Coconut & Maple Macaroons
Macaroons are the hottest thing in high-end pastry and chocolate shops right now … but when you think “macaroon,” you’re probably thinking of something different. Although classic French macaroons consist of chocolate cream sandwiched between two disks of almond meringue, when the concept was translated to the American dessert lexicon, the recipe changed. Drastically.
Each kind of macaroon has its own charm, and both are irrefutably delightful. The French ganache-and-meringue version is crunchy and creamy at the same time; the American version is based on coconut and is charmingly chewy. Odds are that each will strike your fancy at a different time. When you want to make a quick and easy dessert, for example, you’ll probably have a hankering for the American macaroon. It requires zero heating of any kind and can be made in about two minutes. The French version is considerably more involved. While “project”-style desserts are ideal if you have some time on your hands and curiosity in your nature, sometimes a make-it-in-fewer-than-five-minutes dessert is exactly what you’re looking for.
Coconut & Maple Macaroons
Makes 12 macaroons. Recipe can easily be doubled or tripled.
1/2 cup + 1 T. unsweetened coconut flakes
3 T. unsweetened cocoa powder, plus extra for dusting
2 T. maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
Sprinkle some cocoa powder on a large plate and have another empty clean plate nearby. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl, mixing well. Use your fingertips to roughly pinch the mixture into 12 equal balls, then roll each ball into a smooth ball on the dry, clean palms of your hands. (Your fingertips will be sticky from having mixed everything together.) Place the macaroons on the clean plate as you go. Wash and dry your hands thoroughly — the idea is to ensure that the macaroons stick to themselves rather than your hands — and then roll each macaroon in the cocoa powder to finish. Alternatively, roll in almond flour or finely ground pistachios or any other finely ground nut.
Macaroons can be refrigerated for up to a week. They’ll dry out slightly and actually improve in texture upon standing. (Although I like them freshly made, too.)
Enjoy!
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Tags: chocolate, cocoa powder, coconut, dessert, gluten-free, healthy snack, macaroons, maple syrup, vanilla
Chive & Spinach Pesto
It’s not just the grass and tulips that are in full bloom: the chives are growing like gangbusters, too. Seeing all of those tall-but-still-tender chives put me in a pesto kind of mood. (Green + herb = pesto in my mind.) It’s still a bit too chilly for basil, though, so I opted to use chives and spinach instead. Not only is spinach another early-growing tasty edible, its fresh, sweet flavor offsets the garlicky nature of the chives.
If you’d like to make a raw, spicy version of this pesto, use baby spinach and simply toss everything in a food processor. I prefer a more mellow taste, so I opted to steam the spinach and then wring it out before adding it. (You don’t want watery pesto!) I also adore the nutty, warm flavor of sautéed garlic. Either way, you’ll have a plateful of spring flavors.
Chive & Spinach Pesto
Serves 2. Recipe can easily be doubled or tripled.
2 servings whole-grain pasta of your choice (I used Tinkyada’s brown rice fettucini; be sure to get gluten-free pasta if you’re making a gluten-free dish!)
8 oz. baby or curly spinach (use baby if you’re making an all-raw pesto)
Garlic (optional)
Chives (if your chives are fresh and strong-flavored, start by only using about three individual chives; taste your pesto before adding more so as not to over-chive it)
Handful of pine nuts OR sliced almonds
Prepare pasta according to package directions. If you’re making raw pesto, toss remaining ingredients in a food processor — perhaps skipping the garlic altogether since chives are potent all on their own — and blend until smooth, drizzling in a bit of extra-virgin olive oil and a shake of sea salt before doing the final blending.
If you’re making a more mellow pesto, steam the spinach for 3 minutes or until wilted. Drain well, pressing the spinach into the side of the colander with the back of a large spoon to really get the water out. While the spinach is draining, chop the garlic and sautée it in a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil over medium-low heat for 3 minutes or until just starting to turn golden brown.
Scoop the garlic into a food processor, add drained spinach and chives, and blend. Add pine nuts and blend again, scraping down the sides of the processor. Drizzle in a little more oil if you’d like a richer taste and smoother consistency. Salt to taste. (If you’re serving the pesto with cheese or something salty, you might want to skip salting the pesto.) Serve with cooked noodles, veggies, sautéed chicken, or as a dip for crudites or bread, garnishing with additional pine nuts if you like.
Since this pesto is made with chives and spinach rather than basil, it will keep longer in the fridge (basil oxidizes and turns black very quickly; chives and spinach do not). Leftover pesto can be kept for 4 days and is great for everything from flavoring soups — just stir in a spoonful! — to garnishing roasted veggies.
Enjoy!
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Tags: almonds, chives, garlic, gluten-free, pasta, pesto, pine nuts, spinach, spring vegetables
African Millet, Kale & Sweet Potato Toss
While attending the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) annual conference in NYC earlier this month, I had the pleasure of taking a cooking class from one of my favorite cookbook authors. Not only is Pierre Thiam an innovative cook, he’s an incredibly genuine and enthusiastic gentleman. He hails from Senegal, a country on the west coast of African known for its abundance of seafood and cosmopolitan cuisine and influences. (Many Senegalese grow up speaking French and Portuguese along with their native language of Wolof.) Since Senegal is a coastal country, it has long been a hub of trading activity. Lots of trading = a glorious influx of ingredients, techniques, and recipes!
One of the dishes Pierre showed us how to cook involved a grain I’d never seen before: fonio. It’s tough to find here, but since fonio is a tiny variant of millet, I’ll be using millet until I manage to find a bag of fonio. (Yay! A new culinary quest! Now that I have not one but two bottles of Moroccan argan oil in my fridge — argan oil was my previous quest — I’ve been itching to embark upon a new hunt.) Americans tend to think of millet as bird food, but millet is actually quite delicious, easy to cook, and versatile. Why should birds be the only ones benefiting from this inexpensive staple? Here’s a case when saying “that’s for the birds” ought to encourage us to check out what we’ve been missing! Millet is also soft enough to grind into flour in a food processor, or you can buy pre-ground flour.
Along with millet, I also included some other favorite ingredients from Senegalese cuisine: sweet potatoes, dark leafy greens in the form of kale, black-eyed peas, and peanuts in the form of peanut butter. I added a touch of red palm oil, too. Since palms are prevalent in many parts of Africa, richly nutritious red palm oil is the preferred cooking fat and seasoning in many African dishes. (It also pops up in Brazilian cuisine since the majority of slaves trafficked out of Africa were brought to Brazil. They brought their culinary traditions with them — and many of their ingredients and plants, too — and nowadays you’ll find plenty of dishes containing dende when you’re dining somewhere on the east coast of Brazil. Dende is the Brazilian term for red palm oil.) If you don’t have red palm oil, you’ll miss out on the uniquely earthy flavor it provides, but you can mimic its red color by including paprika.
African Millet, Kale & Sweet Potato Toss
Serves 4 generously. Since this keeps so well in the fridge and is also good at room temp or even chilled, you’ll enjoy having leftovers. Or perhaps you’d like to emulate Senegalese hospitality by inviting a few more guests to join you!
1 1/2 cups millet
1 large sweet potato, cut into 1″ cubes
Red palm oil OR unrefined peanut oil* OR extra-virgin olive oil*
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 T. natural peanut butter
Dash of crushed red pepper flakes OR cayenne pepper
Several handfuls chopped kale
15 oz. can of black-eyed peas (I prefer Eden’s line of canned beans because they’re sealed into BPA-free cans), drained
Dash of sea salt
Simmer millet in 4 1/2 cups water for 20 minutes or until the grains are al dente. (I like mine a bit chewy.) Note that the water-to-millet ratio is 4:1; if you’d rather use less millet, just reduce the water accordingly. Drain millet in a fine-meshed colander. In another pot, simmer the sweet potato for 10 minutes. Drain well and place in a large bowl along with the millet.
In a large skillet, sautée the onions in a drizzle of oil for about 5 minutes over medium heat or until they’re soft and starting to turn golden brown. Add garlic and continue to cook over medium-low for another 3 minutes, stirring often, or until garlic is fragrant. Stir in peanut butter, pepper, and kale and increase heat back up to medium. Cook for 3 more minutes, stirring often, or until kale is wilted and soft. Add to the bowl with the sweet potato and millet.
Stir in beans and salt to taste. Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to 5 days.
Enjoy!
* Add a dash of paprika if you’d like to add the reddish tint the red palm oil would have provided.
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Tags: African cookery, black-eyed peas, dende, kale, millet, peanut butter, pierre thiam, red palm oil, Senegalese cuisine, sweet potato
Egg & Spinach Breakfast Tacos
Breakfast tacos are a beautiful thing when you make them yourself: you can use whatever filling you’d like, you can use whatever toppings you like, and you can make your tacos as hearty or as light as you’d like. And the best part? These tacos only take about five minutes to make, ten if you make your salsa right there on the spot. (I had made salsa the previous day to accompany a different dish, so I was able to skip those five extra minutes.)
Seeing as these were breakfast tacos, I opted for an egg and spinach filling, but you could just as easily use leftover cooked meat or seafood if you’d like … or you could do an all-veggie taco. Tasty toppings would include everything from cheese to plain whole-milk Greek yogurt (which is even smoother and creamier-tasting than sour cream) to chopped avocados. The only requirement is to have fun creating your Mexican-themed morning meal!
Egg & Spinach Breakfast Tacos
This is sized for a single portion, but feel free to double, triple, or even quadruple it.
For the salsa (which you can make well ahead of time and serve with a variety of other dishes):
Black beans, drained (my favorite brand of canned beans is Eden since they use BPA-free cans and sea salt)
Chopped red bell pepper
Cooked corn kernels (I used thawed organic frozen corn)
Chopped fresh cilantro
Squirt of lemon or lime juice
Dash of sea salt
For the tacos:
3 small or 1 large 100% corn tortilla
Handful of spinach
2 eggs, lightly scrambled in a bowl
See second paragraph for optional toppings suggestions.
To make the salsa, simply combine ingredients in a bowl and toss well. Salsa will keep in the fridge for up to 4 days.
To make the tacos, place the tortillas in a large skillet over medium heat to warm them. The tortillas will probably curl with the heat, so you may have to turn them occasionally and press down on them slightly to try and flatten them out a bit.
While your tortillas are warming, heat a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil or a pat of butter in small skillet over medium heat for 1 minute. Add the spinach. Cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes or until spinach has shrunk considerably. Add eggs and continue to cook, stirring often, for another 3 minutes or until eggs are softly cooked through.
Spoon eggs into heated tortillas and top with salsa and any other toppings you may wish to add.
¡Disfruta!
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Strawberry-Oat Smoothie
It’s true: oatmeal makes a great breakfast. But not the flavored, sugared, powdery instant oats that are more chemicals and sweeteners than they are oats. Plain, old-fashioned rolled oats are a much better choice…and you can flavor them any way you want! You could even cook a giant batch once or twice a week and then enjoy “instant” oatmeal whenever the mood strikes you. (Or cook a big batch of steel-cut oats or even oat groats, which is the whole un-steel-cut grain.)
For my breakfast earlier in the week, I had some strawberries that needed to be eaten and a handy bag of rolled oats. I could have opted for sliced berries stirred into cooked oats, of course, but I thought it would be interesting to see what a shake made with oats would be like. The answer? With their thickening power, oats make the ideal shake. And it’s easy enough to make the shake dairy-free if you’d like: just simmer the oats in water rather than milk. So simple! This is a surprisingly hearty and satisfying smoothie to enjoy first thing in the morning or even on the way to work.
Strawberry-Oat Smoothie
Blend cooked plain rolled oats with a handful of organic strawberries* in a blender. (To make a single serving, I cooked 1/4 cup raw oats and tossed in about 9 strawberries.) Add 1 T. maple syrup and a dash of vanilla extract and blend again. If the smoothie is too thick and is refusing to blend to a smooth consistency, trickle in cold water and keep blending until you have a milkshake-like smoothie. Note that this idea of cooked oats + fruit would work with any fruit that’s soft enough to blend. Banana-oat, blueberry-oat, peach-oat…the possibilities are endless!
* Seeing as strawberries are one of the most-sprayed crops on the U.S. market and we eat the whole fruit, they’re worth buying organic.
Enjoy!
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Tags: breakfast, dairy-free, instant oats, maple syrup, milkshake, non-dairy milk, oatmeal, oats, smoothie, strawberries, vanilla
Mediterranean Lamb Pizza with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
If pizza had originated in Morocco rather than Italy, I have a sneaking suspicion that lamb would have been the meat of choice, not pepperoni. (Or perhaps pepperoni made with lamb. Hint, hint… I can only hope the American Lamb Board is reading this!) And perhaps the sauce would have been been made the way I made this one — with roasted red peppers instead of tomatoes. It’s a fun twist on the traditional marinara staple, plus it’s a handy way to go tomato-free if tomatoes aren’t on your dinner guest’s list of favorite foods. You could, of course, go with a combo sauce if you’d like. If you’re feeling particularly brave and happen to have some spicy Moroccan harissa on hand, you can include that, too.
I opted to maintain the Mediterranean attitude by topping the pie with goat’s-milk feta and rosemary-scented asiago cheese. (Sartori produces a sublime version of the latter, made with grass-fed milk and copious amounts of dried rosemary.) You could stick with the tried-and-true mozzarella, but if you’re going to go with generous amounts of herbed sauce and flavorful ground lamb, you might as well enjoy a cheese that makes it presence known.
Mediterranean Lamb Pizza with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
1 pizza crust (store-bought or this easy whole-grain and gluten-free crust recipe)
For the sauce:
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 of the onion reserved for the lamb topping)
4 cloves garlic, chopped
16 oz. (1 pound) of roasted peppers, either jarred (drained weight, not the total contents weight — just be sure to DRAIN THE PEPPERS BEFORE USING!) or home-roasted, run through a food processor until fairly smooth
2 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. dried mint
Sprinkling of crushed red pepper flakes
For the lamb topping:
1 lb. ground lamb, preferably pastured
The reserved onion from the sauce
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. dried mint
Cheeses: about 1 cup of grated/crumbled goat’s- or sheep’s-milk feta AND/OR asiago (I used Sartori’s rosemary-scented asiago)
Prepare crust according to recipe (or package directions if store-bought). To make the sauce, heat a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil over medium heat for 1 minute and then add onions. Sautée, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until onions are starting to turn translucent. Add garlic and reduce heat to medium-low. Continue to cook for another 2 minutes or until garlic is fragrant. Add remaining sauce ingredients and allow sauce to simmer gently for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low if the sauce starts to boil.
Meanwhile, heat the lamb over medium heat in a different pan. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring often to break apart meat, until lamb is starting to brown slightly. Add onions and cook for another 3 minutes or until the lamb is mostly no longer pink. Stir in garlic and herbs and reduce heat to low. Cook for another 2 minutes or until lamb is browned. Drain.
By now, the pizza crust should be ready to top and the sauce should be simmered. Make sure the oven is at 375F. Spoon sauce onto the pre-baked crust and spread evenly out to the edges. Add meat, spooning it on evenly, and then scatter cheese on top of the meat.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until sauce is bubbling and cheese is melting and starting to turn golden brown. Use a pizza wheel or the tip of a sharp knife to cut the pizza into 8 slices. Serve and enjoy!
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Tags: asiago, feta, gluten-free, lamb, mediterranean, mint, oregano, parsley, pizza, roasted red peppers, whole grain
Spring-Into-Summer Salad with Strawberries, Asparagus & Pickles
What do strawberries and pickles have in common? More than you’d think! In honor of spring shading (sunning?) into summer, I thought I’d try making a seasonal sweet-and-sour salad by tossing together strawberries and pickles. Roasted asparagus and Romaine lettuce provided the backdrop, and a creamy Dijon dressing tied it all together. It’s simple and quick … and a springtime embodiment of a beloved Chinese food principle.
A note on the dressing: the creaminess comes from hard-boiled egg yolks. If you don’t have eggs on hand or don’t want to hard-boil them, you can skip using the yolks. The eggs are a nice touch, though — both for the creaminess they add and the fact that they act as an emulsifier to help convince the oil and vinegar to stick together — so I think it’s worth hard-boiling them. Besides, hard-boiled eggs can hang out in your fridge for a solid week, just waiting for an opportune breakfast or snack moment.
Spring-Into-Summer Salad with Strawberries, Asparagus & Pickles
Serves 2. Recipe can easily be doubled or tripled.
Asparagus stalks (anywhere from 1/2 lb. to 1 lb.), their tough ends snapped off
2 eggs, preferably from pastured hens
Romaine lettuce, chopped
Pickles, chopped (I vastly prefer dill to sweet, but either would work)
Strawberries, preferably organic (conventional strawberries are heavily sprayed), sliced
1 to 2 tsp. Dijon mustard, depending on how much you like mustard
1 T. balsamic vinegar
2 T. extra-virgin olive oil
Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Lay the asparagus out on the covered sheet and drizzle with a little extra-virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper and toss gently with your hands to season the stalks. Roast for 20 minutes or until stalks are turning golden brown and are shriveling. (Very thin stalks might only take 15 minutes; thick stalks could take up to 30.)
While the asparagus is roasting, slip the eggs into a medium-sized pot and fill with enough water to cover them. Cover the pot and place it on high heat. As soon as the water comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes. Immediately pull eggs off the stove and top off the pot with cold water. Pour out all of the water and refill with cold water. Let the eggs sit for at least 5 minutes in the cold water to cool them. Prompt and thorough chilling is crucial to keep the yolk from blackening around the edges! (Still tastes fine, but blackened/grayish egg yolks don’t look particularly appealing.)
As soon as the eggs are cool to the touch, cut them in half so that you can scoop out the yolks. Slip the yolks into a bowl. Chop the whites and toss the whites with the roasted asparagus, the chopped Romaine, the chopped pickles, and the sliced strawberries.
To make the dressing, mash the yolks with a fork and stir in the mustard, vinegar, and oil. Toss well with salad before serving, or serve the dressing on the side in case you think you’ll have leftover salad that you’d like to keep for the next day.
Enjoy!
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Tags: asparagus, Dijon, dressing, eggs, hard-boiled eggs, lettuce, pickles, roasted vegetables, Romaine, salad, strawberries
Blueberry Kefir Cream
Ah, cultured dairy… The brilliance of it (how else would pre-refrigeration-technology peoples have stored their valuable milk?), the taste of it (there’s even a beer inoculated with the same lactobacillus you’ll find in yogurt — ever tried a bottle of lovely Flemish red ale?), the versatility of it (cakes are lovely when made with sour cream; so are potatoes). If you’ve read this blog very often, you know I’m a fan.
This time I opted to make the most of the glory that is kefir (which, according to a Russian woman who has attended a few of my talks, is pronounced “kah-FEER”) by blending it with wild blueberries, an egg, and a touch of maple syrup to make a sublimely delicious and probiotic ice cream. Even though the kefir tastes slightly sour on its own as a result of its culturedness, when combined with fruit, it doesn’t need much sweetener to make dessert. Or breakfast, really, considering that this ice cream packs a lot more nutrition than your typical bowl of cereal.
Blueberry Kefir Cream
1 cup kefir, preferably made with milk from grass-fed cows (this would be a major component of its nutritious aspect)
1 cup wild blueberries, fresh or frozen
1 egg, preferably from pastured hens (you’ll be eating this egg raw, so if you don’t have a good source for eggs, skip the egg; a good egg does, however, add creaminess and nutritional value galore)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup maple syrup (I prefer Grade B for its richer flavor)
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions. It truly is that simple.
Enjoy!
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Orange Segments Topped with Crème Fraîche & Cocoa Nibs
Having just returned from a fascinating — and tasty! — culinary conference in NYC, real food has been very much on my mind. (Although, to be honest, real food is always on my mind. Chalk it up to one of the occupational hazards of being a recipe developer/food writer. In terms of “hazards,” it’s got to be one of the most pleasant.) By “real food,” I’m talking minimally processed foods: grains that are whole, oils that are unrefined, sweeteners that still retain their nutrients, animal products from pastured animals…you get the idea.
Speaking of the pastured animal foods, one of my current favorite dairy products is crème fraîche. It’s still unpopular and un-mainstream enough to be produced by real farms with animals freely grazing. The animals’ state of good health = dairy, egg, and meat products for us that taste damned good and also happen to be the most nutritious. (In case you’re curious about the numbers, pastured animal products have about half the fat of conventional animal products. Pastured also offers higher amounts of anti-inflammatory omega 3 fats and far more vitamins and other micronutrients than conventional products do.)
Along with being produced by great dairyists like Vermont Creamery, crème fraîche is also a cultured dairy product, which means it offers an intriguing tang along with its rich creaminess. It pairs beautifully with everything from fruit to potatoes! The nibs in this recipe add a nice crunch to the juicy orange and creamy/tangy crème fraîche.
Orange Segments Topped with Crème Fraîche & Cocoa Nibs
Peel oranges and gently pull apart into segments. Arrange in a bowl or on a plate and top with a dollop of crème fraîche. Sprinkle with cocoa nibs or broken-up chunks of dark chocolate. (When I say “dark,” I mean at least 75%. The sweetness of the orange is all the sweeter when paired with not-so-sweet chocolate.) Serve immediately for breakfast, dessert, or a snack. If you’d like to experiment with other fruit + crème fraîche combinations, try making Strawberries & Crème.
Enjoy!
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Tags: breakfast, chocolate, cocoa nibs, creme fraiche, cultured dairy, dairy, dessert, fruit, oranges, pastured animal products
Sautéed Sausage & Romaine
Sometimes all you need to make a quick and tasty meal is two top-quality ingredients, eight minutes, and a pan. (And sometimes all you need to come up with such a simple idea is not having many ingredients in your fridge. If necessity is the mother of invention, then needing to make a trip to the grocery store must be the father of recipe creation!)
Seeing as Romaine is a lettuce of all trades — it’s tender enough to enjoy raw, yet it’s crisp enough to retain its crunch after being sautéed or even grilled — Romaine makes a nice counterpoint to sausage. The understated, almost-sweet flavor of the former is especially welcome if your sausage happens to be of the spicy-hot variety. And on the flip side, sausage drippings provide a flavorful base for sautéeing the Romaine, particularly if you choose sausage made of meat from pastured animals.
Note: Applegate Farms and Niman Ranch are national brands that source their meat from truly farmed animals. Since these animals exercise in the fresh air and eat foods they’ve evolved to eat (i.e., foods that suit their natures and keep them healthy rather than making them sick), their meat has about half the saturated fat you’d find in conventional meat. In other words, cook real meat for half the time and at half the heat! You can always keep on cooking if you want your meat to be more well-done. Fixing good meat that’s been overcooked into shoe leather, though, is beyond even the most adept kitchen wizard.
Sautéed Sausage & Romaine
Figure on about 1 sausage and 4 large leaves of lettuce per person.
Sausage made with pastured meat (try Applegate Farms, Niman Ranch, and/or sausages purchased from local farmers), cut into 1/4″ thick slices
Romaine lettuce, chopped
Make sure your pan is large enough to hold all of your sausage slices in a single layer. Cook over medium heat for 3 minutes undisturbed before flipping over a piece of sausage to see if it’s golden-brown underneath. If it is, flip all of the pieces over and continue cooking for another 2 minutes. Remove sausage with a slotted spatula and stack on a warm plate.
Place the Romaine in the pan with the sausage drippings. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes or until lettuce is slightly wilted and browned. Toss with cooked sausage and serve immediately. Leftover sausage can be refrigerated for up to 4 days and eaten as a stand-alone snack or added to meals.
Enjoy!
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Tags: Applegate Farms, Niman Ranch, pastured meat, quick lunch, Romaine, sausage, stir-fry
