Archive | January, 2012

Wild Rice and Mushroom Casserole

30 Jan

Gruyere cheese and mushrooms were made to go together. With onions and garlic and a small dash of whole grain mustard, your nose would have flipped out last night as I was making this casserole. You’ve got your grain, protein, and vegetable all in one with this dish.

Browsing through Heidi’s book, I saw a photo of this casserole and my mouth immediately started watering. Her photo is to die for and the chopped fresh tarragon makes all the difference. I was too cheap to go buy tarragon, one day I will have a giant herb garden and I can just tear off a tiny sprig to garnish my dishes. Until then, I’m ok neglecting the herb.

Also, my casserole turned purple from the wild rice. No big deal, it still tasted fantastic. I have not had that much experience cooking wild rice, and I can’t wait to experiment more.

Two of us ate half of the casserole in one sitting, it was that good. Tonight’s dinner will be leftovers with some oven roasted broccoli. Cheers to healthy comfort foods!

Wild Rice and Mushroom Casserole

adapted from Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Everyday 

Heidi says that you can prepare the casserole a day or two ahead and bake off when needed…

2 large eggs

1 cup/ 8oz/ 225g cottage cheese (I used 1%)

1/2 cup/ 4oz/ 115g sour cream (I used regular)

1 teaspoon Dijon-style or whole grain mustard

Kosher salt or sea salt

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (or unsalted butter)

8 ounces/ 225g cremini mushrooms, chopped

1 large yellow onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

3 cups cooked wild and/or brown rice, at room temperature **see note

1/3 cup/ .5 oz/ 15g freshly grated Gruyere cheese

optional: 1 teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon or thyme

**NOTE: First, make sure that you have your rice cooked and ready before starting on the casserole. I used a combo of brown and wild rice, as Heidi recommends, to get “the creaminess of the brown rice playing off the individual wild rice grains.” Out of laziness efficiency, I threw 1/2 cup dry brown rice and 1/2 cup wild rice with roughly 2 1/2 cups water into my rice cooker. After an hour, both rices were ready. Granted my brown rice turned purple because of the wild rice bleeding its color, but it all got cooked and I was ready to begin the casserole. Make sure to take the top off of your rice cooker so that the rice has time to come to room temperature. Also, just for reference, brown rice is typically 1 part dry rice to just shy of 2 parts water. Wild rice is typically 1 part dry rice to 3 parts water. 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Rub a medium-large baking dish with a bit of butter or olive oil. I used a 9-inch pie pan and it worked great.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, cottage cheese, sour cream, mustard, and a scant 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Set aside.

3. In a large skillet over high heat, combine the olive oil with a couple pinches of salt. Stir in the mushrooms. After the initial stirring, leave the mushrooms alone until they release their water and the water evaporates, about 5 minutes. Continue to cook and stir every couple minutes until the mushrooms are browned. Add the onion and cook until the onion is translucent, another 2 or 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic, cook for another minute, and remove from the heat. Add the rice to the skillet and stir until combined.

4. Add the rice mixture to the cottage cheese mixture, stir until well combined, and turn into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with two-thirds of the grated cheese and cover with aluminum foil, or in my case if you do not have aluminum foil, just place a baking sheet on top of your casserole dish.

5. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil/baking sheet and bake for another 20-30 minutes, until the casserole takes on a lot of color. The finished casserole should be hot throughout and golden along the edges. Let it stand for a few minutes and then serve sprinkled with the chopped tarragon (if using) and the remaining grated cheese.

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Guest Post: Natasha’s Nutty Pumpkin Granola

25 Jan

Today’s guest post is by my witty friend, Natasha. Natasha is a baked goods fanatic! From muffins and scones to a big, chewy cookie or a dense chocolate brownie, this girl knows what’s up. About 3 years ago, Natasha and I lived together in a big house with 60 people (we called it a “co-op,” short for cooperative living). We would cook together once a week for the whole house. What an chaotic, challenging, but most of all tasty experience it was to cook for a large group of college students. Aside from our dinners, Natasha was known for making amazing late-night snacks for everyone. I will forever remember her popping corn kernels on the stove top so that we could all feast on a giant bowl of popcorn. Below Natasha shares with us a recipe for Pumpkin Granola. Mmm, I can smell the warm wintry pumpkin spices already!

If I were a food, I think I would be a pumpkin. Although it’s not the most glamorous of foods, pumpkin is hearty, delicious, and orange (like me! sort of.) It’s also a wonderful fall food which is my very favorite season.

I always have a can of pumpkin on hand, usually for pumpkin bread, but when my work was having a holiday breakfast party, I decided granola would be a great addition. But what’s a holiday breakfast with out some pumpkin? So I frantically googled pumpkin granola and found this delicious recipe, which I adapted with my own flair.

Granola is a creative food. This means, throw in whatever speaks to your mood/ inner subconscious. If you’re feeling nutty, walnuts, pecans, and almonds will add crunch and nutrition. Add some dried fruit if you’re feeling like something sweet, and coconut flakes for those really rebellious days. It’s fun to experiment, but don’t forget to add that pumpkin!

Side note: add the dried fruit when you think there’s 10 minutes left in the oven. This gives a nice toasted flavor without that burnt taste (unless you’re into that).

Also, don’t forget to stir! My batch came out a little bit crunchier than normal, although still totally delicious.

Nutty Pumpkin Granola

adadpted from Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients

1 can Pumpkin Puree
6 Tablespoons Virgin Coconut Oil (or Canola Oil)
¾ cups Brown Sugar (lightly packed)
1-¼ teaspoon Cinnamon
½ teaspoons Nutmeg
¼ teaspoons Ginger
⅛ teaspoons Cloves
¼ teaspoons Salt (slightly heaping)
2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
5 cups Rolled Oats
Almonds and Sunflower Seeds (or any raw, unsalted seeds or nuts)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F.
Combine pumpkin, coconut oil, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat; bring to a simmer, whisking occasionally to break up any clumps of brown sugar, then turn off heat and add vanilla. Stir together the pumpkin mixture with the oats and sunflower seeds in a large bowl.
Spread the mixture in an even layer on a large baking sheet and bake for about 40 to 50 minutes or until the moisture is gone and the granola is golden, toasted, and slightly crunchy, stirring every 10 minutes. Cool completely, and then store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 months.

Easy Peasy Pasta + A Glimpse At My Life In A Restaurant

17 Jan

Easy Peasy. Dinner in a pinch.

Drop your pasta into salted boiling water. Add a few handfuls of frozen peas in the last 3 minutes of boiling. Saute a few minced garlic cloves in a skillet and add fresh spinach with a tiny splash of water. Cook down and add a can of drained and rinsed chickpeas. Season with salt, pepper, lemon zest, lemon juice, and chili flakes. Dump the pasta and peas into the skillet, mix everything together and top with grated Parmesan cheese.

For when you want a healthy, no fuss meal thrown together quickly by taste.

After spending most of my nights making the desserts at Print restaurant, on my days off, all I want is a quick home-cooked meal. I crave salt, I crave savory, but below I want to show you a tiny glimpse of some of the sweet things I do at work.

Every night before the restaurant opens, the staff has the opportunity to eat a meal together. We call it “family meal.” Usually the meal is something super simple that can be thrown together quickly: think chicken and rice or pasta. There is always a salad. The pastry team tries to offer something sweet for family meal, too, sometimes. Lately we have been making Horchata. Mexican Rice Milk with cinnamon. We based our recipe off of David Lebovitz. Just a yummy drink to start the night off.

One of the first things I tackle when I arrive at work is preparing for the next morning’s breakfast service. We (in pastry) make muffins and scones and coffeecakes, yogurt (from Argyle farms in NY) and fruit parfaits (topped with homemade granola), and fresh fruit plates. We offer two flavors each of muffins and scones every morning. The scone pictured above contains walnuts, Asian pears, and flaxseeds. Check out that seductive sugar sprinkle on top. Hellooooo coffee and a pastry!

After I finish preparing for the next morning’s breakfast, I begin to set up for dinner service. We currently have 6 desserts on the menu. Above you see our most recent addition to the dessert menu: Hazelnut Parfait, Maple Yogurt Mousse, Grappa Candied Chestnuts, Espresso Syrup. There’s all sorts of warm and cool, soft, creamy, and crunchy to this dessert. Mmm mmm winter wonderland.

And when you get your coffee or when you order some house made ice cream, you get to try our rotation of biscotti. We are currently serving pistachio polenta biscotti with dried cherries. Dip and go.

Sometimes there are large parties eating at the restaurant. We offer a special dessert menu for these parties. One of the desserts consists of chocolate hazelnut mousse, fleur de sal, hazelnut streusal, poached pear halves, brown butter ice cream, and chocolate decor. I would describe chocolate decor as tempered chocolate cut into shapes. There’s all sorts of heating and agitating and spreading and cooling. It’s a science that I have yet to perfect. But it sure tastes good along the way.


I feel like I have to leave you with a savory item from the restaurant. The burger is on our lunch menu and sometimes pops up on the dinner menu. This gargantuan meat stack has cornichons, pickled red onion, gooey cheddar, bacon, tomatoes, lettuce, and a toasted bun. Ah, swoon.

So now you have seen a tiny glimpse into restaurant dessert/food. Tiny.

And people always ask me how I don’t gain a zillion pounds working in pastry. I answer with: the stairs, the heavy lifting, the stirring, the rolling…I get quite the workout. So a few nibbles and tastes won’t spiral me out of control. I am constantly moving. And we work with so many fresh, local ingredients that I feel pretty darn good eating what I want.

G-nut Stew, Re-Done for the New Year

4 Jan

Happy New Year, everyone.

I thought I would bring you my updated version of this g-nut aka peanut stew. I have been making this stew for over 2 years now and it never fails to satisfy me and leave me with leftovers for the week.

I usually make this stew with garbanzo beans, but this time around I decided to use black-eyed peas. It is thought that on New Years Day if you eat black-eyed peas and greens then you will have prosperity and luck in the coming year. And who doesn’t want a little good fortune?

I am applying for an internship to eventually become a registered dietitian, and I need and want all the luck and prosperity I can get this year! Black eyed peas are just like most other beans and legumes, packed with protein, fiber, and iron and are great for reducing cholesterol.

With orange sweet potatoes and carrots, green peppers and chard, anti-inflammatory alliums onion/garlic, and our spicy friend ginger, this stew is packed with good-for-you veggies. The sauce for the stew is peanut butter and broth. Easy and simple.

I ran out of brown rice, so I made the stew and put it over white rice. Fine. Delish. Thank goodness for rice cookers. I have also made this stew with quinoa, or you could even pair it with cornbread.

I like to chop all of my ingredients up first before cooking, so that I can just dump the bowl into the pan quickly and have the stew ready in minutes. Because when I’m hungry, I want dinner FAST.

Let’s bring in this new year with lots of prosperity, luck, health, and delicious food!

African G-nut (aka Peanut) Stew

see my original post here

serves 4-6

2 Tablespoons vegetable or canola oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon of fresh ginger, grated (NOTE: I like to keep extra ginger in the freezer so I have it on-hand at a moments notice)

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons ground coriander

2 medium sweet potatoes, diced

1 carrot, diced

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 cups veggie broth

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 15-oz can of black-eyed peas

1/2 bunch of swiss chard, stems removed and roughly chopped or torn

1/2 cup peanut butter

optional: cilantro or parsley, for garnish

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and ginger and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the ground cumin and ground coriander and cook for 1 minute. Add the sweet potatoes and carrot and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 5 minutes.
2. Add the salt, vegetable broth, green pepper and garbanzo beans. Bring the stew to a boil, add the swiss chard, then cover and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 8-10 minutes, or until the sweet potato and carrot are soft and the chard has wilted slightly. Mix in the peanut butter and cook for a final 5 minutes. If you want a thinner or thicker stew, you can add more peanut butter or, alternatively, more broth.
3. Serve the stew hot, over rice/quinoa/couscous, with toasted peanuts and cilantro or parsley as a garnish.