
3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
3 to 4 ounces crumbled feta cheese
1 pie crust

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Squeeze all the water from the spinach and put the spinach in a mixing bowl. Saute the onions in the oil until they are soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook a couple of minutes longer. Add the onions and garlic to the spinach and mix well to combine. I find bare hands work best for this.

Add the eggs, dill and feta, and stir well to combine (NOT bare hands!).

Put the crust into the pie plate and poke holes in the bottom of the crust with a fork. Add the spinach mixture and spread it evenly. Bake the pie until done -- about 50 minutes to an hour. Check the pie occasionally and if the exposed crust is getting too brown, protect it with a pie crust shield or strips of foil. I find the crust shield usually needs to go on at about 40 minutes. If you are going to be serving it right away, let it rest for five to ten minutes.

White Rice Mexican Style - Arroz Blanco

1 cup of rice
1 tablespoon of butter or oil
1/2 small white onion, chopped fine
1 clove of garlic, minced
1-1/2 cups water, broth or a combination
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 to 1/2 cup minced celery (optional)
1/4 to 1/2 cup peas (optional)
1/4 to 1/2 cup minced carrot (optional)
the juice of half a lime (optional)


Soak the rice in very hot water for ten minutes. Drain, rinse in cold water and drain again. Heat the butter or oil in a nonstick frying pan and saute the rice for a few minutes. Add the onion and continue to saute until the rice is nearly translucent. Add the garlic and saute a couple of minutes longer. Add the water or broth, the bayleaf, salt, and any of the vegetables and/or lime juice you are using. Bring to a simmer, cover, turn the heat to very low and continue to simmer until just tender.

The rice can be made a day or two ahead and reheated in a steamer, in the microwave, or, covered with foil, in the oven. For the last two methods, you may need to sprinkle the rice with a little additional water or broth.

TIP: If I don't have any vegetable broth prepared, I add a couple of stalks of mustard green along with the water and then remove the stalks before serving. This enchances the flavor of the cooking liquid.

Food City Markets - Arizona

The Food City chain in Arizona targets the Hispanic market. It's a subsidiary of Basha's, which also owns the upscale AJ's markets. You will find any ingredient you need for Mexican cooking at Food City, and the prices are phenomenally low. Every Monday I check their website to find out what I'll be cooking that week.

How low are their prices? Some random "personal bests":

Garlic 50 cents a pound (comes to 11 cents a head)
Green cabbage, 25 cents a pound
Radishes, green onions, cilantro, 25 cents a bunch
Italian flat leaf parsley, 50 cents a bunch
Pasilla peppers, 79 cents a pound
Red and green peppers, 50 cents each
Eggplant 88 cents each
Mustard and turnip greens, kale, 69 cents a bunch
Haas avocados, 69 cents each
Potatoes, 5 pound bag for 99 cents
Jicama, carrots, 33 cents a pound
Roma tomatoes, 59 cents a pound.
Cotija cheese, $4.59 a pound
Media crema, $1.29
Chipotle chiles, 7 ounce can, $1
Lentils, bulk pinto beans, 50 cents a pound
Bulk rice, 79 cents a pound
HUGE bunch of fresh dill that stayed fresh several weeks, $1.29
Large bunch of mint, 79 cents
Tomatillos, 59 cents a pound
Cucumbers, 33 cents each
Mexican grey squash (zucchini equivalent) 50 cents a pound

You get the idea. How's the produce? That varies. Sometimes you have to select carefully. Occasionally, I've had to work hard to find bell peppers that looked okay; other times they're all fine. The pasillas are usually great. I bought the roma tomatoes only because they were so cheap, but chose carefully and found that they had at least as much color and flavor, if not more, than the hothouse tomatoes I'd been paying $3 to $4 a pound for at Safeway.

Last week Food City had the single most gorgeous radishes I've seen outside of France which I promptly bought even though they were a relatively high 44 cents a bunch. I use the radish greens in salads, so it's important to me to get radishes where the greens are still actually green.

When we first started shopping at Food City, we experienced sticker shock at the checkout. The opposite kind from what we'd been used to. When I got the total my thought was "That can't be right!" I can't remember how many decades it's been since I've checked out of a grocery store in the low double digits. I'm almost embarrassed to use my credit card.

Downsides? Of course. The stores are not antiseptic. The very first time I shopped at a Food City, with some trepidation, I discovered a large wad of chewed gum stuck to the shopping cart. (I simply got a plastic bag, removed the gum, and deposited the whole thing in a garbage can. I guess the fact that they have garbage cans throughout the store should tell you something.) And I think I once saw a mother and son stuffing packages from the meat counter into their clothing but courageously decided it was best to look the other way and not make a scene.

And speaking of plastic bags, theirs have blue printing on them, which is fine except it flakes off. So you get little blue flecks on your produce, your hands and, eventually, on your refrigerator door. I'm pretty sure this is not food grade dye. Just a wild guess. So now I bring my own plastic bags, which is more environmentally responsible anyway.

More troubling is the fact that there is some question in my mind about their labor practices. I haven't looked into it exhaustively, which reflects poorly on me. Here's Basha's take on the situation. And here's what UFCW has to say. I hope Basha's and UFCW can come to an agreement that serves the workers well.

And you do need to watch carefully as your groceries are rung up. I've had cilantro and Italian parsley mistaken for each other (this happens everywhere), pinto beans mistaken for the more expensive peruanos, parsley mistaken for mint. But the checkers are agreeable, bilingual, and more than willing to rectify mistakes.

The larger Food City markets have in house bakeries as well as tortillerias.

The most amazing thing Food City offers? Chiles verdes (called that here, I think they're what I call Anaheims) roasted outside on a wood fire for $1.50 a pound. They've become a total staple in our household. It's going to be a shock to shop in Seattle again where these same peppers will be near $3 a pound -- raw. Of course I can roast them on a gas flame, but you don't get the wonderful smoky taste that comes from peppers roasted on a wood fire. When we head north, it will be with an ice chest full of roasted peppers and Cotija cheese.

Greek Spinach Dip

Sunset Magazine Photo

The March issue of Sunset Magazine has a recipe for a Greek spinach dip that sounds pretty good. It's basically spanakopita ingredients, less the eggs, plus Greek yogurt. The 2% fat Greek yogurt at Trader Joe's is wonderful and almost fat free, although you wouldn't know it to taste it.

When I make this dip, I'll probably replace the twelve ounces of fresh spinach with a ten ounce package of chopped frozen spinach, well drained, for economy's sake. And use red onion in place of shallots, for the same reason.

I suspect this is best if made at least an hour or two ahead so that the flavors have time to meld.

Beet Salad with Garlic Walnut Sauce

Mark Bittman had an excellent sounding recipe for Beets with Garlic Walnut Sauce in his February 27 column. Mr. Gastronome made the dish (above) this evening and it was excellent. I think with the addition of a little lemon the dressing would also be wonderful on a jicama salad.

There's also a video of Bittman preparing the salad.

Asian Noodles

This month's Sunset Magazine has a pretty good primer on the various types of Asian noodles. It's also available online starting here.

Tucson Style Salsa

The salsa in Tucson has more garlic in it than salsa I've had elsewhere. I attribute this, perhaps erroneously, to the influence of Monica Flin, the original proprietor of El Charro Cafe, and the daughter of two French parents. Opened in 1922, El Charro Cafe is still in the same family and is the oldest continuously operating Mexican restaurant in the country.

But my favorite salsa in Tucson is made by Rosa Ortega of Rosa's Mexican Restaurant, which has been in business since 1970. Rosa is 75 now and the restaurant is run by her children, but she's still often on the premises. I've heard that not even her daughters know the recipe for her award-winning salsa. If that's really the case, I hope she's stashed the recipe in her safe deposit box.

I've bought vats of Rosa's salsa in an attempt to reverse engineer it. ("Good luck!" snorted one of the daughters when I admitted what I was up to.) This isn't exactly the same as Rosa's (it's less salty for one thing), but it's close, and it's damn good salsa if I do say so myself.


28 oz can of tomatoes
1/2 head of garlic, cloves peeled and chopped
1/2 white onion, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup water
1 small bunch cilantro
1 to 2 teaspoons dried Mexican oregano*
1 cup of water
1-1/2 teaspoons of salt
several generous grindings black pepper
1 tablespoon olive or canola oil
Scant 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon of chipotle puree, or to taste

Chop one cup of the tomatoes fine and reserve in a large nonstick frying pan.

Combine the garlic, onion and 1/2 cup of water in the blender and puree.

Remove most of the stems from the cilantro and chop coarsely. Add the herbs and tomatoes (except reserved tomatoes) to the mixture in the blender and puree. Transfer the mixture to the frying pan with the reservec chopped tomatoes. Season the mixture with salt, pepper, oil and red wine vinegar. Mix well to combine.

Add the chiplote puree. Start with half a teaspoon and take it from there. The salsa should be *very* hot, but not painfully so and not so hot that you won't be able to taste whatever dishes are to follow. And the mixture should be a rich reddish brown. (If you decide you've undershot the mark on the heat, you can always add a little more chipotle puree at the very end.)

Add the cup of water to the now empty blender to get whatever is left clinging to the sides and add that water to the skillet. Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer and cook until the mixture has lost its raw taste, about ten minutes. Bring to room temperature. Adjust the seasoning if necessary. This will keep in the refrigerator for a week or more. The recipe makes a little over a quart.

*Use 2 teaspoons if oregano is from chain store, 1 teaspoon if it is very fresh from bulk importer, such as Pacific Foods International.

Chipotle Pepper Puree

The chipotle is a jalapeno that has been allowed to ripen until it turns red and is then smoke dried. It is available dried or canned in adobo sauce. I find the canned chipotles easier to use in most instances.

Put the contents of one seven ounce can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce in the blender. Fill the can half full of hot water and use a small fork to scrape down the sauce clinging to the sides of the can. Add to the blender and puree the mixture until completely smooth. Put into a clean jar with a tight lid. The mixture will keep indefintely in the refrigerator.

Afghan Eggplant - Badenjan Boorani

This is a recipe I adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's indispensable World Vegetarian. The main change I made was to brown the eggplant in the oven first thing, rather than deep frying it at the last minute.

You can cook the eggplant the day before you serve the dish and the tomato sauce is actually improved by being made a day ahead.

If I have leftovers, I puree everything in the blender and add vegetable stock to make a wonderful soup. In the summer I add yogurt to the soup and serve it chilled.

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/8 teaspoon cayenne, or more to taste

1 large eggplant

olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped fine

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 15 oz can of petite diced tomatoes, plus juice

1/4 cup water or tomato juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

fresh ground black pepper to taste

3 tablespoons of fresh mint or 1-1/2 teaspoons dried

Greek style yogurt (a half cup or more to taste)

mint or flatleaf parsely sprigs

Toast the cumin and coriander in a dry pan until they are very fragrant. Turn off the heat, add the cayenne and stir to combine. Set aside.

Cut the eggplant crosswise in slices 1/2" to 3/4" thick. Spread each slice with a little bit of olive oil on each side and bake on a nonstick baking sheet in a preheated 350 degree oven until they are nicely browned but still somewhat firm -- 20 to 30 minutes.

Put 1 tablespoon of oil in a large nonstick frying pan. Saute the onion in the oil until it is softened and transluscent. Add the garlic and stir for about a minute. Add the reserved spices and stir well to combine. Add the tomatoes and their juice, the water or tomato juice, the salt and pepper, and the chopped mint. Simmer gently for ten to twenty minutes, until the sauce has thickened.

Put the eggplant in a lightly oiled baking dish in one layer. Cover with the tomato sauce and bake in a 350 degree oven until it is completly heated through.

Stir the yogurt with a fork until it is smooth.

Put one or two slices of eggplant on a plate (or all the slices on a platter). Top with the yogurt and garnish with mint or parsley. Serve with rice. This is a very light dish, so I like to precede it with a salad that includes garbanzo beans. This recipe serves about three to four people.

Carrot Pickle

This first time I had carrot pickle was twenty five years ago at Kilimanjaro, an Indian restaurant, now defunct, in the Punjabi Market/Little India district of Vancouver. The restaurant was housed in an old cowboy diner and bar, and it retained the incongruous wild west decor. The owner was of Indian ancestry but had lived in East Africa before coming to Canada. He claimed to have the best samosas in Vancouver, and he may well have, but it was the pungent, garlicky carrot pickle that most impressed me.

I've tried many carrot pickles in the years since, some forgettable, some pretty good, but none as good the carrot pickle at Kilimanjaro. I certainly don't claim this carrot pickle reaches Kilimanjaro's heights, but I like to think it comes pretty close.

1 pound of carrots, about 1/4" to 1/2" dice - they will shrink

10 cloves of garlic, or more to taste, minced

1 serrano pepper, seeded, ribs removed, minced fine

1/4 cup of mustard seeds

2 teaspoons fenugreek

3/4 teaspoon of cayenne

heaping 1/2 teaspoon of tumeric

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup olive oil

Put the carrots, garlic, and serrano pepper in a bowl. Grind the mustard seeds and fenugreek together in a spice grinder and put them over the vegetables. Add all the rest of the ingredients except the oil. Toss everything together until it is well combined. Allow the mixture to rest at room temperature for three or four hours to allow the carrots to begin to soften.

Put the mix into a glass jar or jars. Heat the oil until it is very hot -- almost at the smoking point, then allow it to cool until it is lukewarm. Pour the oil into the jar(s). Put the lid(s) on the jar(s) and shake to combine the ingredients. Put the jar(s) in a sunny spot for five to seven days until the carrots are soft. You can set the jar(s) outside in the sun during the day. Shake the jar(s) at least once a day. Once the pickles are done they will keep in the refrigerator for several months, but I doubt they'll stick around that long. I find myself needing to make a batch every couple of weeks. I not only use them as a condiment with Indian meals, I think they are a fabulous addition to a salad.

Cabbage Salad with Carrot Pickle

I threw this salad together because I had some left over rice and beans that I wanted to use up. I was very happy with the result.

The amounts below are for a single main course salad, but obviously they can be increased to serve more. The proportions of the various ingredients aren't that important anyway, except you need enough carrot pickle to wilt the cabbage and to flavor the salad.

1 cup of very thin sliced cabbage

2 generous tablespoons of carrot pickle

2 tablespoons minced red onion OR 2 scallions, sliced thin

1 small tomato, diced

1/3 of a jicama, peeled and diced OR 6 radishes, chopped

1/2 cup of garbanzo beans or white beans

1/2 cup of cooked rice

1 teaspoon Greek style 2% yogurt

1 teaspoon mayonnaise

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Italian flatleaf parsley, chopped, for garnish

Combine the carrot pickle and cabbage in a bowl and allow to sit for ten to twenty minutes. The salt in the carrot pickle will wilt the cabbage. (The pickle is very salty and you won't need any additional salt in the salad.) Add the rest of the ingredients except the parsley and toss until all ingredients are well combined and the salad is dressed. Garnish with parsley.

Pasta with Garlic, Parsley, Pepper, Lemon, and Pine Nuts

This is a recipe I developed when I found myself longing for the light, simple, flavorful pastas we've had in Italy. The ingredients below are for two servings, adjust accordingly for more, but this is a dish that must go from skillet to table quickly. I wouldn't make more than four servings. It's just too unwieldy in larger quantities to get it to the table while it's still hot.

Do not substitute curly parsley for the Italian. You can use arugula or spinach in place of the parsley (or use a combination) for a different but still interesting dish. If you don't have pine nuts on hand, walnuts (also toasted in the oven) will work.

2 large cloves of garlic, or more to taste, chopped fine

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 small bunch of Italian flatleaf parlsey, stems removed, leaves chopped

Red pepper flakes to taste

Zest of one or two lemons

1/4 cup of pine nuts, roasted in the oven until light golden

Pasta such as linguine, spaghetti or fettucine

Parmesan cheese, grated

Put the oil and garlic in a large nonstick skillet. Turn on the heat to medium and saute until the garlic is just beginning to brown. Turn off the heat and add two thirds of parsley to the pan and toss until it is wilted. (This also stops the garlic cooking.) Add the red pepper flakes. Combine the remaining parsley, lemon zest and pine nuts.

Cook the pasta in boiling water until it is al dente. Drain well and put into the skillet with the parsley, garlic and red pepper flakes. Saute briefly over high heat until all the ingredients are very hot. If the pasta seems a bit dry, add more oil, or butter, or a combination.

Divide the pasta between two plates, top with grated cheese, then with the parlsey, lemon, pine nut mixture. Serve with additional grated Parmesan. Despite all the garlic, this dish is better with white, rather than red, wine.

Mexican Grey Squash - Calabacitas

Well, it's not grey, but it is Mexican and it is squash, so I guess two out of three isn't bad. Mexican grey squash is a summer squash that, like zucchini, is available all year long. In the southwest, it is widely available at both ethnic and national chain markets, sometimes for as little as 50 cents a pound. In taste and texture it's very similar to zucchini, and the two can substitute for each other in most dishes. In Spanish, I've seen it referred to as both calabacitas and calabaza gris mexicana.