The Kitchen of Procrastination

Ever had Chinese long beans?  They are super delicious!  Like regular green beans, but without the bitter starchiness; which means they lend themselves perfectly to quick-fry methods like this.

Pan-Fried and Delicious

Of course, if you can’t find long beans, you can easily substitute regular green beans and just cook a tiny bit longer before you add the sugar and cashews.  Adding the cashews gives you a bit more substance to a delicious appetizer, or serve on top of long-grain brown rice with some baked tofu and call it dinner.  In fact, the only reason I hesitated to add tofu to the dish itself is because the heavy stirring at high temperatures is likely to break apart the tofu into little pieces of nothing, and prevent the proper formation of the crispy coating on the beans and cashews.

Ideally, this dish should be pretty spicy, with a touch of salty and sweet.  But, as always, I encourage you to adjust the seasonings to your tastes.

Long Beans with Cashews

2 bunches long beans, or about 3 lbs green beans
1 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs toasted sesame oil
1 tsp (give or take) red chili flakes
3-5 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
2 inches fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 Tbs soy sauce
1/2 Tbs rice wine vinegar
2 Tbs brown sugar
1/3-1/2 cup cashews
salt and pepper, to taste

Heat the oils on med heat in a high-sided, non-stick pan with the chili flakes. Add the garlic and ginger and stir with a wooden for 1-2 min. Add the beans. Turn the heat up to high and cook for several minutes, add the soy sauce and vinegar and place the lid on the pan. Shake the pan to stir frequently, and cook for a further 1-5 min. When beans are at desired consistency (should be still crunchy, but not raw tasting), add the cashews and brown sugar. Continue stirring and make sure everything is well coated with sugar. Once sugar has caramelized (about 2 min) remove from heat. Season with salt and black pepper (or crushed Szechuan pepper!) and serve hot.

**Next post will be about the politics of food, but I’m still thinking about what, exactly, I want to focus on, since nothing has outraged me lately

I’ve been feeling a little discombobulated lately. I think it’s just the heat and the stress of working in a totally new environment, but one of the ways I cope sometimes is with cooking. Really elaborate cooking. In the past couple weeks I’ve made a nectarine tart with almond crust, cupcakes with chocolate butter cream, and this:

YUM!

This is posole. It’s a traditional Mexican hominy soup, made from dried and processed corn (known as nixtamalized maize) that has been slow cooked in flavorful broth and then further seasoned with chile salsa.  In this case I made the stock from scratch with the unwanted ends of carrots, onions, and jalapeños, de-kernaled corn cobs, garlic cloves, a big handful of cilantro, and a hefty dash of salt.  It was my first time making homemade stock; I was pretty proud of myself.
I also made my own chili colorado, a traditional red sauce that can be added to soups, used as enchilada sauce, or just used like ketchup on everything from hashbrowns and fried eggs to micheladas.  It was reasonably easy to make, the only issue involved grinding close to a cup of pure chili powder from some dried New Mexican chilis I had bought (I used my coffee grinder, coffee was a bit spicy the next day).  I am slowly using up the approximately 2 cups of sauce I made; it’s so good I don’t want it to go to waste.  I’ll probably make some black bean enchiladas with it later this week.
The soup itself was ridiculously simple. You just slowly simmer (I used the oven method!) the posole kernals in the stock, with some added garlic and onion, for a few hours until they pop and get soft. I then added some fresh sweet corn and shredded carrots for added flavor and texture. When everything is at the desired consistency, you stir in the chili sauce and plenty of lime juice.
I ended up topping it with a whipped créme made from avocado, créme fraíche, lime juice, and salt. It provided a soothing fattiness to an otherwise rather lean and spicy soup.

All in all it was quite a success. The whole pot fed us for almost three days. There was at least one day where Zack at it for 3/4 meals in 24 hours. I’m not posting the recipe mostly because it was pretty involved and I’ve gotten the impression that my readers are more interested in simple recipes. However, if anyone is interested, I can!

**Note:I bought my posole at whole foods, it was the “New Mexico foods” brand, available next to some spices in bags on the side of the “ethnic foods” isle.

Ever since I learned to bake polenta instead of standing over the hot stove stirring for forever, cooking soup in the stove has become my go-to method for not dying of heat exhaustion or boredom.  This soup developed out of a recipe for tarka dal in an old vegetarian cookbook I have.  I was getting tired of the same flavors all the time, and decided to branch out.  The warm cinnamon and cloves pair really well with the sweet raisins and the slightly bitter apricots.  It would be complemented well by a sprinkle of fatty, crunchy cashews if you have them around, or could easily be served on top of cumin or coconut rice.  This is one soup that I tend not to overfill with vegetables, as I think they would take away from the straightforward flavors, but if you really felt the need, I think it wouldn’t be hurt by some spinach.

North African Lentils with Dried Fruit

2 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp whole, yellow mustard seeds
1 tsp whole cumin seeds
5 2-inch cinnamon sticks
5 fresh, whole cloves
1/2-1 tsp red chili flakes
1 small onion, chopped
3-5 garlic cloves, chopped
2 inch fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 cup red lentils
6 cups water or vegetable stock
2-3 carrots, sliced
1/3 cup mixed raisins and chopped dried apricots
salt and pepper

Heat oven to 350-375 degrees
Heat the oil and mustard seeds in a heavy bottomed dutch oven with the lid on. After a few minutes at min-high heat, the mustard seeds will start to *pop,* shift around the pan to stir them. Once most of the seeds are toasted, add the other four dried spices and stir. After a minute or two, when the spices are fragrant, add the onion and sauté till transparent. Add garlic and ginger and sauté for another 2 min, then stir in the lentils. Add the water and bring to a light boil, stirring gently.
Place the dutch oven, without a lid, in the preheated oven. Cook for 30-45 min, till lentils are desired tenderness and soup has desired consistency. About 15-20 min prior to removal, add the carrots and dried fruit, stirring well, and returning to the oven.  (It can also be done on the stove, you just have to stir it regularly.)
You can finish the soup with lemon juice, cilantro, or just salt and pepper.

Yes, another salad.  This one is one of my absolute favorites though.  It’s another very flexible recipe that depends on only two solid components: the peanut tofu mix and a triple herb and lime topping that when sprinkled on top of the rest of the salad brings it to life.  The peanut tofu is super simple!  All it takes is some sautéed extra firm Chinese style tofu (in this instance I used the Trader Joe’s extra protein tofu, which worked especially well, as it’s rather low moisture) and a peanut sauce that can be made in a single mixing bowl.  Now, my Thai salad must include cabbage and carrots, but you can use whichever vegetables you like best; I also love sugar snap peas when they are available.

Peanut Tofu

1 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs toasted sesame oil
1 tsp red chili flakes
1 box extra firm tofu, drained
salt and fresh pepper

sauce
3/4 cup light coconut milk, well shaken
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs tahini
1 Tbs rice vinegar
1 tsp red chili flakes
2 Tbs brown sugar
1 inch ginger root, peeled and finely grated
juice of 1/2 lime
salt and pepper to taste
thin hot sauce such as sriracha or Cholula, to taste
Optional: a few sprinkles of vietnamese fish sauce, 1-3 cloves of minced garlic, 1/4-1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp toasted sesame oil

Triple Herbs and Lime
2 parts finely chopped basil (Thai basil is especially good)
2 parts finely chopped cilantro
1 part finely chopped mint
zest of lime
squeeze of lime juice

In a separate bowl mix together all the ingredients for the peanut sauce. Blend together with fork until nut butters are smooth and well incorporated with the liquids. Add the salt, pepper, and hot sauce to taste.

Heat the oils and chili in a high walled sauté pan. Crumble the tofu over a colander in the sink, squeezing out any excess liquid. Add the tofu to the pan. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Stir around on med-high heat until the tofu is a nice golden brown, like below.

Golden Brown Tofu

At that point, turn down the heat to low/med-low and pour on about 2/3 of the peanut sauce, enough to coat the tofu. Continue to stir and cook the sauce. Remove from the heat after about 3-5 min.

In another small mixing bowl, mix together the three herbs and the lime zest. Add a little lime juice and stir. Set aside.

Serving: Scoop some tofu onto some salad. Sprinkle with the herb blend, extra lime juice, and a little sesame oil. If you like, you can use the extra peanut sauce as salad dressing.

Finished Product

Comment: Except for the sugar in the peanut sauce this recipe is quite low carb, and as such might not be as filling as some might desire.  In that case, you can always add some rice noodles tossed or lightly fried in toasted sesame oil  to the mix.

Salad and popsicles (and the occasional salad masquerading as a sandwich).  That’s pretty much all I can manage to eat during the summer; the heat just kills my appetite.

Now that I’m finally settled in on the West Coast (sorry about the hiatus) and my pots and pans have arrived I thought I’d post something that takes full advantage of the summer produce all around me.

Farmer's Market Frittata Salad

This frittata  works well on its own as a savory breakfast, maybe served on top of some toast, or wrapped in a tortilla.  It’s like hashbrowns and scrambled eggs all rolled into one! But, I wanted to “beef” it up for lunch, adding in some crunchy lettuce and sweet grated beets and carrots.  I thought the beets were a perfect accompaniment (beets and eggs are often seen together in mediterranean cooking!)  But, I encourage everyone to only use what you like to eat, so if that means a salad of just lettuce, or tons of tomatoes and radishes, more power to you!  For dressing, I just sprinkled on a little olive oil and black cherry balsalmic vinegar, but again, I imagine just about any dressing would work.

Farmer’s Market Frittata

2 Tbs olive oil
4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4-1/2 tsp crushed red chili flakes
4 small yukon gold potatoes, grated
6 eggs
3 Tbs milk
1 big handful fresh basil, well chopped
1/3 cup feta cheese, crumbled
salt and pepper

salad fixin’s: your choice of – chopped romaine lettuce, grated beets, grated carrots, chopped tomatoes, chopped red bell peppers, cucumbers, etc

Heat the oil in a high walled sauté pan, preferably non-stick for your own sanity. Add the chili flakes and garlic and sauté for 1 min, then add potatoes and a little salt and stir till well coated. Cook on med-high heat with lid on for several minutes until potatoes are starting to get brown on the bottom and tender. Stir them up and continue cooking.
In a mixing bowl combine eggs, milk, a little salt and beat well. Add chopped basil and feta.
Add egg mixture to the potatoes when they are tender, stir around in the pan to loosen the potatoes into the mixture. Turn heat down to med-low and put on the lid. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the frittata starts to pull away from the sides of the pan. Put the pan into the oven and broil until the top is a nice light brown.
You can either let the frittata sit and reach room temperature, at which time it will settle and set further, or you can choose to eat it hot out of the pan. Just be warned that hot out of the pan will not be as firm as you might expect.

Assemble your salad in individual bowls and scoop a heafty serving of frittata on top. Sprinkle with dressing and more feta, if desired.

In my last post I gave you a list of what I consider to be the most essential spices for your cabinet.  As I was staring at my barren cupboards today, it dawned on me that the box of pasta and can of tomatoes left in there would provide me the perfect opportunity to prove my point.

My favorite kind of pasta: better texture than whole wheat, better nutrition than plain

This is not a complicated, simmered all day kind of pasta sauce, but neither is it Prego.  It is a nice, simple topping for any pasta or bread you choose and can be made quickly and easily.  Throw in a can of beans like cannellinis during the last 5 mins, sprinkle some hard cheese on top, and you have yourself a complete meal that can be made on any work night.

15 Minute Pasta Sauce

2 Tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1/4-1/2 tsp red chili flakes
1 small carrot, finely grated
1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves, crushed in hand
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes (I used one with garlic and basil already in them)
1/2 package of frozen spinach, thawed
1/2 cup grated parmesan or romano cheese
sea salt
fresh ground pepper

Heat the olive oil in a 2 quart sauce pan. Add the garlic and red chili, saute for 2-3 min until fragrant. Add the carrots and thyme and saute for a few more minutes. Add the tomatoes. Let simmer for 5 minutes. Add the spinach and blend with a hand blender to desired consistency. Add about half the cheese and continue to simmer, stirring frequently for 2-3 more minutes. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Serve hot over cooked pasta finished with the remainder of the cheese.

Other serving suggestions: cool and spread over toasted italian bread for a quick bruscetta, use as a pizza sauce, use as a soup base.

Two things have prompted this blog post: 1. a reader of this blog mentioned to me that they thought my recipe for curried chickpeas and spinach sure had alot of ingredients and 2. moving across the country has forced me to come to terms with my spice cabinet…

My Spice Cabinet, Status Post the "First Clean-Out"

This spice collection has been four years in the making! It includes plenty of extravagance, such as 4 different kinds of salt, all different types of pepper- whole and ground, two or three separate curry blends, and three kinds of paprika (and I don’t even love paprika!). Sometimes I even feel lost in it! Not to mention the spice isles at the grocery stores.
With that, I realized that a post or two about what makes a well-stocked pantry would be a nice addition to the blog repertoire.

First things first: SALT
I suggest getting a big bottle of iodized salt, like Morton’s, for salting pasta water, eggplant slices, etc. Things where the salt is not the key to the flavor, but still necessary.
Then you should also get a general sea salt, like Maldon’s, or a cheaper store brand if you prefer. This will usually be chunkier and nicer for sprinkling on roasted veggies, finished dishes, etc.
If you’re feeling excited about it, then I suggest at least one “fancy” salt. Something like fleur de sel, or Himalayan pink salt, or grey salt. Other options are smoked salt, or truffle salt, where otherwise normal sea salt has been flavored.

Step 2: PEPPER
I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend investing in some kind of pepper grinder/crusher. The difference between a tin can of “black pepper powder” and fresh ground peppercorns is as if they did not even come from the same little seed.
I have a mortar and pestle in which I grind my peppercorns. I have gone through almost an entire pound (which I purchased in bulk from my local grocery store) of whole black pepper in the past year. You could also get a decent quality pepper grinder specifically for this purpose in the $20-$30 range. This is still significantly cheaper than buying those individual, single-use pepper grinders you can find in the spice isle.

Once you have the black pepper down, I also think crushed red chili pepper flakes are essential. There is hardly a meal where I do not add a dash of them into the olive oil for a bit of extra spice.

Those are the only two peppers that are absolutely necessary, but like salt you can branch out from there: Szechuan peppercorns, white pepper, pink pepper, and whole dried peppers of every shape and size.

Really, it’s amazing what one can do with just good quality salt and pepper. But, to flesh out the spice drawer, I also recommend the following:
- Fresh garlic and onions
- Cumin (preferably both whole and ground)
- Dried thyme leaves
- Cinnamon (ground and sticks)
- real vanilla extract

You can get away with just about anything if you have those basic ingredients on hand. All the rest is frosting on the cake.
I go through so much of all of these spices that I buy them all in bulk. If you really feel like a new spice is crucial to a recipe, I say buy it, try it, add to your collection. But you won’t find a better, more basic starter set than this.

Every since I spent two months in Mexico during undergrad, one of my favorite flavors has been green chili.  I love salsa verde, chili relleno, “Chilis en Nogado,” and the green chili cheese sauce they seem to serve at every “Mexican” restaurant in Oklahoma.  Now, I’m not talking about run-of-the-mill green bell peppers.  There is something off about their flavor that I have never really taken to, but give me some jalapeños, poblanos, and seranos, and I’ll be a happy camper.  This recipe combines the classic “fajita” flavors of green chili, onion, garlic, and cumin with a typically Italian base, polenta.  Now, corn is an essential part of Mexican food, it’s one of the three sisters (corn, beans, and squash) that formed the staple of the pre-colonial Mesoamerican diet.  Polenta just isn’t one of the ways I encountered corn in Mexico while I was there.

As a tribute to my inspiration, I added some squash to the base and topped it with homemade black beans.  Not only was it delicious, but it made a complete protein and a perfect one bowl meal.

Green Chili Polenta

2 Tbs olive oil
1/4 tsp crushed red chili pepper
1 tsp whole cumin seed
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 jalapeño, destemmed and finely chopped
1 poblano pepper, destemmed and finely chopped
1 small can hot green chilis, diced
1 small can mild green chilis, diced
3-5 cloves of garlic, minced
1.5 cups polenta (not instant)
3 cups water
3 cups milk
1 box frozen pureed winter squash, thawed
1.5 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed dutch oven (I use a 5 quart cast iron one). Add the cumin and red pepper flakes. When the cumin is fragrant, add the onion and sauté for ~3 min, until translucent. Add the chilis and garlic and sauté for another 3-5 minutes. Add the polenta to the pot and toss to coat. Add the salt, water, milk, and squash. Bring mixture to an early boil, stirring well.
When heated well, place in the oven. Bake for 45-50 min, stirring once. When polenta reaches desired consistency, may remove from oven, or stir in 1/2 cup of cheese and return to oven for 5-10min.
Serve immediately, topped with seasoned black beans, monterrey jack or cheddar cheese (or Oaxacan cheese if you can find it), and salsa if you like.

I love polenta, because as you can see it’s super easy to make! You just add the flavors, stick it in the oven and basically forget about it for an hour. If you’d like the recipe for the black beans, just let me know!

So, I’m at my brother and sister’s-in-law house this weekend and they proposed a challenge for my blog.  They will be moving to a new state in a few weeks and are trying to get rid of as much extraneous junk as possible, including canned goods and other food stuffs.  My challenge was to make dinner using as many ingredients as they already had (pretty random assortment).

The result: curried chickpeas and spinach with coconut rice

curried chick peas and spinach over coconut rice

I was inspired by a spice blend I recently bought at Pensey’s Spice called “Balti” that is a warm, complicated Pakistani mix with 18 different spices and herbs including the main elements of coriander, garlic, ginger, and cumin.

Coconut Rice

1 part brown basmati rice
1 part lite coconut milk
1 part water
Splash of oil (peanut or olive) and salt

Heat the oil in a lidded pan large enough to hold all ingredients above. Add the rice and salt, and stir till the rice is coated in oil. Lightly toast the rice in the hot oil. Add the water and the coconut milk, stir. Bring to a boil. Cover, turn down the heat to low, and simmer for 45 min. Fluff the rice with a fork.
** Depending on what you are having this with, adding whole spices to adds delicious fragrance to the rice. I recommend trying cumin seeds, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and or cardamom pods.

Indian chickpeas and spinach

2 Tbs neutral oil
1 tsp whole cumin seeds
crushed red chili flakes (to taste)
1 small yellow onion, chopped
4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
3 cans chickpeas, rinsed
2 lbs fresh spinach
1 15oz can chopped tomatoes
salt
tarka (see below)

Heat the oil on med high with the cumin and chili flakes. Add the onion and a sprinkle of salt. Sauté the onion for 3-5 min until translucent, then add the garlic. Sauté for 2-3 more minutes then add ginger. When the spices are good and fragrant, add the chickpeas. Toss them in the spices to coat and cook for about 5 minutes to infuse the flavor into them. Add the spinach and mix well. Cook for an additional 5 minutes, then add tomatoes. Turn the heat down to med, cover, and simmer for 30 min, stirring regularly.
When the chickpeas are soft, and the spinach is fully mushy, salt very well. Serve over the coconut rice and top with tarka to desired spiciness.

Tarka
(this is the key to a good curry!)

4 Tbs butter or ghee
1/4 Tbs red chili flakes
1/2 Tsp cumin seeds
1 Tsp Balti
1/4 Tsp curry powder

(These can be adjusted to taste, all measurements are approximate). Warm the butter in a pan and add the spices. Cook on med/med-low heat for a few minutes until fragrant. Spoon on top of dish for serving, then mix in.

Some great things about this meal include that it’s got complete protein from the legumes and brown rice, it has some super foods from the spinach,  canned tomatoes, and turmeric (in the curry blends).  It’s low fat, although the coconut milk does not have the best *kinds* of fat (almost 100% saturated fat), the lite milk does not have very much.

The worst thing about this meal is that it technically takes 3 pans to make.  Theoretically, you could add the spices that compose the tarka straight into the chickpeas and spinach towards the end of the cooking process, but I think you would lose some of the complexity of the dish (and you wouldn’t be able to adjust for individual tastes when serving).

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.  Please let me know if you make any of the above, and how they worked out.

Welcome to the Kitchen of Procrastination!  This is the new food blog for me, the one I’ve been saying I should write for forevers.

Like most people in the world, I like to eat.  However, when I was a kid I happened to be a very “particular” eater and, as a result, I started cooking at a young age.  In fact, I was a bit of a food snob from about age 12 on (it’s not something I’m really proud of, it just is).  Now, the fact that I’m a ridiculous foodie and like to cook for myself, family, and friends has actual become somewhat of a positive.

Here’s what you can expect from me (probably in this order):

Recipes, both self-made and modified from those by others

Food politics

Food stories (including ideas for new recipes, food pictures, etc)

Warnings:

1. I am a vegetarian, so no meat.

2. I HATE mushrooms, raw onions, and anise flavors.

So, that’s all for now.  Any and all comments and suggestions are currently welcome.