Hummus with Broccoli & Millet

I used to think that hummus was a great dip. Then I moved on to thinking it was a great condiment and dip. These days, I’ve given up trying to categorize hummus — I’m willing to try it with darned near anything. (And I’m usually glad I did!) Somehow, that combination of smooth, creamy chickpeas + nutty crushed-sesame tahini + tongue-tingling garlic and lemon lends it that same kind of umami flavor that we find so alluring in Parmesan cheese and tomato-based sauces.

One-Minute Hummus, Broccoli & Millet* (or “What I Had in My Fridge”)

* Even if you have to cook the broccoli, you’re talking five minutes; millet, on the other hand, does take up to thirty minutes, but you can make a big pot and keep it in the fridge for a week to enjoy as part of breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Combine cooked millet, steamed broccoli (or any other leftover cooked or raw vegetable), and hummus in a bowl and toss well to combine.  If you prefer to have a hot lunch, feel free to warm the dish through.  Drizzle with olive oil and dust with paprika before serving.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chestnut Cupcake

I don’t know about you, but when I find an exciting new (to me) ingredient, I like to drop it into as many culinary settings as I can to see what happens.  Some ideas, like my “let’s make hot chocolate with red wine instead of milk!” notion, though, are rather ill-fated.  Random combinations are not always for the faint of fork.  But isn’t living on the edge fun sometimes?

My newest obsession — as evinced by the recent post on chestnut snickerdoodles — is chestnut flour.  (The next step is whole chestnuts.  I’ve already got my eye on the roasted and peeled ones on the shelf at Trader Joe’s.)  In that vein, I decided to make chocolate chestnut cupcakes.  With cinnamon and pine nuts.  What the heck — why not?

I’m happy to report that these came out a whole lot tastier than the red-wine-hot-chocolate debacle!

Chocolate Chestnut Cupcakes
(Both gluten-free and glutenized versions are provided here, though it would be a shame to scrap the lovely coconut in favor of the much-more-bland wheat. And remember — if you can’t find coconut flour, feel free to make your own by grinding unsweetened coconut flakes in a coffee grinder.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a standard 12-muffin muffin pan (or use paper cupcake liners) and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together:

1/4 cup cocoa powder, preferably un-Dutched (un-Dutched cocoa has a stronger flavor)
1/4 cup almond flour (you can grind sliced almonds in a coffee grinder to make your own flour)
1/2 cup chestnut flour
1/2 cup coconut flour (again, you can grind your own; see above recipe note)*
1 T. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 cup pine nuts (optional)

* You can substitute whole-wheat flour for the coconut flour.

In a smaller bowl, whisk together:

2/3 cup maple syrup, preferably Grade B
2 eggs, preferably from free-range hens
1/4 cup whole milk, preferably from grass-fed cows
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup melted butter, preferably from grass-fed cows

Pour liquid mixture into flour mixture and combine with a wooden spoon, scraping the bottom of the bowl to make sure you’re combining everything thoroughly. Promptly ladle/spoon the batter into the waiting muffin tin and pop it in the heated oven. (Speed is of the essence when you’re dealing with gluten-free baked goods.)

Bake for about 25 minutes, then do a toothpick test to see if the cupcakes are done. If not, return to oven and bake another 3 minutes before checking again.

Enjoy!

Luxurious Tuna Casserole

Who says a tuna casserole can’t be glamorous?  (Or gorgeous, for that matter.)  It’s simply a matter of choosing your cheeses wisely — scrumptious cheese makes for a scrumptious casserole.  For this concoction, I was fortunate to have a complementary selection of cheeses on hand: herbed Brie, English Stilton, and Dutch Parrano (which is a bit like Parmesan). A forlorn bunch of leftover broccoli was also sitting on the refrigerator shelf just begging to be eaten, so that got tossed in, too.

Since most vegetables pair well with tuna and cheese, it’s always nice to include one or two.  Peppers, for example, would be a tasty addition, as would tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini, carrots…you get the idea.  The more veggies, the merrier the flavor and visual appeal (and nutrient density).

Luxurious Tuna Casserole (gluten-free or with wheat)

Serves 4.  If you’d like to double the recipe, use a 9×13 pan.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

4 servings whole-grain noodles in a chunky shape, such as twists or tubes, prepared according to package directions (use brown rice noodles for a gluten-free dish)
1 head broccoli, cut into little trees (cut the tops free from the “trunk” and then cut any large clusters in half)
2 T. butter, preferably from grass-fed cows
2 T. brown rice flour or whole-wheat flour (the former is gluten-free)
About 3/4 cup of whole milk, preferably from grass-fed cows
About 1 cup of combined cheeses, grated or cubed (Brie, Stilton, and Parmesan are excellent candidates for a three-cheese combination)
1 6-oz. can of tuna

While the pasta is cooking, bring a medium-sized pot of water to boil. Add broccoli and simmer for 5 minutes, if necessary turning down the heat a little to keep the water from bubbling and bursting out of the pot. Drain broccoli and set aside. Drain noodles and set aside, too, being sure to rinse them thoroughly in warm water to prevent them from sticking later on.

To make the roux, melt the butter over medium-low heat, stir in the flour, and let cook for about a minute, stirring constantly with a whisk. Gradually add milk a tablespoon at a time, stirring after each addition to smooth out any lumps. When all of the milk has been added, you should have a smooth, thick sauce. (If it’s too thick, add another tablespoon of milk.) Gradually whisk in cheeses, again stirring constantly.

The second the last shred of cheese has melted into the sauce, remove from heat and stir in broccoli and tuna. Stir drained noodles into sauce and then pour/scoop the entire thing into an 8×8 glass pan.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until casserole is gently bubbling around the edges. If you’d like a nicely-browned top, broil the casserole for 3-5 minutes. Serve piping hot.

Enjoy!

Ensalada España con Fabas y Pimientos

Spaniards have some delectable culinary customs, among them “giant” beans and “giant” corn.  (I found the latter — salted and roasted, no less — in a flamenco bar in Cádiz, sold in cocktail-peanut-style canisters in a mini rotating vending machine.  Like most bar snacks sold in disposable canisters, they weren’t very good, but still, I could tell the idea had potential.)

There are a few varieties of oversized beans, some called “gigante” and some known by their place of origin, like the fabas asturianas (Asturian fava beans) in this salad.  Unfortunately, this deliciously buttery and rich bean is tough to find in the States.  (But easy to find on Spanish-food web stores like www.latienda.com.)  In a pinch, you can substitute giant butter beans or the more-normal-sized-but-creamier Great White Northern beans.  Either way, you’ll have very satisfying salad…or soup or stew or casserole.

For this salad, I balanced bitter arugula and a tart vinegar-based dressing against the creamy smoothness of the beans and the sweet smoothness of roasted red peppers — piquillo peppers, to be exact.  (Another specialty of Spain, although roasted red peppers will also do quite nicely.)  Not only is this salad very simple and easy to toss together in minutes, you can also use it as a base and add whatever else you’d like:  hard-boiled eggs, tuna, grilled chicken, a salty cheese like Manchego or Stilton (or Valdeón, if you’d prefer to stick to the Spanish theme), more fresh vegetables, perhaps even crisp fruits like apple or pear.

Ensalada España con Fabas y Pimientos

(Spanish-Style Salad with Beans and Peppers)

Note: this recipe serves 2 for lunch or 4 as a side dish. Double as necessary.

Toss together:

Several handfuls arugula and/or mixed baby lettuce mix
1/2 cup roasted piquillo peppers or roasted red pepper strips
1 cup green beans, simmered for 5 minutes, then drained and cut into three pieces
1/2 cup (4 oz.) fabas asturianas or Great White Northern beans (or giant butter beans)
1/4 almonds or pine nuts (optional)

Drizzle extra-virgin olive oil onto salad, then drizzle on either sherry vinegar or balsamic vinegar to taste. (Most people prefer a 2:1 oil-to-vinegar ratio; I prefer 1:1.) Season with a few grinds of fresh peppercorn and sea salt.

Toss again and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Vietnamese Noodles with Savoy Cabbage

Cabbages aren’t exactly the hottest item on the vegetable menu:  they don’t have the slim elegance of a green bean or the curvy voluptuousness of an eggplant.  From Sauerkraut to Asian cabbage-parcel soups, however, they do feature prominently in most world cuisines.  (To achieve the latter, stuff a leaf, tie it off with chives, and simmer in the broth for about 20 minutes to make sure the bundles are cooked through.  The stuffing can be any combination of minced veggies, aromatics, seasonings, and/or ground meat.)

While some cabbages are hearty — some might say “sturdy” or even “tough” — other types of cabbage are a bit more mild and lend themselves to a quick sautée.  The Savoy cabbage I opted to use in this recipe was tender enough to be sliced into strips and cooked with the sauce.  (It would have been a good candidate for stuffing, too.)  That mildness and slight crunch made it the perfect match for the pungency of Vietnamese seasonings and the full-flavored, grass-fed pork.

Vietnamese Noodles with Savoy Cabbage

2 servings noodles (soba or brown rice noodles work particularly well with this dish, and as long as the soba noodles are 100% buckwheat — always read the ingredient label! — both are gluten-free options)
1 T. butter, ghee, or coconut oil
1 medium onion, diced
About 1″-long piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced (or 1 tsp. ground dried ginger)
3 cloves garlic, sliced into thin rounds
1/2 lb. ground pork, preferably from pastured pigs
About 5-6 leaves of Savoy cabbage, sliced
1 T. nuoc mam (fish sauce)
1 T. soy or tamari sauce
1 T. pomegranate molasses OR 1 T. tamarind paste (both have a tangy, sour, citrusy flavor that goes a little way towards mimicking the lemongrass flavor typically found in Asian dishes)
2 T. lime juice
1/4 cup loosely packed chopped fresh cilantro

Prepare noodles according to package directions.*

While they’re simmering, in a medium-sized pan, sautée onions and ginger in butter over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until onion is nearly translucent and both onion and ginger have softened. Turn down heat to medium-low, add garlic, and sautée for another 2 minutes, stirring often. Stir in pork and cabbage and raise heat back up to medium. (When you’re using grass-fed meats, they’ll cook more quickly at a lower temperature — if you rachet up the heat to scorching, you’ll dry out your dinner!)

Break up the pork, making sure that the aromatics and cabbage are evenly dispersed throughout the meat, and cook for another 3 minutes. Stir in fish sauce, soy sauce, and pomegranate/tamarind, standing back a little when you first add the sauces so that the quickly-rising steam won’t burn you. Stir well to combine and continue to simmer for another 3-4 minutes. If the liquid evaporates too quickly, add enough of the lime juice to deglaze the pan and keep just a little bit of simmering sauce at the bottom of it.

Just before you remove the pan from the heat, add the (rest of) the lime juice and the chopped cilantro to the pork mixture. Stir in well, let simmer for another 30 seconds, and remove the pan from the heat. (Citrus juices are very vulnerable to heat, so if you cook the juice for long, you’ll lose most of the flavor.)

Stir in cooked and drained noodles, putting the entire pot back on the stove briefly if the noodles need a bit of reheating. Serve steaming hot.

Enjoy!

* You may want to toss a bit of extra-virgin olive oil into the cooked and drained noodles while they stand so that they don’t stick together.

Chestnut Snickerdoodles

Chestnuts roasting over an open fire used to be pretty popular in the States, but that was before chestnut trees that had been imported from Asia caused the American stocks to fall prey to a nasty fungus.  By the 1940s, chestnut trees were very few and far between.

Roasted chestnuts remain popular in other countries, though — street vendors still cook them over open fires in the public squares of many towns.  (In Spain, they’re called castañas asadas; in Switzerland, they’re heiße Maroni.)  Others eat them candied, grilled, puréed, in stuffing, as a stand-in for coffee, and even as beer.  Italians are particularly creative with chestnuts in both savory and sweet dishes.

While I’m not a huge fan of the actual roasted nuts (although I would love to try chestnut beer!), I do enjoy using chestnut flour in sweet baked goods.  Chestnuts are like almonds:  they’re dry enough to be ground into a nice fine flour, but they’re still moist enough to make soft cookies and breads.  Flavor-wise, chestnut flour can be the main attraction (as in these snickerdoodles) or can blend into a pleasant background. In this recipe — partly in homage to Italian cookie traditions, partly because they pair well with chestnuts, and partly because I think they’re sadly underutilized in American cuisine — I’ve also included pine nuts.

Chestnut Snickerdoodles

Note: since chestnuts are nuts, they’re naturally gluten-free.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease two cookie sheets.

Whisk in a medium bowl:
2 cups chestnut flour (if you’re a bit short on chestnut flour, use 1 cup chestnut and 1 cup sorghum or brown rice flour)
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon

Cream together in a large bowl:
1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter, preferably from grass-fed cows
1/2 cup to 3/4 cup sucanat (depends on sweet you want your cookies to be)

Beat into the butter mixture:
2 eggs, preferably from free-range hens

Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture.

Also stir in:
1/4 cup pine nuts

Spoon little mounds of cookie dough onto the greased sheets. (I use an ordinary teaspoon to ensure that I get uniformly-sized cookies.) Be sure to leave an inch or two between each soon-to-be cookie — they’ll spread as they bake.

Bake for about 12 minutes and check to see if the edges are turning golden brown. If they are, your cookies are ready to be eaten!  Store uneaten cookies in an airtight container for up to a week.

Enjoy!

Millet Crab Cakes

Crab cakes, I think, are one of America’s great culinary inventions. ( I once had a coworker whose father hopped in the car one day and drove from Detroit to Baltimore to satisfy his urge for crab cakes.  A few months after that, he called his son to let him know that he was slurping gumbo at a café in Louisiana.  Talk about letting your taste buds lead the way!)

The only problem with crab cakes, though, is that they’re often more cake than crab — that is, the main ingredients sometimes are mayo and breadcrumbs, and their blandness tends to leach flavor away from the crab rather than complimenting it.  In this incarnation, I’ve done away with the mayo entirely (if you handle the cakes gently, they’ll hold their shape just fine without the mayo) and have used cooked millet rather than breadcrumbs.  Not only does the millet have more complimentary flavor — a nutty sweetness — since it’s a whole grain, it’s also a lot more nutrient-dense.  It’s gluten-free, too, so these crab cakes are suitable for gluten-eaters and celiacs alike.

Millet Crab Cakes (with alioli)

2 T. butter or ghee, preferably from grass-fed cows
1/2 cup green onions, minced*
1 lb. crabmeat (you can usually find 1 lb. cans of crabmeat at meat and fish markets)
1 egg, slightly beaten with fork
1 T. Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp. ground mustard
1/4 cup parsley, minced
1/4 cup cooked millet**
Pinch sea salt
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)
Extra-virgin olive oil (if necessary)
Additional butter or ghee for sautéeing

Sautée green onions in butter for about 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring often to prevent onions from browning. In a large bowl, combine cooked onions with remaining ingredients. Shape crab mixture into patties about the size of a standard hamburger patty. (Or at least the size standard hamburger patties used to be before the advent of Super-Sizing.) Drizzle in a bit of extra-virgin olive oil if they seem too dry. At the end, you should have about 8 cakes. (It’s better to make them small — they’re easier to handle. Big cakes will fall apart when you try to flip them.)

Sautée the cakes in batches over medium heat, being sure that the pan is hot and the butter is melted before you add the first patty. Gently flip after about 4-5 minutes or when cake is nicely browned. Cook the second side for another 4 minutes and then remove from pan. You might want to keep the first cakes stacked in a warm toaster oven while you’re cooking the remaining batches.

Serve hot or cold — these cakes will also be delicious straight out of the fridge on the following day. You might want to serve them with a mustard sauce or an alioli (pictured above). To make the latter, place about 2 large cloves of garlic and 1 T. lemon juice in a blender. Gradually trickle in about 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil while blender/food processor is running and blend until you have a thick, smooth sauce.

Enjoy!

* Note that you could also include minced and sautéed red bell pepper and/or carrots if you’d like. Mushrooms, too, could be pre-sautéed and then added to the crab mixture, and if you have some favorite spices that pair well with crab, don’t be shy to add a teaspoon of those!

** The package directions for cooking millet say to cook it for 30 minutes, but usually I find that’s a bit too long — I wind up with rather mushy millet. For this recipe, however, you want the grains to be a bit sticky, so go ahead and cook the millet until it’s almost mashable with a fork.

Fusion Enchiladas

Things are not always as they seem, not even in the world of cheese.  Having grown up eating my share of pizza, I thought I knew what mozzarella tasted like, but when I took my first bite of mozzarella di bufalo — made of 100% buffalo milk — I realized I’d been missing out on true mozzarella all along.

Given how much I’ve always enjoyed lasagna, I thought I’d experienced the full flavor of ricotta, too.  Then I tried ricotta salata last week and was surprised once again:  for one thing, it was from Italy and therefore made of sheep’s milk (cow-milk ricotta is more common in the U.S.), and as its name implied, it was indeed salty.  It was also a fairly dry, hard cheese, yet one that didn’t taste overly sheepish.  Reminded me of Greek mizithra.

I had a feeling the ricotta salata probably wouldn’t be the best melting cheese…and it wasn’t.  Nonetheless, its intriguing salty tang and dry, almost crunchy texture works on baked dishes and pastas.

For these “enchiladas,” I used leftover savory crepes that I’d made with a 50/50 split of corn flour and brown rice flour.  I happened to have leftover roasted pepper, too, so I sautéed some zucchini rounds, simmered some broccoli heads (5 minutes and they’re ready to be drained!), and added those to the peppers for the filling.  It was a truly simple dish:  I rolled the filling in the crepes, topped them with fresh-style salsa, sprinkled some grated ricotta salata on top, and baked the whole thing at 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes.  (The cheese won’t melt, but it will get just a bit brown and crispy.)

You could use ricotta salata as a topping for a wide variety of sprinkle-and-bake meals, from casseroles to lasagnas to frittatas.  (And you could fill those crepes with anything you’d like, too. )  The salty dryness of ricotta salata also means that it contrasts nicely with sweet, crunchy fruits like pears and apples.  Give it a shot — it’s bound to be a new cheese experience!

Italian Flag Risotto

Americans tend to think of pizza as Italy’s national dish, but Italians — particularly northern Italians — would probably beg to differ.  Wheat fields in the south give way to rice paddies in the north, and where you find rice, you’re more likely to find risotto on the menu rather than wheat-based pastas, breads, and crusts.

Risotto is made from Arborio rice, a specific type of grain that is short/starchy enough to absorb a fair amount of liquid but is long/less-starchy enough to maintain its integrity and not clump and mass to all the other grains.  The result is a dish that straddles both the short- and long-grain worlds:  savory rice that takes on the flavor of the liquid but still has a bit of crunch. Truly toothsome, you could say.

Getting this effect requires the slow addition of liquid — you add a bit, let the grains simmer and soak, and then add a bit more…and a bit more…and a bit more, until you have a pan of full-flavored-but-still-separate grains.  What kind of complementary ingredients you add is up to you:  peas, mushrooms, saffron, Parmesan, fresh basil strips, etc.  For this dish, I thought I would make a quintessential Italian dish even more so by adding roasted red peppers and peas to make a culinary Italian flag.

Italian Flag Risotto

Note that the 2 cups rice to 8 cups liquid serves 4 as a main course; double or halve the recipe as needed.

8 cups chicken broth
2 T. butter
2 cups Arborio rice
2 cloves garlic, sliced into thin rounds
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup peas (fresh or frozen and thawed)
1/2 cup roasted red pepper strips
1 T. extra-virgin olive oil
2/3 to 1 cup grated Parmesan (optional)

Heat the broth in a pan as you’re cooking the rice. This is to keep the broth as warm as the cooking rice so that you don’t drastically affect the temperature (and hence cooking time) of the rice when you add more broth to it.

In a large, flat-bottomed pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in rice, turning heat down to medium-low, until each grain is coated with butter. Stir in garlic. Cook for another 3 minutes, then add white wine. Let rice absorb wine before adding a cup of the heated broth.

Continue to do the absorb-add-absorb-add procedure (add about 1/2 cup of broth at a time, less if you’re not making the full recipe) until the rice has swelled up but is still a bit crunchy to the tooth. Stir often throughout the process and make sure that the rice stays at a simmer rather than a boil.

The overall process will probably take at least 30 minutes, but it’s worth it!! You may want to add a bit of sea salt to taste, bearing in mind that the broth may be salty and that you may be garnishing the final dish by adding a salty cheese like Parmesan.  Towards the end of the cooking time, stir in the peas so that they have a chance to defrost.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the roasted pepper strips. Add the olive oil and cheese if you like, then serve immediately.

Buon appetito!

Bananas with Walnut Oil & Cinnamon

Driven by the craze for polyunsaturated omega-3 fats, we’re so busy making a mad dash for the flaxseed oil that we’re ignoring another oil that’s a great source of omega-3s and compliments everything from pancakes to salads:  walnut oil.  Although flaxseed is higher in omega-3s than any other oil, walnut oil isn’t too far behind.  (Pecan oil isn’t too shabby, either.)  And although the grassy flavor of flaxseed blends well with some dishes, the familiar nutty walnut taste is easier to pair with breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

The main thing to remember about all oils that are primarily polyunsaturated is that you should never heat them and that you should store them in the fridge at all times.  That said, feel free to use them on all manner of dishes!

Walnut oil is marvelous in salad dressings — use it in place of olive oil and pair it with sweet-salty salads with ingredients like baby spinach/arugula, orange sections, and blue cheese/goat cheese.  Drizzle it on pancakes or waffles.  (Walnut + maple = yum!)  A drizzle of walnut oil would also pair well with smooth squash soups like pumpkin or butternut.  Dunk muffins in walnut oil!  Accent roasted chicken with walnut oil once you’ve pulled it out of the oven and plated it.

See what I mean?  It’s easy — if you would pair nuts (especially walnuts) with a dish, go ahead and try complementing it with walnut oil.  Or pecan oil.

For this quick dessert, I cut up a banana, mixed a bit of walnut oil, maple syrup, and cinnamon in a separate bowl, and then drizzled the flavored oil on the banana slices.  Easy and delicious!

An Assortment of Spanish Tapas

While many cultures have a “little bites” tradition — Middle Eastern mezze, Russian zakuski, Italian antipasto — it seems like the Spaniards are the most passionate about theirs.  Tapas bars are everywhere you look in Spain, and diners are just as likely to make a full meal of tapas as they are to sit down for a formal dinner.  Most people, in fact, visit several different bars in a single night and enjoy a variety of tapas wherever they go.  (Even outdoor markets offer tapas for the nibbling:  La Boquería in Barcelona features row upon row of freshly-prepared tapas, many of which are displayed in glass cases to make your selection even easier.  There’s nothing quite like snuggling up to the bar with a plate of pistou and a glass of Rioja amidst the hustle and bustle of one of Spain’s busiest markets.  And after you polish off your tapas, there are plenty of candymakers waiting to tempt you with truffles and turtles of the chocolate persuasion.  Not to mention the exotic-fruit vendors selling plastic cups filled with the best freshly-drawn coconut milk I’ve ever had. But that’s another post…)

While tapas may seem intimidating, they really aren’t — on the contrary, tapas are the essence of simplicity.  Any good-quality single ingredient that can stand on its own can be a tapa:  nuts, olives, cheeses, ham, fruit, etc.  All you have to do to make authentic tapas is choose ones that are Spanish in origin, like marcona almonds rather than standard almonds or Manchego cheese rather than Swiss cheese (or any other non-Spanish cheese).

For instance, this round of tapas included (clockwise from left to right):

• Grapes

• Jamón ibérico (Iberian ham; jamón serrano is another popular option)

• Sautéed Apple & Spinach Salad

• Hard-boiled eggs with canned tuna (bonito tuna canned in olive oil)

• Fabas asturianas (a type of large white bean — you could also use Great White Northern beans) tossed with extra-virgin olive oil, parsley, and a splash of sherry vinegar

• Roasted piquillo peppers (you could also use roasted red peppers) tossed with extra-virgin olive oil and sautéed garlic

• Manchego cheese

Other great offerings would be a simple bowl of plump green olives, a bowl of marcona almonds, or a loaf of crusty bread served with extra-virgin olive oil and sea salt.

Tapas can also be gloriously complex affairs, of course — and those can be fun to make, too! — but they don’t have to be.  Just get out your prettiest dishes, fill them with a variety of tasty morsels, and let the tapas night begin!

Scottish Winter Stew

Americans eat oats for breakfast and in the occasional cookie.  Scots eat them for breakfast, too…and for lunch and dinner and everything in between.  They eat them in scones and stews and porridges and even with fish.  And why not?  Not only are oats one of the most nutrient-rich grains on the planet, they have a wonderful habit of transforming watery soups into thick, satisfying stews.  (Steel-cut oats or whole oats, that is — the rolled variety has usually had its outer bran removed, and much of that thickening power lies in the bran.)

Steel-cut oats are pretty easy to find these days; you might even come across gluten-free oats, which have been grown and processed in their own fields and factories rather than being grown and processed alongside wheat.  Given the plenitude and reasonable cost of oats — not to mention their flavor and versatility — we could take some valuable lessons from the Scots!  Besides, cold winter days seem a lot less colder if you have a pot of hot stew simmering on the stove. Roasting the vegetables is optional, but again, why not drive off the chill of winter with some warm, aromatic roasting? Slow-roasted vegetables will also add a deeper, more umami-rich flavor to your stew.

Scottish Winter Stew

4 stalks celery, cut into 2″-long pieces (do not cut down the centers of the stalks as this would make the pieces too small for roasting)*
1 large onion, cut into thick rounds*
4 carrots, cut into 2″-long pieces (only split very wide chunks in half; leave the tips intact)*
1 knob celeriac/celery root, cut into 1″ cubes (optional)*

In a glass pan (or several pans), toss veggies with peanut oil, sea salt, and freshly-cracked pepper. Roast at 375 degrees F for about 30 minutes or until veggies are a golden brown, stirring at 15-minute intervals.

While veggies are roasting, get the soup going:

3 cloves garlic, sliced into thin rounds
8 oz. shiitake or button mushrooms, sliced
1 large tomato, chopped
4 c. chicken broth, preferably from free-range chickens
2 tsp. (combined) of any or all of these spices: thyme, winter savory, sage
Roasted vegetables (see above)
1/2 cup uncooked steel-cut oats

In a large soup pot, sautée garlic in butter or ghee on medium-low heat for about 2 minutes or until garlic is softened and fragrant. Add mushrooms and tomato and continue to cook, stirring often, for about 5 more minutes. Add chicken broth, spices, and roasted vegetables.** Increase heat to high and wait for the soup to barely come to a boil; when it does, notch the heat back down to medium-low and let it simmer for at least 10 minutes.  (This can be your holding point if you’re making the stew ahead of time — just let it quietly simmer for up to an hour.  You may need to add another cup of broth or water to the stew before adding the oats.)

When you’re about 20 minutes away from wanting to serve the stew, add the oats and let it simmer for another 15-20 minutes or until the oats are cooked through to your satisfaction. (I prefer mine to remain a bit toothsome.) Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

* If you’re sautéeing these veggies rather than roasting them, cut them into smaller pieces so that they will cook through when you pan-fry them.

** Also note that you can make use of any roasted veggie for this recipe: leeks, mushrooms, red peppers, corn, green beans…whatever you like and/or happen to have on hand. (A great way to use up leftover roasted veggies!)

Corn Spaghetti Tossed with Guacamole

A whimsical name for a whimsical dish: pasta tossed with guacamole.  I got the idea when I wanted to make guacamole but was out of corn chips.  What to do?  Use corn in a different form, I decided.  I did.  I also deepened the flavors of the dish by sautéeing the garlic and onion before stirring them into the smashed avocado.

This is a great way to serve extra guacamole…and people who object to the greenness of the dip may be more willing to eat noodles swathed in greenness.  (Dad!)  After all, pesto is green, and everyone loves that on pasta.  If a child is balking at the idea of a green meal, tell her you’re serving Shrek pasta for dinner.

“Monster” Pasta (Spaghetti Tossed with Guacamole)
Both gluten-free and wheat versions given

2 servings of a pasta of your choice, prepared according to package instructions (corn is best, but a mild brown rice or wheat would also work)*
1 T. extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced into thin rounds
1 small onion, diced
1 avocado
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 T. fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper

While pasta is cooking, sautée olive oil, garlic, and onion over medium-low heat in a small saucepan for about 2 minutes or until garlic is fragrant and onion is translucent. Stir often to prevent garlic from browning. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a flat-bottomed bowl, mash avocado with a fork. (It works best if you can easily press down into the avocado flesh.) Stir in tomato, lemon juice, garlic, and onion.** Season to taste with salt and pepper, then toss with warm pasta. Serve immediately. A dollop of good-quality sour cream or Greek yogurt would be a nice garnish.

Enjoy!

* Use corn or brown rice to make this dish gluten-free.

** Note that this is how you make basic guacamole, whether you want to toss it with pasta or dip chips in it.  Just use raw onions and garlic rather than cooked ones and use about half (or less) the amount to account for the fact that they’ll be much stronger-tasting when they’re raw.

PB&C (Peanut Butter & Cocoa)

Who doesn’t like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup?  Peanut butter and chocolate just go together.  But I guarantee that once you make your own PB&C in solid form or smoothie/shake form, you won’t ever want to go back to the prepackaged kind.  The homemade variety tastes better, it’s a whole lot better for your health, AND you probably already have the ingredients for it on hand.

In the interest of brevity, I’ll just put it this way:

Milk Chocolate, Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Chocolate, Milk Non-Fat, Milk Fat, Lactose, Soy Lecithin, PGPR, Emulsifiers, Peanut(s), Dextrose, Salt, TBHQ (off the Reese’s label)

OR

Whole milk , 100% peanut butter, cocoa powder, maple syrup (out of your own blender).

Seriously, you gotta try making your own!  I swear you’ll never want a commercial PB&C again.

Liquid PB&C

Blend 1 cup whole milk (preferably from grass-fed cows, like Calder’s or Organic Valley), 1 T. 100% peanut butter, 1 T. cocoa powder, and 1 T. maple syrup (preferably Grade B) until smooth.  Enjoy!

Traditional PB&C

Dunk a square of dark chocolate (at least 70%; I go for 90%) in 100% peanut butter.  Enjoy!

Homemade Hand Creams

If you’re in the kitchen a lot, you’re probably washing your hands a lot, and your hands  probably feel dry from time to time.  You could buy expensive hand creams to alleviate that, of course…or you can use the oils and minerals you already have to make your own products.

Not only is making your own far less expensive, you get a very high-quality product without a bunch of fragrances and preservatives.  (I began making lotions years ago, when I got frustrated with the scarcity and expense of unscented products.)  The only two caveats with homemade creams are that because they are made without preservatives, you cannot leave them in a hot place (they will melt) and you should make sure your hands are clean before poking a finger into your lotions so that you don’t contaminate them (they are not made with antibacterial chemicals the way commercial lotions are).

To make hand cream, you’ll need a large glass bowl, a small glass bowl (or a small glass measuring cup), a whisk, and a way to heat your oils and boil your water (I use my stovetop, but you could also use a microwave).  Have a clean container ready so that you can transfer your lotion to it once it’s emulsified.

These three lotions are: (top) Lanolin Cream, (middle) Cocoa Butter Cream, and (bottom) Coconut Cream.  The Cocoa Butter Cream is a mix of oils and waxes — it’s thick rather than fluffy — but the other two are water/oil emulsions and are consequently lighter in texture.  I’ll give you the recipe for making the Coconut Cream since it’s the easiest one to make and has the nicest texture.  Home-beauty author Janice Cox has written several books on how to make body, bath, and hair products at home, so if this lotion intrigues you, check out her Natural Beauty at Home!

Coconut Cream
Makes 8 ounces — you may wish to cut this in half depending on the size of your jar/container.

2 T. stearic acid powder*
1/4 cup coconut oil, preferably unrefined
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Melt stearic acid and coconut oil at a low temperature on the stove (or in a water bath) inside of a glass container. Alternatively, you can put the mixture in a large glass bowl, put it in the microwave, and use short bursts of microwave power. The goal is to melt it slowly — do NOT make it so hot that it bubbles. Swirl/stir often to help the stearic acid flakes melt into the oil. The mixture will have to end up in a large glass bowl, so if you don’t heat it in that to begin with, know that you’ll have to pour the oil mixture into the glass bowl when it’s hot and still very pour-able — stearic acid goes solid at room temperature.

While you’re melting the oil, boil some water. Add 1/2 tsp. baking soda to a heatproof measuring cup (i.e., Pyrex glass) or a small glass bowl. When the water is boiling and the oil/stearic acid is melted, pour 1/2 cup of water into the container with the baking soda and slightly swirl to dissolve soda (it’s easiest to use a heatproof measuring cup so that you can measure it as you’re pouring it). Slooooowly trickle water mixture into oil mixture (oil mixture must be in large bowl at this point!) and whisk briskly. This is the fun part: the clear oil and the water will turn into a beautifully rich, fluffy white cream! It’ll look like whipped cream, actually.

Transfer lotion to final container (one with a screwtop) and let sit uncovered until the cream is completely cool. Wipe out large bowl with a paper towel before attempting to use soap to clean it — soap won’t remove the waxy stearic acid.

If you’ve used unrefined coconut oil, your lotion will have wonderful scent of fresh coconuts…heavenly. This is by far my favorite cream!

* Stearic acid is actually a fat (fats are technically known as fatty acids). Plants contain it, animals contain it, our bodies contain it, we eat it in whole foods all the time — it’s nothing weird or unnatural. You can find stearic acid at candle-making shops or online at shops like www.mountainroseherbs.com (which sells an astonishing array of herbs and raw ingredients for making personal-care products).

Enjoy!