Braised Cabbage with Tofu

Braised Cabbage with Tofu
Originally uploaded by kel h

I got this recipe from Boston.com. I added a block of tofu cut up with the garlic and ginger to add some protien, and added some rice I had leftover when I added the sauce.

Napa cabbage, also known as Chinese cabbage, has crunchy leaves that pair well with a light sauce. Similar to bok choy, but more delicate (use either in this recipe), Napa cabbage is more elegant than regular firm-headed green cabbage. Slice the head of Napa lengthwise in half and remove the core. Roughly chop into 2-inch pieces. Then cook the cabbage in a searing hot skillet - high heat is essential - to caramelize the leaves. Saute in two batches so overcrowding doesn’t steam the vegetables. It’s fast and good for you.

3teaspoons vegetable oil
1small head (about 1 pound) Napa cabbage, cut into 2-inch pieces
3cloves garlic, sliced
1piece fresh ginger ( 1/2 inch), cut into matchsticks
1/4cup water
1 1/2teaspoons cornstarch
1/4cup soy sauce
4scallions, thinly sliced
1teaspoon rice wine vinegar
1. In a large skillet or wok, heat 1 teaspoon of the vegetable oil . When it is very hot, add half the cabbage. Cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes or until leaves begin to brown. Remove them from pan. Use 1 teaspoon of the remaining vegetable oil to cook the remaining cabbage in the same way; remove from the pan.

2. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon vegetable oil to pan. Cook the garlic and ginger, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.

3. In a small bowl, stir together the water and cornstarch. Stir the soy sauce into the pan. Add the cornstarch mixture and bring to a boil.

4. Return all the cabbage to pan, stirring well to coat it all over. Cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes or until the cabbage is tender.

5.Remove from the heat. Stir in the scallions and vinegar.

Golabki (aka Stuffed Cabbage)

Golabki (aka Stuffed Cabbage)
Originally uploaded by kel h

I got a head of cabbage in our CSA farmshare, and decided to make some traditional Polish food. Golabki (pronounced go-WAMP-ki) means pigeon in polish, because they look like roast pigeons. The hardest part is getting the leaves off the head of cabbage in one piece. I hear if you freeze the head of cabbage they come off easier. You can also boil the whole head of cabbage first and THEN cut the leaves off. I decided to do it the hard way and peel the leaves off and boil them separately for about 5-10 minutes.

Ingredients
EITHER: 1 lb combined ground pork/beef OR 1 pkg tempeh crumbled
1 beaten egg
1 stalk celery diced
1/2 large carrot shredded
1 small onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced

2 cups cooked rice
1 tsp paprika
2 cans crushed tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1 head cabbage
2 tbsp butter
salt pepper

sautee celery, carrot, onion, and garlic with butter
combine with meat or crumbled tempeh, egg, rice, salt, pepper and paprika to taste

Put a couple of spoonfuls of the filling in a cabbage leaf and roll it up like a burrito. Put in a baking dish, seam side down.

Cover with crushed tomatoes and put in bay leaves

Cover with tin foil and bake at 400 for 20 min. Then uncover and bake for another 20 min.

I had a soup, but I ated it

I had a soup, but I ated it
Originally uploaded by kel h

The bulk of our trivia team bowed out this week, so I decided to make soup for dinner for me and my roommate instead. And THEN I invited another member of the trivia team. And that's how I wound up having a small dinner gathering tonight.

We have a surefit of onions from the CSA, and I've been wanting to make vegetarian french onion soup ever since watching Alton Brown make it on Good Eats a while back. And once we went from just me and G (the roommate) to a small dinner party, I thought I should make dessert. I have a bunch of apples from the farmshare too, so I thought a french apple tart would make a good dessert.

It was a local, seasonal, french supper

The soup recipe was taken from Food Network, which cribbed from Julia Child's recipe. I made a few adjustments, and I want to kiss the man who invented the food processor (so much easier to slice onions with the slicing plate). I used less broth (although I probably could have used the whole 8 cups), and I added a teaspoon of herbs de provance and a bay leaf (Alton made his with a bouqet de garni of bay leaf, thyme and parsley, but I didn't have the whole sprigs of herbs).

French Onion Soup

Taken from Food Network, which based their recipe on Julia Child's recipe for French Onion Soup

Ingredients
1/2 stick butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 cups thinly sliced onions (about 2-1/2 pounds)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon flour
8 cups homemade beef stock, or good quality store bought stock (I used better than boullion No Beef Base. I LOVE their stuff and ususally have two or three containers in the fridge at any given time)
1/4 cup Cognac, or other good brandy
1 cup dry white wine
1 tsp herbs de provance
8 (1/2-inch) thick slices of French bread, toasted
3/4 pound coarsely grated Gruyere

Directions
Heat a heavy saucepan over moderate heat with the butter and oil. When the butter has melted, stir in the onions, cover, and cook slowly until tender and translucent, about 10 minutes. Blend in the salt and sugar, increase the heat to medium high, and let the onions brown, stirring frequently until they are a dark walnut color, 25 to 30 minutes.

Sprinkle the flour and cook slowly, stirring, for another 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat, let cool a moment, then whisk in 2 cups of hot stock. When well blended, bring to the simmer, adding the rest of the stock, Cognac, and wine. Cover loosely, and simmer very slowly 1 1/2 hours, adding a little water if the liquid reduces too much. Taste for seasoning

Divide the soup among 4 ovenproof bowls. Arrange toast on top of soup and sprinkle generously with grated cheese. Place bowls on a cookie sheet and place under a preheated broiler until cheese melts and forms a crust over the tops of the bowls. Serve immediately.

We had a side of salad with homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

For dessert I made an apple tart based on a recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I am pretty sure I used three kinds of apples (Macintosh, Granny Smith, and Golden Delicious). I altered the recipe a bit. Alton reccomends using applejack in apple pie dough instead of water, and I like bourbon in my apple pie so I used some of that in the syrup. Part of the decision was based on the fact that apple tart is traditionally french, part because I had a bunch of apples, and part based on my recent purchase of a new tart pan from Ikea

Based on Smitten Kitchens Simplest Apple Tart recipe

Alice Waters’s Apple Tart
Found buried deeply within my recipe bookmarks folder!

Dough:
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, just softened, cut in 1/2-inch pieces
3 1/2 tablespoons chilled water (I used applejack)

Filling:
2 pounds apples (Golden Delicious or another tart, firm variety), peeled, cored (save peels and cores), and sliced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
5 tablespoons sugar

Glaze:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup bourbon

MIX flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl; add 2 tablespoons of the butter. Blend in a mixer until dough resembles coarse cornmeal. Add remaining butter; mix until biggest pieces look like large peas.

DRIBBLE in water (or applejack), stir, then dribble in more, until dough just holds together. Toss with hands, letting it fall through fingers, until it’s ropy with some dry patches. If dry patches predominate, add another tablespoon water. Keep tossing until you can roll dough into a ball. Flatten into a 4-inch-thick disk; refrigerate. After at least 30 minutes, remove; let soften so it’s malleable but still cold. Smooth cracks at edges. On a lightly floured surface, roll into a 14-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. Dust excess flour from both sides with a dry pastry brush.

PLACE dough in a lightly greased 9-inch round tart pan, or simply on a parchment-lined baking sheet if you wish to go free-form, or galette-style with it. Heat oven to 400#176;F. (If you have a pizza stone, place it in the center of the rack.)

OVERLAP apples on dough in a ring 2 inches from edge if going galette-style, or up to the sides if using the tart pan. Continue inward until you reach the center. Fold any dough hanging over pan back onto itself; crimp edges at 1-inch intervals.

BRUSH melted butter over apples and onto dough edge. Sprinkle sugar over the crust and apples. I have some vanilla sugar that I used for this (although instead of alton's recipe I just keep a tupperware with white sugar and used vanilla bean pods that I add as I use them)

BAKE in center of oven until apples are soft, with browned edges, and crust has caramelized to a dark golden brown (about 45 minutes), making sure to rotate tart every 15 minutes.

MAKE glaze: Put reserved peels and cores in a large saucepan, along with sugar. Pour in just enough water and bourbon to cover; simmer for 25 minutes. Strain syrup through cheesecloth.

REMOVE tart from oven, and slide off parchment onto cooling rack. Let cool at least 15 minutes.

BRUSH glaze over tart, slice, and serve.

Kale Chips

kale chips
Originally uploaded by kel h

we get a lot of Kale in our CSA share, and I've really enjoyed learning to cook with it. I've made stews, pasta dishes, and now CHIPS! I got the idea from Smitten Kitchen

these are super easy, addictive, and crazy healthy. One serving is only 56 calories, with 250% vitamin A, 150% vitamin C, and and 2.5g protein.

preheat oven with 300
cut out the stems and ribs
cut kale into large pieces
rinse and thouroughly dry kale
toss with 1-2 tbsp olive oil
sprinkle with salt (I added aleppo pepper for some spice) and spread over a baking sheet or two

bake for 10-20 min until kale is crispy and brown around the edges (the curly kale I used took around 10-12 min. It took smitten kitchen 20 min with flat kale)

the biggest tip I can give is to make sure the kale is well dried before you bake it or comes out chewy instead of krispy

Pretty Things Babayaga Tasting

Pretty Things Pint Glass
Originally uploaded by kel h

Babayaga....the beer that drinks like a scotch. It's a smoky porter from Pretty Things, a local brewer that hosted a tasting at The Independent in Union Square with trippy eastern european cartoons of Babayaga and the 1980 olympics or something and deep fried pireogis

Daikon Radish and Mango Salad

Daikon Radish and Mango Salad
Originally uploaded by kel h

I got some Daikon Radish in my last CSA farmshare, and I was looking for something interesting to do with it. While I know pickling is a popular choice, I wanted to try something different. In the original recipe, papaya is used, but I subbed it out for mango, which I like. I think it worked well.

Adapted from Vegetable Love by Barbara Kafka

Indgredients
1 Daikon Radish, peeled and cut into 1/4in cubes
1 mango cut into 1/4 inch cubes
2 jalapeño peppers seeds and membrane removed and chopped
3 oz lime juice (for me it was about 1.5 limes worth)
1 cup loosly packed fresh cilantro
salt and pepper to taste
4 cloves garlic peeled and smashed

place the garlic, jalapeño, cilantro and lime juice in a blender and puree until you have a green liquid.

Toss the mango and daikon in the sauce and let sit for half an hour. Season to taste.

Tastes even better the next day

Seelbach at Highland Kitchen

Seelbach at Highland Kitchen
Originally uploaded by kel h

went to Highland Kitchen with my friend Michelle. Had a great fall veggie pot pie, and a Seelbach cocktail

1 ounce bourbon
1/2 ounce Cointreau
7 dashes Angostura bitters
7 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
5 ounces chilled dry Champagne

combine first four ingredients in champagne glass and stir. Top with Champagne or sparkling wine and an orange peel garnish