Peanut Butter Cookies with Bourbon Vanilla Sugar (Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2013)

December 12, 2013December 13, 2013 by Rebecca Penovich | 3 Comments

Lovely cookies on my favorite Herend platter. Fancy!

I was pleased to take part in the 3rd Annual Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap this year. This is like the old-fashioned cookie exchanges, except it’s all organized online (thank you Lindsay and Taylor of Love & Olive Oil and Julie from The Little Kitchen) and you are matched with bakers from all over the country who send you presents! What could be more wonderful than that!

More wonderful than that is that the Cookie Swap is also a fundraiser for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer and this year bloggers raised close to $15,000 just by baking and sharing cookies!

The way it works is you bake 3 dozen cookies (from a recipe in your repertoire that you haven’t published before) and mail a dozen each to your matches. Then 3 other blogger-bakers send you their cookies. It’s fun to wait for the mail and see what cookies you are going to get and where they are coming from. (NOTE: Each participating blogger contributes a small participation fee which goes to the nonprofit as a donation.)

My cookie matches were:

Laura Holko from A Healthy Jalapeno, hailing from Connecticut

Willow Arlen from Will Cook For Friends, hailing from Michigan

Donna Elick from The Slow Roasted Italian, hailing from Arizona.

I made my favorite peanut butter cookie for them which comes from The Best 150 American Recipes: Indispensable Dishes from Legendary Chefs and Undiscovered Cooks by Fran McCullough and Molly Stevens. (One of my favorite cookbooks; so oft-used its pages are splattered, smeared, sticking together, and falling out. That is serious love, my culinary friends.)

I love this cookie for its full-on, authentic peanut butter taste and the fact that it only uses 4 ingredients (!) and no flour. If you’ve got peanut butter, sugar, an egg, and some baking soda, you can make this cookie, even during one of the busiest holiday times of the year.

Peanut Butter Cookies

This cookie recipe is so simple, you only need 4 ingredients. It’s a go-to in our house, especially during the holidays when I am crazy busy, want to bake for the kids, but don’t want to think too hard about it! Rolling the cookies into balls before your smash them with the tines of a fork is a perfect task for little hands who want to help.

From The 150 Best American Recipes, Indispensable Dishes from Legendary Chefs and Undiscovered Cooks, Fran McCollough & Molly Stevens, Houghton Mifflin, New York, 2006.

Source: Gourmet

Cook: Mom-Mom Fitch

Ingredients

1 cup creamy peanut butter (I use Jif or Skippy)

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon baking soda

makes about 4 dozen cookies

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and set a rack in the middle level. Grease two baking sheets or line them with parchment paper. (NOTE: I love my Silpat baking mats.)

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the peanut butter and sugar until well combined. In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg, then beat it into the peanut butter mixture along with the baking soda until well combined.

Roll teaspoons of dough into walnut-size balls and arrange them about 1 inch apart on the baking sheets. With the tines of a fork, flatten the balls to about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, making a crosshatch pattern. Bake the cookies in batches until puffed and pale golden, about 9 minutes. (They might look underdone but they are not. Any longer in the oven and they will dry out.)

Let cool on the baking sheets for 2 minutes, then transfer with a metal spatula to wire racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

I sprinkle mine with a little turbinado sugar or bourbon vanilla sugar when they are warm.

I packaged those babies up and mailed them off.

Here’s my favorite trick for packing material. Shred those interior design magazines (the colorful pages) you were going to recycle. Be sure not to use your husband’s shredded credit card offers or he will have a fit. Ha.

In return for my participation, I received some wonderful cookies and recipes:

Fruitcake Cookies, Alice Seuffret from Dining with Alice, hailing from Minnesota

Cranberry-Almond Biscotti, Becky from Rose & Henry, hailing from Iowa

Nonna’s Russian Tea Cakes, Emily Voigtlander from The Answer is Always Pork, hailing from California

This project was great fun and reminded me almost daily of my dearly departed Mom, who used to bake prodigiously at Christmas and always had a plate or tin of homemade delicious cookies at the ready for guests, friends, visitors, children, and really anyone who gave her a hand and who she thought deserved a cookie.

Thank you the organizers and brand partners of the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2013 for such a wonderful experience and opportunity.

Shout outs to: OXO, Dixie Crystals Sugar, Gold Medal Flour, and Grandma’s Molasses.

And one last note. In the midst of all this baking and receiving, we had our first snow in the mid-Atlantic (which is normally very mild.) A look out of our second-story guest bedroom window before I went down to get to the nitty-gritty of baking cookies:

Happy Holidays!

Don’t Throw Out That Turkey Carcass! Gumbo

December 7, 2013December 7, 2013 by Rebecca Penovich | Leave a comment

Don’t throw out that turkey carcass–make gumbo!

Ingredients

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup bacon fat (or vegetable oil)

2 large yellow onions, chopped

1/2 cup chopped green onions, white and green parts (save the green for garnish)

1 large green pepper, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

14 ounces of smoked sausage, cut into rounds (I used polska kielbasa but andouille is more gumbo-authentic)

4 cups of shredded turkey meat from the carcass, white and dark meat

1 picked-over turkey breast carcass (14-16 lb.)

12 cups of chicken stock (enough to cover carcass in your large stock pot)

2 bay leaves

1 bunch flat Italian parsley, chopped

2 tablespoons thyme (dried or fresh)

3 tablespoons filé powder

Salt and pepper to taste (don’t underestimate the need for salt, start with a healthy pinch and taste and correct as your gumbo cooks down)

Hot sauce for the table

Steamed white rice to accompany

Directions

Heat the bacon fat til hot but not smoking in a large heavy-bottomed stock pot and add the flour, whisking constantly. Cook the roux at medium-high heat for 10 minutes, whisking constantly so it doesn’t burn. Roux should be a caramel color.

Add the chopped onions and sauté until softened. Add celery and green pepper and sauté until softened. Add the chopped garlic and sauté (do not let garlic scorch.) Add the rounds of sausage and sauté til browned.

Add the turkey carcass. (My carcass was just the breast because I braised the Thanksgiving turkey legs separately and those bones were gone.) Smash it down somewhat in the pot and add the chicken stock. (I used the braising liquid leftover from the turkey legs and added Swanson’s chicken broth to top it off. )

Add the leftover turkey meat. Add the bay leaves, thyme, salt and pepper. Simmer over low heat for at least 2 hours.

Remove the carcass. Taste and adjust the seasonings (add more salt, pepper, thyme). Add the chopped parsley. Add 3 tablespoons of filé powder and simmer slowly, stirring until slightly thickened.

Serve over white rice, with your family’s favorite hot sauce on the side.

Mushroom and Wild Rice Bisque

October 13, 2013October 14, 2013 by Rebecca Penovich | 5 Comments

Mushrooms and wild rice were a centerpiece of my Minnesota childhood holiday meals. Both ingredients were considered “spendy” (Minnesota slang for expensive), and thus we didn’t have them everyday.

On Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter my mom would break away from the budget and our guests would be treated to luxurious dishes that made these holidays special, such as Minnesota Wild Rice Casserole which combined sautéed onions, green pepper, celery, button mushrooms, chopped pimento and lots and lots of butter.

Wild rice is actually a grass, sustainably harvested by hand by the Ojibwe Nation in northern Minnesota.

Mushroom and wild rice soup was a budget-friendly alternative. You could have a small cup or bowl if you were out shopping, which my mom and I did at Byerly’s, an upscale grocery store in St. Paul. My sister, who lived in the more cosmopolitan Minneapolis, took me to Cafe Brenda in the 1980s, and this is the soup I came to love.

Mushroom and Wild Rice Bisque

adapted from The Cafe Brenda Cookbook: Redefining Seafood and Vegetarian Cuisine

Ingredients

3/4 C. wild rice (order from White Earth Nation/Ojibwe site)
7 C. vegetable or chicken stock
1/3 C. long-grain brown rice
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green onion, chopped (optional) (save the green parts for garnish on top)
2 large carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
4 T. butter
1 pound mushrooms, sliced (I used a combination of cremini and white button)
2 C. half and half
1/4 C. parsley, chopped
1/4 tsp. Worcestershire
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Rinse wild rice thoroughly in a strainer.
Bring stock to a boil, add wild rice, brown rice and rosemary sprigs.
Simmer, covered, for 1 hour or until rice is tender.
While rice is cooking, chop vegetables.
Sauté onions, carrot, and celery in 2 T. of butter until very soft (about 10 minutes.)
Warm the half and half in a saucepan and add the vegetable mixture. Let steep for 5-10 minutes.
Melt remaining 2 T. of butter and sauté the mushrooms until nicely colored and soft.
Add half of the mushroom mixture to the vegetables and half and half. Puree the vegetables in the pot with your immersion blender or pour into a blender and puree.
Add the pureed mixture to the rice and stock mixture and stir to combine. Take out the rosemary sprigs.
Add the remaining sautéed mushrooms.
Season the soup with Worcestershire, salt, pepper and parsley.
Simmer the soup gently, until heated through but do not let it boil. Flavors develop best overnight.

The Ojibwe people still harvest wild rice by hand in Northern Minnesota. Photo: White Earth Nation.

Pan-Seared Lamb Chops with Mint, Roasted Carrots, and Chez Panisse Bread Crumb Salsa

September 8, 2013March 28, 2014 by Rebecca Penovich | 2 Comments

This week these lovely lamb loin chops were on sale at our local grocery store for $9.99/pound. Usually when we are in the mood for lamb I buy a bone-in or boneless leg and roast it slowly or cut it up for an Indian curry. Rack of lamb and individual chops are expensive (up to $16.99/pound in our part of the country) and thus, I did not want to mess this recipe up!

I had this Bon Appétit recipe saved in my Epicurious recipe box online. It had garnered raves and 4 forks so it was time to try it. I was intrigued by the marinade which included both cumin and coriander in addition to the traditional mint and garlic.

Savory Mint Lamb Chops

Makes 4 servings

Recipe technique adapted slightly from Bon Appétit October 2006; originally published April 1991

Ingredients

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
4 large garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
8 (1- to 1 1/2-inch-thick) lamb loin chops (about 5 ounces each), trimmed

Directions

Place olive oil, chopped fresh mint, minced garlic, salt, cumin, coriander, cayenne pepper, and black pepper in small bowl; mix well.
Spread herb mixture over both sides of lamb chops. Let stand 10 minutes.

[Rebecca’s Note: I find that lamb benefits greatly from a longer marinating time. The flavors permeate the meat and enhance the lamb’s natural flavor. Let the chops sit in the marinade (turn occasionally) for at least an hour or overnight if you wish.]

The Bon Appétit recipe called for broiling the chops for 4 minutes per side but in my test the chops were a bit overdone (could have been my oven’s broiler temperature) and they lacked the crust you get when you sear meat.

The marinade was a keeper; even the overdone chops had a great flavor. I tested another batch of the chops with the same marinade and this time fired up my cast iron skillets.

Preheat oven to 400°.
Carefully blot the marinade from the chops with paper towels. You want a good sear on the chops and a wet chop will create steam.
Heat the cast iron pan over medium high heat and then add a teaspoon of olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan.

[My searing technique: heat up the dry cast iron over your flame for at least a minute or two to get it nice and hot, THEN add your bit of oil and let that heat up for another minute til a drop of water sizzles in the oil.]

Sear the chops over medium high heat for 2 and 1/2 minutes per side (4 chops fit in my pan so I use TWO pans for 8 chops); then place the skillet with chops in the hot oven for another 2-3 minutes.

Place cooked chops on your cutting board and let them rest for 5 minutes to absorb their juices.

This resulted in a perfectly tender, rare to medium-rare chop (a little bit of pink in the center.)

NOTE: Cooking times for lamb chops will vary according to their thickness; I always err on the side of rare because you can always put them back in (but you can’t un-cook them!)
I am a sucker for an herbaceous pesto, salsa or chimichurri and this one from the Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook (via the Alexandra Cooks blog) is spectacular with the lamb.

Bread Crumb Salsa

Source: Chez Panisse Café Cookbook

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
kosher salt
1 shallot, finely minced
1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped thyme (optional)
1 tablespoon capers, drained and minced
2 oil-packed anchovies, cleaned and chopped (I used 1 T. anchovy paste because that’s what I had; it worked fine)
kosher salt to taste

Directions

>Heat a medium skillet over high heat. Add the olive oil. When the oil starts looking hot, add the bread crumbs and a pinch of kosher salt and turn the heat down to medium.

[Rebecca’s Note: In all honesty, I burnt the crumbs while I was checking my email and thus left them out. The salsa was still fantastic. If you don’t want the bread or don’t have the time; go ahead and skip them this time.]

Meanwhile, place minced shallots in a small bowl and cover with the vinegar. Let stand for at least 15 minutes. [There is a reason Alice Waters does this; it mellows the shallots’ bite and subtly pickles them. Don’t skip this step; make a time allowance for it.]
In a separate bowl, stir together the oil, chopped herbs, minced capers and minced anchovies.
Before serving, add the toasted bread crumbs and macerated shallots to the bowl of oil and herbs. Stir to combine.

Roasted Carrots

This is my go-to recipe for cooked carrots. Roasting brings out the flavor and the method is hands-off so you can attend to other cooking matters (like searing expensive meat) and know your carrots are going to be just right.

Ingredients

6 large carrots, peeled (about a pound)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 T. chopped parsley
1 T. lemon zest

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400°. In a baking dish, toss the carrots with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes, until tender.

Sprinkle with chopped parsley and lemon zest.

Grilled Salmon, Asparagus, Lime Butter, Quinoa, Parsley, Mint

August 24, 2013October 20, 2013 by Rebecca Penovich | 3 Comments

Oh salmon and asparagus lovers, make this for dinner TO-NIGHT. It was insanely delicious and very easy.

As often as I crave salmon, I find that I don’t buy it or cook it enough. It’s not a favorite meal of my husband or son (even though the husband will eat it). It seems too finicky and expensive to do for group entertaining (although I love to serve it at smaller dinner parties.) So I often find myself passing it by in the grocery store, until one day, I just must have it and cook it for myself. My comfort food.

This recipe, adapted from Gourmet’s Ian Knauer is wonderful. The key is the lime butter sauce (I know, not healthy.) But oh so good. And a little goes a long way (unless you eat it by the spoonful as you are ‘testing’ as I did.)

I always buy salmon filet with the skin on. Go for wild-caught Pacific salmon if you can find it. If your store only has Atlantic farm-raised salmon, look for pink-fleshed, firm filets, and go ahead and be persnickety–go to the fish counter and ask the seafood guy or gal a few questions. Take a sniff. Fish should smell like the sea (a little bit briny) but not at all fishy.

I cut these salmon filets myself from one large piece of salmon. (That is why one is smaller than the other three.) You can have your fish guy cut it for you or get all center-cut pieces for more expense.

Ingredients

For the salmon:

4 (6-oz) pieces center-cut salmon fillet (about 1 inch thick) with skin
2 tsp olive oil
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons lime butter sauce

For the asparagus:

1 1/2 lb medium asparagus (24), trimmed
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt

For the Lime-Butter Sauce:

1 large garlic clove, chopped
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted

For the quinoa with mint and parsley:

1 C. uncooked quinoa
2 C. water or stock (as package requires)
1/4 C. chopped fresh mint
1/4 C. chopped fresh parsley
1/4 C. Lime-Butter Sauce
Pinch of kosher salt to taste

Directions

For the Salmon:

Preheat your grill (medium high heat for gas or about 350°). Make sure grill grates are clean and brush them with oil so fish does not stick.
Brush fillets lightly on both sides with extra virgin olive oil, then season both flesh and skin sides with salt and pepper.
Put salmon filets on hot grill, SKIN side down; grill with the lid closed without moving them until skin crisps and you can lift with a spatula, about 6-7 minutes (depending on how thick your filets are.)
Hint: once the albumen (the white stuff that is a protein in salmon) shows on the flesh surface that means it’s almost done.

Do NOT flip until you can easily loosen the salmon skin from the grill grate. (I usually don’t flip them at all because I find they fall apart. I want tender salmon and I don’t want it all to fall in the grate.)

For the Grilled Asparagus:

Lovely thin spears.

Prepare grill (to medium high heat, as for salmon above.)

Toss trimmed asparagus with olive oil and season with kosher salt.

Place asparagus perpendicular directly on the oiled grill rack (or alternatively place on a grill pan so they don’t go through the grate ) and grill until blistered and tender, 3 to 5 minutes, turning occasionally.

For the Lime-Butter Sauce:

This sauce, as simple as it is, was out of this world. It elevates the entire dish and you will want it on everything. It’s a bit like a citrusy hollandaise but without the egg yolks. Thank you, Ian Knauer, for this killer sauce.

Purée garlic clove with lime juice, salt, and pepper in a blender until smooth.

With motor running, add melted butter and blend until emulsified, about 30 seconds.

Lime butter sauce can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Stir before using.

For the Quinoa with Parsley and Mint:

I made the quinoa the night before, following the package directions.

Cook the quinoa in 2 and 1/4 to 2 and 1/2 cups fresh water, covered, until all of the water is absorbed. Add pinch of kosher salt to taste. (You can also cook the quinoa in chicken or vegetable stock if you desire a more robust taste.) At this point you can refrigerate the quinoa over night and reheat it before serving.

Scoop the cooked quinoa into a bowl and add the chopped mint and parsley. Toss.

Before plating with the grilled salmon and asparagus, add 1/4 C. of the warm Lime-Butter Sauce to the quinoa. Toss.

To serve:

Place a scoop of warm quinoa and herb mixture on plate. Top with grilled salmon filet. Serve with grilled asparagus on the side. Spoon Lime-Butter Sauce over the salmon and enjoy!

(Rebecca’s Note: Here’s a marriage hint. If you love under-done fish (I would call it “just-right”) and your husband loves over-done fish (he would call it “not raw”), remember that you can always finish it in the oven or on stove-top.

It can be hard to see things out there on the grill unless you have an outdoor kitchen with as much lighting as your regular kitchen. Restaurants routinely finish grilled or seared steaks in the oven (after bathing them in herb butter.) In this recipe you’ve got lime butter sauce going for you. If you bring your grilled salmon in from outside and it looks just right to you but too pink for your significant other, then put the filet in question in a heated, oiled cast iron pan (fish flesh down or up) and spoon some of the lime butter sauce on top. Get a sear on it, and let him decide when it’s done. In fact, if you want a good sear or char on your fish but want it tender on the inside, you might want to do this treatment on yours as well.)

Joe’s Lunchbox: Veggie Fried Rice

July 11, 2013 by Rebecca Penovich | 6 Comments

Veggie fried brown rice with green onion and scrambled egg.

Joe came home from his 5th-grade nutrition class saying that he’d like to eat less meat and more vegetables and grains. I said, that’s great! Let’s try some new recipes. I’d like to eat less meat, too!

So I’ve been making of lot of rice (brown and basmati), beans (pinto and black), and several permutations of this vegetable fried rice. Fried rice is a good way to use up leftover steamed rice and whatever else might be languishing in your vegetable bin (green onions, shallots, carrots, celery, mushrooms, broccoli, frozen peas, corn).

Rice cookers come in a vast array of price ranges. I bought mine (same make and model as pictured) at a thrift store for $6 but you can pay up to $199 for a fancy one with digital display.

I bought a rice cooker at the thrift store and we’ve been putting it to use, making rice at least once a week. Normally I’m not a fan of gadgets that are devoted to one single purpose. I already have too many gadgets. My good friend (whose husband comes from a large Filipino family and eats rice at every meal, including breakfast) swore she could not live without hers and now I am a convert.

It is so easy to cook rice this way if you are going to be cooking it once a week or more. The rice steams perfectly and the cooker turns itself off (into ‘warm’ mode) when it’s ready so it is very forgiving of your timeline. The rice comes out just right, every single time. (No more peeking under the lid to check if rice is done.)

Here’s the scenario: rush home from work or whatever your activity was pre-dinner, walk in the door, get out the rice cooker, pour a cup of rice in and at least a cup and half of water, push the button, then live your life, write your blog, check your email, feed the cat and/or dog, throw a load of laundry in, get the mail, pay a bill online, pick that random sock off the floor, and in 20 minutes or so, rice is done. Check.

Excellent Chinese cookbook by Nancie McDermott.

Nancie McDermott, author of Quick and Easy Chinese: 70 Everyday Recipes (Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2008) includes four recipes for fried rice. Once you have her method, you can adapt the recipes to include what you have on hand (or exclude what you don’t.) You’ll need some basic Asian pantry items (soy sauce, sesame oil) and if you’d like you can jazz it up with other Asian sauces, condiments, or chile pastes you might have.

I love going to our big Asian grocery store, so my exotic condiment shelves overflow.

Love spicy, garlicky Asian condiments.

Seriously though. You only need soy sauce and sesame oil (plus aromatics like garlic, ginger, onion) to make an outstanding fried rice.

Here is Nancie’s recipe for Ham-and-Egg Fried Rice which I have adapted by taking out the ham and adding more vegetables and aromatics. The excellent cooking instructions are hers with some adaptations from me.

Basic Veggie Fried Rice

Serves 4.

Ingredients

4 cups cooked rice, cold or at room temperature (Note from Rebecca: use up that leftover rice from your Chinese takeout order)

1 T. vegetable oil

1 T. sesame oil

1 T. chopped garlic

1 T. dark soy sauce

1/2 C. shredded carrot (I peel the outer layer of a large carrot and discard the dirty peel, then keep shaving the carrot into ribbons until I have 1/2 C. Then cut the ribbons in half to make them more bite-size.)

3 T. chopped green onion

3 well-beaten eggs

Directions

Break up the rice clumps into individual grains for easy stir-frying.

Heat a wok or large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oils and swirl to coat the pan. Add the garlic and green onions and cook, stirring often, for 15 seconds. Do not let the garlic burn. If you feel (see or smell it burning) turn the heat down!

Add the eggs and then tilt the pan to spread them out. Stir the eggs and aromatics together and scramble the eggs into soft lumps.

When the eggs have barely scrambled, add the rice all at once and toss.

Cook the rice, tossing often, 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the soy sauce and stir.

Add the carrot ribbons and toss another 30 seconds until rice is hot and tender.

The key to a stir-fry is to have all your ingredients chopped up, measured, and ready to go.
The French term is mise en place.

Consider fried rice as your emergency back-up plan when you haven’t planned dinner or had time to shop. The most time-consuming part of it is the chopping, and if you take a tip from my (much more well-organized) sister, you will OF COURSE have little zip-lock baggies in your fridge with the dribs and drabs of chopped garlic, chopped onion or shallot, sliced cabbage, the 3 tablespoons of cooked corn too good to throw out, the one chicken breast your family didn’t eat at dinner 2 nights ago, etcetera.

Master the method and then go forth and experiment! Buy some crazy condiments at your Asian grocery store (which makes a fun field trip for children, by the way.)

Cheers!

Rebecca

Israeli Couscous with Zucchini, Herbs, and Sauteed Shrimp

June 14, 2013 by Rebecca Penovich | Leave a comment

Contrary to popular belief, pearl couscous is a pasta, not a grain.
Photo by Allison Beuker.

I am always looking for interesting pasta or grain dishes to take to the pool or a cookout. Something easily transportable that will also keep well and provide the perfect vehicle for fresh vegetables and herbs from the garden.

From time to time we get bored with our old favorites: curried rice and raisins, basil pesto with farfalle and asparagus, sesame noodles (although those are are good ones!)

Thanks to Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, home cooks now have access to interesting ancient grains and starches, including exotic stuff like quinoa, Burmese red rice, farro, spelt and barley.

Pick up a box at your local Trader Joe’s.

In my quest to expand my grain horizons, I bought a box of Israeli pearl couscous. The recipe on the back of the box looked tempting enough, but I thought I could doctor it up a bit to make it a main dish.

In my research on couscous, I found there is a raging debate whether couscous is a grain or a pasta. Foodies: they are a contentious bunch. Since couscous is made with semolina flour, I’m going to side with the ‘couscous is a pasta’ faction. (The other side of the argument is that since semolina flour is made from a grain, couscous is a by-product of grain. You decide.)

Pearl couscous is larger than the Moroccan couscous we typically see in tabbouleh. (Don’t ask me why pearl couscous is known as ‘Israeli’ and the other kind ‘Moroccan’ because then we might need to convene a Middle-East Peace Food Summit.)

Chopped zucchini, green onions, and shallots. Photo by Rebecca Penovich.

Ingredients

Serves 4.

5 T. unsalted butter

2 T. chopped shallots

2 T. crushed garlic (I use Gourmet Garden garlic paste in the tube, it’s easier)

2 T. chopped green onion (white and green parts)

1 C. chopped green zucchini

1 1/2 C. Israeli couscous

1 3/4 C. chicken broth

1/2 tsp. salt

16 medium uncooked shrimp (peeled and deveined)

1 C. frozen peas (defrost them by running some cold water over them, they should still have a bit of crunch)

1/4 C. freshly chopped parsley

2 T. chopped fresh dill

2 T. fresh lemon juice

zest of 1/2 lemon

Directions

Melt 2 T. butter in large saute pan over medium heat. Add 1 T. chopped shallots, 1 T. chopped green onion, and 1 T. crushed garlic to the pan. Add 1 1/2 cups pearl couscous (the contents of the box) to the pan and saute until golden for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add 1 3/4 C. chicken broth and 1/2 tsp. salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until liquid is absorbed and couscous is tender. At this point the pearl couscous will have the texture of risotto, but a bit chewier.

Spread the cooked couscous out on a baking sheet to cool while you saute the zucchini and the shrimp. (I did this because I did not want the couscous to get sticky while I prepared the seafood and vegetable I wanted to mix with it.)

In the same large saute pan, melt 2 T. butter over medium heat and when butter is sputtering, add 16 medium count peeled, fresh shrimp to the pan. Saute shrimp 2 minutes on each side (flipping once) until firm and pink (do not over-cook because you are going to put them back on the flame when mixed with the cooked couscous).

Saute shrimp in butter.
Photo by Rebecca Penovich.

Pour the cooked shrimp and butter mixture over the cooked couscous and toss.

In the same large saute pan, melt remaining 1 T.butter until sizzling and add remaining 1 T. chopped shallot, 1 T. crushed garlic, and 1 T. green onion. Add 1 C. chopped zucchini. Saute zucchini and aromatics for 4 minutes until zucchini is browned but not mushy.

Squeeze 1 T. fresh lemon juice over sauteed zucchini and add the couscous and shrimp mixture back to the saute pan.

Toss all together and add 1 C. of defrosted peas, 1/4 C. of chopped, fresh parsley and 2 T. of chopped fresh dill. Heat over low flame until peas are warm.

Taste and adjust seasonings by adding remaining 1 T. lemon juice, lemon zest, and a pinch of kosher salt if needed.

Joe’s Favorite Oreo Ice Cream Cake

June 12, 2013March 6, 2014 by Rebecca Penovich | 2 Comments

Photo credit: Allison Beuker Photography

Some people are natural bakers. They like the methodical approach proper baking requires: careful measurement, exacting technique, and strict attention to time, temperature, and humidity.

I was never like that. I was afraid to make bread because the yeast would never proof. About 10 years ago, I purchased a Julia Child limited edition Kitchen Aid stand mixer (part of a fundraiser for AIWF Friends of Julia Child’s Kitchen at the Smithsonian) and vowed to try to be a better baker.

That is a funny way to start this post, however, because this recipe has little to do with baking! Not only is this cake frozen but there is also very little homemade about it. So why am I sharing it, you ask? Because it is a favorite among children and my son especially requested it for his 11th birthday. I also made it for Allison’s little girl’s birthday. It is a popular dessert and quite easy.

You could go out and buy an Oreo Ice Cream cake from Baskin Robbins or the grocery store but this semi-homemade one is much better than those. The cookies and ice cream taste really fresh.

Cookies and milk, anyone?
Photo credit: Allison Beuker Photography

I pulled this recipe from The Kitchn blog, an excellent resource and one I read frequently.

Here is the original recipe which I adapted just slightly.

Ingredients

One 14.3-ounce package Oreos (regular/original), about 36 cookies, reserve 8 for garnish
One 15.25-ounce chocolate cake mix (I used Betty Crocker’s Triple Chocolate Fudge, baked as directed on the box. You will need 3 eggs, 1/2 C. vegetable oil, and 1 1/4 C. water)
2 quarts vanilla ice cream, very soft
1/2 cup chocolate sauce, plus 3 T. for drizzling (Hershey’s Syrup works just fine)

Prepare a 10-inch springform pan by lining it with plastic wrap (bottom and sides).

Bake the chocolate cake as directed on the box. (Or you could buy a cake if you want to keep it really simple).

Who wants to lick the beaters?
Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

Roughly chop or crumble the Oreo cookies into quarters or smaller bite-sized bits. (I put the cookies in a gallon-size Ziploc bag and go over them with a rolling pin.) Crumble the cake into a large bowl, and stir in about 1/3 of the crumbled sandwich cookies. Add 1/2 C. of chocolate syrup to the cake and cookie mixture.

Bake cakes in 9-inch rounds.
Photo: Rebecca Penovich

Dump in about 2/3 of a quart of very soft vanilla ice cream, and stir gently but thoroughly until the cake and ice cream are well-combined. Press this mixture into the bottom of the springform pan.

Cookies and cake! What could be better?

In a separate bowl, mix the remaining 1 1/3 quarts vanilla ice cream with the remaining 2/3 of the crumbled cookies. Press this on top of the cake mixture in the springform pan; it will come nearly up to the top of the pan.

Cookies and ice cream mixture.

Cover the cake pan and freeze for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.

Smooth the top then it’s ready to back in the freezer.

When ready to serve, let the cake sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes, and run a knife around the inside of the cake pan. Open the springform mold gently; it should release easily from the slightly melted cake. Pull away the plastic wrap.

Place cake on festive plate and garnish with the 8 reserved Oreos. I stand them up on their side and place around the cake like a clock face. Drizzle the Hershey’s syrup over the ice cream cake in a criss-cross pattern. (Hold the syrup bottle high over the cake and move your hand back and forth quickly. Pretend you are on Top Chef!)

Artful drizzle.
Photo by Rebecca Penovich

Serve in wedges with ice cold milk. Sing Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you!

Lamb Kofta Kebab

June 5, 2013 by Rebecca Penovich | 3 Comments

Grill your kofta with or without vegetables. Photo courtesy of American Homestead.

Grilled kofta with vegetables.
Photo credit to American Homestead

We’ve been on a Middle Eastern food kick lately. Something about the change in the seasons has us craving the exotic and layered spices associated with the food of this region and simple grilled meats served with a yogurt sauce, fresh herbs, and rice.

Kofta kebabs use ground meat (lamb, ground chuck, or ground sirloin) mixed with onion, garlic and spices and are easy and quick to cook. Inexpensive and flavorful: can’t beat that for a good summer meal.

I based my kofta on this recipe from allrecipes.com but there is an almost identical one from The Food Network site.

Break open the spice cabinet, I used 10 different spices in these to imbue them with maximum flavor.

Break out the spices, this recipe calls for 10 different dry spices.

It is a very good practice to measure all your spices beforehand and place them in ramekins or on parchment paper.

Garlic paste, minced onion, and chopped parsley.

Lamb Kofta Kebabs

Ingredients

4 T. crushed garlic (I have been using the Gourmet Garden brand of garlic paste in the tube. It’s just easier than chopping.)
2 tsp. kosher salt
2 lbs. ground lamb
6 T. grated yellow onion
6 T. chopped fresh parsley
2 T. ground coriander
2 tsp. ground cumin
1 T. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground allspice
1/2 tsp. ground cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika

Directions

Place the ground lamb in a large bowl. Add the spices along with the onion and garlic, and mix well.

Form the mixture into 22 balls (about 1.5 ounces each). Mold each ball around the tip of a skewer, pushing the ball down the skewer and flattening into a 2 inch oval; each skewer should have a total of 3 koftas (if you are not threading them with vegetables.) Repeat with the remaining skewers.

Place the kebabs onto a baking sheet, cover, and refrigerate at least 1 hour. This is an important step because if the kofta are not chilled they may fall off the skewers when you grill them.

Preheat an outdoor grill for medium heat and lightly oil grate.

Cook the skewers on the preheated grill, turning once or twice, until the lamb has cooked to your desired degree of doneness, about 6 minutes for medium.

Lamb ready for chilling. You can chill too.

Serve with tzatziki (recipe follows) and basmati rice.

Grilled kofta, ready to eat.

Tzatziki

recipe adapted from “Ask the Barefoot Contessa,” House Beautiful magazine

2 cups plain Greek yogurt (such as Fage Total 2%)

1 medium cucumber, peeled, halved, and seeded

2 teaspoons kosher salt

2 T. crushed garlic (Gourmet Garden brand is nice)

2 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 T. white vinegar

1 T. minced fresh dill (optional)

Place the yogurt in a bowl. Grate the cucumber on a box grater and squeeze the grated cucumber with your hand to remove most of the liquid. Add to the yogurt. Add the lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, salt, and dill. Stir gently until blended and chill at least 30 minutes to allow flavors to develop.

Tzatziki = refreshing sauce of yogurt, cucumber, garlic, and dill

Kofta are incredibly versatile. If it is raining when you want to grill, you can broil these on high (preheat your broiler). You can also skip the skewering step and make them into small lamb sliders and broil them. Serve them over rice or tucked into flatbreads with some lightly dressed salad greens.

Kofta kebabs are versatile, eat them with rice or in flatbreads.
Photo credit: Jamie Oliver, foodnetwork.com

Classic Pimento Cheese

May 21, 2013 by Rebecca Penovich | 3 Comments

You would be appalled at what I knew (and loved) as pimento cheese as a youngster in St. Paul, Minnesota. Even though my mother was an excellent, daily-from-scratch cook, one of the items in her refrigerator was my favorite snack, Kraft pimento cheese, in a tiny, slender jar.

Eee gads, folks! This probably did not have any cheese in it at all but I did not care because I did not know any better at the time (hey I was eight.) I loved it on celery sticks the most and my mom would make it for me after school. It was always on her ‘relish’ tray (remember those?) for company dinners and holidays. I eschewed the black olives and the radishes though and went straight for the celery stick with the tangy cheese spread I couldn’t get enough of.

Vintage silver relish tray.
Photo by Rebecca Penovich.

Years later when I arrived at college in the South (Nashville, Tennesee to be specific), pimento cheese was on the counter at every single gas station along with a giant jar of pickled eggs. But man, this pimento cheese wasn’t anything I had seen before. In fact, it looked gross. Lurid orange, gloppy, maybe even sweaty. Needless to say, I wasn’t having any of that.

Eventually during my sojourn in the South, I was invited to the gracious Southern home of a well-bred Southern hostess whom I admired very much, and what did she serve? Yes, pimento cheese. But lordy, this wasn’t the gas station variety. This was creamy, tangy, fresh, redolent of good mayonnaise and maybe a tiny bit of onion. The red pimentos folded in were real, for goodness sake! I LOVED it all over again. On celery sticks (de-stringed if you are fancy), on Carr’s water crackers, on Pepperidge Farm thin white bread and cut into triangles, if you please. On a wrap-around porch beneath a towering magnolia and served in a lovely, small silver bowl, please.

Here is an authentic and guaranteed recipe for Classic Pimento Cheese that I clipped from Southern Living May 2010. It never fails to please my Southern-born and -bred friends and more often will elicit spontaneous recollections of their beloved grandmothers or great-aunts (the ones that entertained) or the beloved family cook of the grandmother (depending how far you go back).

Every well-stocked kitchen needs a box grater.

The absolute secret to getting this right is two-fold: hand-grate the cheese on a box grater and use two different size shreds, one medium and one fine. Seriously, don’t use the food processor and don’t skip the fine shred. Yes, it will require a little more elbow grease, but lean in, people, this is pimento cheese we’re talking about!

Our Favorite Pimento Cheese

(adapted from Southern Living May 2010)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups good-quality mayonnaise (Hellman’s or Duke’s)

16 oz. sharp Cheddar cheese (you can buy 2 8 oz. blocks if you prefer since you WILL be grating them separately)

1 4 oz. jar diced pimento, drained

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce (we use Lee & Perrin’s)

1 tsp. finely grated yellow onion

1/4 tsp. ground cayenne pepper

Method

In a large bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, drained pimentos, grated onion, Worcestershire sauce, and cayenne pepper until blended.

Shred 8 oz. of cheddar on the small size of a box grater and add to the mayonnaise mixture.

Shred another 8 oz. of cheddar on the large size of a box grater and add that to the mayonnaise mixture.

Fold gently until nicely blended.

Taste and enjoy! Pimento cheese will keep in the refrigerator (in a tightly closed container) for up to a week.

(Note: You can use artisanal white cheddar but the classic recipe (and look) calls for the orange cheddar. I love English farmhouse white cheddars on my cheese board, but if I’m making pimento cheese, I’ll buy a good quality, sharp, orange cheddar cheese.)

Southern Living calls for toasted pecans in their favorite pimento cheese, but we say skip that, and serve the toasted pecans on the side.

(Other Note: we couldn’t stop eating the pimento cheese and crackers when shooting it for this post. “It’s better to have 3 crackers in the shot than 5,” we said as we chomped. Oh yeah. “This reminds me of Alabama!” Allison exclaimed, remembering a trip to a favorite relative’s house there.)