WATERCRESS SALAD

Posted in Salads, Side dishes, Vegetarian-friendly, Veggies by sallybr

In case you haven’t noticed, I have a weak spot for words. I fall in love with certain words (no matter what’s the idiom) the very first time I hear or read them. Watercress is one of those. I just love to say it, and I love to see it written with the twin s’s at the end shushing along hand in hand. And I also love the veggie, but where we live it’s hard to find. Plus, when we do find watercress it’s pricey, and sold in plastic containers that require a degree in Puzzle Solving to open. It’s precious stuff! When I found a carton at the grocery store the other day I gently placed it in my cart, hurried home and made a salad that received intense nods of approval from all guests. Full disclosure: there were two guests, me and my beloved. 😉

WATERCRESS SALAD WITH GINGER VINAIGRETTE
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

Watercress, preferably young leaves
Orange segments
1 avocado, sliced
cherry tomatoes, cut in half, lightly salted
squeeze of lemon juice

for ginger vinaigrette
1/8 cup rice vinegar
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp grated ginger (or use 1 Dorot cube)
salt and black pepper to taste
1/8 cup grapeseed oil

Start by making the vinaigrette. Dissolve the sugar in the rice vinegar, add the ginger, salt, and pepper, and whisk. Leave it at room temperature for 10 minutes while you prepare the salad. Right before dressing the salad, you will add the oil, form an emulsion by vigorously mixing it.

Cut the avocado and sprinkle the slices with lemon juice to prevent oxidation. On a serving plate, distribute the watercress leaves, the avocado slices, tomatoes, and orange segments.

Add the dressing (you may not need it all, save leftovers for later), adjust seasoning, and….

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

If you don’t like ginger, this vinaigrette is definitely not for you… Both rice vinegar and grapeseed oil are very mild in taste, so you need something to perk this dressing up. If ginger is a no-no, add some lime zest and a little squeeze of lime juice. That should do it.

Blood oranges are perfect if you find them in your markets. In that case, I’d probably use yellow grape tomatoes, just to mix the colors. Chow-mein noodles are another great addition to this salad. I avoid bringing them home, though, because they usually win the battle against my will power.

ONE YEAR AGO: Carrot and Sweet Potato Puree

TWO YEARS AGO: Chocolate Bread

1Mar2012

THE WHEAT BERRY TRANSMOGRIFICATION

Posted in Side dishes, Vegetarian-friendly, Veggies by sallybr

A post dedicated to “The Big Bang Theory” fans… 😉

Wheat berries are an amazing ingredient. You can use them for breakfast, desserts, salads, risotto-type dishes, you can add them to soups and stews. Since I am always searching for side dishes to incorporate in our menu, wheat berries are a great alternative to give some rest to the usual suspects: rice, pasta, and couscous. The other day I was feeling adventurous, and decided to create my own recipe for them. Problems started right away. A search on my cookbooks and online sources left me surprised (and quite puzzled) at the many different methods used to cook the grain. Some people swear you must soak them overnight. Some insist you need a pressure cooker. I threw caution to the wind, didn’t soak them, didn’t invite the pressure cooker to play, but simply cooked them in salted water as if preparing pasta. It took a little over 1 hour to get them the way I wanted: tender but not mushy. After that, I incorporated them with two veggies I adore, and… side dish mission accomplished!

WHEAT BERRIES WITH BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND CELERY
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

1 cup wheat berries
1 medium butternut squash, cut in medium dice
olive oil
salt and pepper
smoked paprika
1 large celery stalk, cut in slices

Heat the oven to 420F.

Cook the wheat berries in plenty of salted water until al dente (depending on the brand, it might take from 1 to 2 hours). When cooked to your taste, drain, and reserve. If not using immediately, add just a little drizzle of olive oil to prevent the grains from sticking too much. Can be prepared a couple of days ahead.

While the wheat berries are cooking, place the diced butternut squash in a bowl, and drizzle olive oil just enough to lightly coat the pieces. Season the squash with salt, pepper, and smoked paprika. Add them in a single layer over a rimmed baking dish. Roast in the hot oven until cooked, and the edges start to brown (25 to 35 minutes).

Mix the cooked wheat berries with the roasted squash, add the raw celery, incorporate everything together gently. Adjust seasoning, and serve.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

We both loved this recipe! Roasted butternut squash has a special place in my heart, and now stores in our neck of the woods carry those cute little bags with the cut veggie, so I often cave and bring those home to make my life easier.

We are also quite fond of raw celery. In this recipe, it gave the needed “crunch factor” to oppose the chewiness and softness of the wheat and squash. The squash, when roasted, tastes a little sweet, so the smoked paprika and the celery help cut through that.

We enjoyed this dish with grilled pork tenderloin, but of course it goes well with all sorts of main dishes, standing also on its own if you add a hearty salad.

Hope you try it!

ONE YEAR AGO: Curried Zucchini Soup

TWO YEARS AGO: Roasted Onion and Asiago Cheese Miche (an outstanding bread!)

27Feb2012

SECRET RECIPE ENCORE: CHICKPEA SALAD

Posted in Salads, Secret Recipe Club, Veggies by sallybr

When I was a child, becoming an orphan was my greatest fear, and I literally lost many nights of sleep worrying about it. So, when I learned that one member from the Secret Recipe Club was about to be an orphan this month (the person supposed to pick a recipe from the blog had a problem and could not complete the assignment in time) I decided to perform a virtual adoption… 😉 My “encore” post for this month’s reveal day comes from Without Adornment, and you can visit it clicking here. Bean, the hostess, has a site loaded with gluten-free recipes, and absolutely gorgeous photography. Due to the time constraints (I had less than 24 hours to pick a recipe, make it, and write about it), I had to go with a simple dish. But, it all ended perfectly for me: I had no idea what to eat for lunch after working out, and her chickpea salad came to the rescue. Delicious, refreshing, light, healthy, but also filling enough to carry me through a busy Sunday afternoon…
CHICKPEA SALAD
(adapted from Without Adornment)

1 can of chickpeas
2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, diced
Grape or Cherry tomatoes to taste
salt and pepper
grapeseed oil
lime juice
white balsamic vinegar

Boil 2 cups of water in a small sauce pan. Drain the chickpeas from the can, and drop them in the boiling water for 5-10 second. Quickly drain them and rinse with plenty of cold water. Reserve until cold.

In a bowl, mix all the ingredients from chickpeas to tomatoes. Make a simple dressing with oil, a squeeze of lime juice, a little balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Drizzle over the salad and….

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

This salad gives me the chance to introduce you to a reasonably recent acquisition from the Bewitching Kitchen… a spiralizer! Or a spiral-cutter… or… whatever you want to call it…
I like raw carrots in salad, but prefer if they are cut paper-thin. This gadget gave me the exact texture I was hoping for. The very thin ribbons get perfectly seasoned and retain just a little crunch.

Chickpeas & boiling water: this is a tip I learned from Barbara Tropp, in her book Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking. She recommended to rinse all sorts of canned products in boiling water, to remove what she described as the “tin taste”. The improvement in flavor is quite noticeable. So I normally do it whenever I use chickpeas, beans, and water chestnuts.

Bean, it was fun to get to know your blog, I wish I’d had more time to devote to it, your Lemon Cupcakes seemed absolutely scrumptious! 😉

ONE YEAR AGO: A Soft Spot for Chevre

TWO YEARS AGO: Seared Tuna, My Own Private Idaho

27Feb2012

SECRET RECIPE CLUB: EARTHQUAKE COOKIES!

Posted in Cookies, Desserts, Sweets, Secret Recipe Club by sallybr

After one month break, we are back with “The Secret Recipe Club“, and our group even has a new moderator, April, who did a great job coaching us through the changes that took place during the break. For those who are not familiar with the event, a few weeks before reveal day, each member is assigned a food blog (in secret) to cook a recipe from. This time I was paired with My Judy the Foodie. When I get an assignment, I jump straight to the “About” page, to get to know my fellow blogger. Shari describes herself as a “kitchen-clueless person”. But one who is ready for a challenge, the challenge of creating new traditions for her own family, inspired by her mother’s cooking. The whole blog is in fact a beautiful tribute to her Mom. Her page “About Judy” was particularly touching to read.

I next browsed through her recipes, and it didn’t take me very long to choose her beautiful “Earthquake Cookies“. Considering the fact that while living for one year in Los Angeles we didn’t have a single earthquake, but the very week we moved back to Oklahoma the earth shook three days in a row, I felt these cookies were the perfect choice! 😉
JUDY’S EARTHQUAKE COOKIES
(from My Judy the Foodie)

8 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 squares unsweetened chocolate
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
2 cups sugar
4 eggs beaten
2 cups flour, sifted
1/2 tsp salt
1 + 1/2 cups of confectioner’s sugar

Melt chocolate and butter in a microwave safe container, stirring every 15 seconds.

Beat the eggs in a large bowl, add the sugar, vanilla extract, and melted chocolate/butter mixture. Add the baking powder, flour, and salt and beat until very smooth.

Place bowl in fridge and chill as long as 24 hours.

Heat the oven to 350 F. Cover two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place confectioner’s sugar in bowl large enough to roll out the fudge balls. Take a teaspoon of the cookie dough and form into balls. Coat the ball with confectioner’s sugar by rolling it around in the sugar many times.

Place on baking sheet with enough room for each ball to “explode” open. Bake for approximately 12 minutes (mine took longer). Cool and then remove cookies to wire rack (make sure to place foil under the rack as powdered sugar can be quite messy).

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: When you make these cookies, don’t forget the cookie dough must sit in the fridge for 24 hours. Once you mix the dough, it will be very soft, the only way you can shape them is by refrigerating for several hours. As far as taste goes, a full day in the fridge seems to be the best option.

Here you can see the dough right after mixing it…

and next day, ready to finish the job…

My cookies did not explode the same way Shari’s did, her cookies looked a lot more “interesting” than mine. Not sure what happened, I suspect the geologic fault that runs near our home was fast asleep when I put them in the oven. Bummer! However, exploded or not, these cookies were VERY tasty. They have a slightly fudgy consistency, and as they melt in your mouth the chocolate flavor will force you to close your eyes and indulge in extremely happy thoughts. My kind of cookie!

Shari, nice to meet you through The Secret Recipe Club! Looking forward to checking out what was your assignment this month! 😉

ONE YEAR AGO: A Soft Spot for Chevre

TWO YEARS AGO: Seared Tuna, My Own Private Idaho

26Feb2012

THE OSCAR WINNER

Posted in General by sallybr

A couple of weeks ago we bought a small dog bed for Buck, as he loves to lay near the kitchen island, having learned that pieces of tasty stuff miraculously rain from above around that neighborhood. But the bed got intense competition from Oscar, who doesn’t quite “get” that the bed is not big enough for him.