Vegetable Quinoa Bake with Kuri Squash

I bought this red Kuri Squash at Figueroa Produce last week just because I had never seen one before and I thought it was beautiful. I guess I have a weakness for a pretty squash... fully knowing that I have way more vegetables than it is reasonable to prepare and eat before I leave town for Christmas, and having absolutely no idea what to do with this odd speciman, I bought it anyway.

It sat for a over a week in the windowsill of my kitchen, taunting me. I figured it was like a pumpkin and could be used in any of the numerous pumpkin recipes I've made in the past. But that felt like cheating. This is something new and exotic and I should make a new and exotic dish with it. So it sat and sat on the pedestal of too high expectations. I was unable to engage it for fear of seeming plebeian and dull. So finally I sat down and searched the good old world wide web and found a recipe, that while not exactly exotic, at least it something I've not made before and did not require a trip to the store. It turned out to be a nice, hearty, vegetarian entree (if you use vegetable stock rather than chicken stock). I found the recipe on a website called fatfree.com (not my usual stomping ground). It was adapted from a recipe published in the December 1994 issue of Vegetarian Times. I have adapted it somewhat here.

white wine or chicken stock
 1 medium onion, chopped
 1 large bell pepper, diced (I used 1 red & 1 green and part of 1 yellow)
 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (optional) (I didn't have one)
 1 small zucchini, diced (I didn't have any zucchini, but I suspect it would have been a good addition)
 2 cloves garlic, minced (I used 4)
 3 cups chicken broth
 1 1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed well
 2 cups peeled and diced red kuri, pumpkin, or other winter squash
     (I used the whole squash, I would guess about 4 cups)
 1 cup chopped greens of your choice
 2 TBSP fresh parsley or 1TBSP dried (I forgot!)
 1/2 tsp salt    
 1/2 tsp pepper

 Preheat oven to 400ºF.
 Saute with wine or broth the onion, peppers, zucchini, and
 garlic for about 5 minutes.  Stir in rest of ingredients and bring to
 a boil.  (I did NOT stir in the greens, instead I placed them in the
 bottom of the dish first.)  Transfer mixture to a 9x13 casserole dish
 and cover.  Bake until liquid is absorbed, about 35 to 40 minutes. 
 Remove from oven and fluff with a fork.  Let stand 5 minutes before
 serving.  Makes 6-8 servings

I think you can adapt this pretty easily to whatever veggies you have on hand. The recipe posted asked for 8-10 mushrooms, which I don't care for, but perhaps you do...I served this with a lovely Persimmon, Walnut & Pomegranate Salad. I loosely stole the recipe from my friend Louisa who made it for our Community Garden Holiday potluck. I added avocado, which is always a nice touch. I used this meal to trap my friend Jan Smelk at my house for many hours when she dropped by to deliver her homemade Holiday Kahlua, a delight of the season I look forward to every year.

Oat Bread

I got this recipe off the back of a package of Bob's Red Mill Organic Old Fashioned Rolled Oats.

I love Bob's Red Mill. Not only do they make a huge assortment of grains and beans, but they were also underwriters on my favorite PBS reality show, "Colonial House". This is a show where a bunch of people went to live in a faux 16th Century New England colony for five months. They had to live completely in period: clothes, tools, food, houses, bathroom situations etc... I don't imagine it comes as a surprise I am a fan... anyway, Bob's Red Mill made it possible, so I buy his oats.

I am currently in the process of making my second loaf of this bread. I thought the first one turned out really nicely. It is a much better contender as a sandwich bread than the Simple Bread recipe I have been using. (I'm not saying it's better, the simple bread is denser and a more suitable companion to soups and stews.) I am going to put this recipe down as it is given by Bob's Red Mill, but in my current effort I have made a couple changes I will note below.

1 Tablespoon Active Dry Yeast
11/2 Tablespoons Turbinado Sugar
11/4 cup warm water (95º-105ºF)
11/2  teaspoons Sea Salt
11/2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
2 Tablespoons Oat Bran
1/4 cup Rolled Oats (I doubled this to 1/2 cup the second time because I didn't think it was "oaty" enough the first time.)
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
2 cups Unbleached White Flour (The second time I switched it to 2 cups whole wheat flour and one cup white flour)


In a large bowl mix the yeast, sugar and warm water. Let rest for a few minutes. Stir in the remaining ingredients in the order given. Turn dough out on a well-floured pastry cloth (I have never heard of a pastry cloth before, I just kneaded the dough in the bowl.) and knead until smooth and elastic, adding more whole wheat flour as needed to prevent sticking.

Place dough in a large oiled bowl and cover with a towel. Set bowl in a warm place and let dough rise until doubled in bulk. (About 1 hour). Then punch dough down and turn onto lightly floured pastry cloth, shape into loaf.

Place in an oiled bread pan, cover with towel and let rise again until doubled in bulk
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place oven rack in the center of oven and place bread pan on center rack. Bake for 25 minutes, or until done.

Makes 1 loaf (13 slices).

 

Baby J's Birthday

Friday was Baby J's birthday. He is one year old! It is pretty hard to believe. I remember writing about how difficult it is cooking with a 10-month old in the kitchen when I started this craziness and already he is a year! That doesn't seem possible. That's not even to mention the fast-forward whirlwind of the previous 10 months!

We had a great little celebration for him. It was small and low-key, and he was the only kid, but I think he liked it that way. His grandparents from Seal Beach came, he saw his Omaha grandparents and cousins on Skype and all his other grandparents and aunts and uncles called wished him their best.

One of the things that I was celebrating, besides keeping him alive for a year, was the fact that this kid loves  to eat all kinds of food. He is a connoisseur of haute cuisine, and rustic home cooking. Bring it on, whatever you've got, he'll it with relish.

The party started at 5pm since it was a work day, and our guests trickled in between 5:15 & 7pm. So I fed him his dinner ahead of the guests to avoid a grumpy, hungry guy. He had a simple meal of pasta shells, mixed vegetables and chicken. We moved on to the cocktail hour, where I served Winter Sunshine Latkas in honor of it also being the first day of Hanukkah. (We are not Jewish, but I love cultural food traditions and celebrations of any kind.) These latkas were a big hit, and very delicious if I do say so myself. (What's not to like about fried potatoes, sweet potatoes and rutabagas?) Baby J showed himself to be a worldly man at age one and probably ate three whole latkas himself. As a result of his gluttony Superterrific didn't get one when she arrived a little late.

We moved from appetizers straight to cake, which as I described in the recipe was a bit of a disappointment. It was a traditional Yellow Butter Cake with Chocolate Frosting.

 

But like a blind man seeing for the first time, this being Baby J's first cake experience he wasn't complaining.

 

After cake the grown ups had chili, corn bread and salad. It was a cozy, winter meal that was easy to prepare in advance and required no fussing in the kitchen. Or it would have required no fussing if I had been more organized and made the salad in advance, but time got away from me and DR had to throw it together at the last minute, but he is better at salads than me anyway.

We had a great time on a happy occasion and we are looking forward to all the birthdays to come.

 

Winter Sunshine Latkas

This recipe was in the Los Angeles Times. I made it twice this week, once for my son's birthday, which was also the first day of Hanukkah, and for my community garden holiday potluck, which was the third day of Hanukkah.

1 cup grated baking potato, drained and firmly packed.
3 cups mixed root vegetables, peeled and grated (I used sweet potato and rutabaga the first time. The second time it was sweet potato and carrotts. They both turned out great.)
3 eggs beaten
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup chopped fres parsley or cilantro (Leaves only)
Olive oil for frying
Yogurt or sour cream for garnish

1. In a large bowl, mix together the grated, well drained potato and root vegetables. Add the eggs, flour, baking powder, salt, pepper and parsley. Mix well.
2. Pour 1/4" of olive oil into a large skillet and heat over medium heat until hot. To form each latka, use a 1/4 cup measure or ice cream scoop.
3. Form and fry a few latkas at a time (being careful not to crowd the pan), cooking tem until edges are crispy and brown, 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Remove the latkas to a pack or paper towel lined plate, keeping them warm until all the latkas are fried. They are delicious served warm with yogurt or sour cream.

 

Chocolate Frosting

This recipe is from thejoyofbaking.com 

8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/4 cup cocoa powder (can use Dutch-processed or regular unsweetened cocoa powder)

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

3 cups confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted to remove lumps (I don't have a sifter, so this was a little lumpy until I mixed it with the hand mixer after chilling.)

1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, put the chopped chocolate, cocoa powder, milk, and butter.  Stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.  Remove from heat and beat in, with a hand mixer or wire whisk, the confectioners sugar and vanilla extract.  If the frosting is lumpy, strain through a strainer to remove any lumps.  Cover and place the frosting in the refrigerator until it is firm (this may take a few hours).  Once the frosting is firm remove from refrigerator and place in your mixing bowl.  Beat the frosting for a minute or two or until it is nice and smooth and of spreading consistency.

Assemble:  Place one cake layer on your serving plate and spread with about 3/4 cup of frosting.  Place the other cake layer on top of the frosting and cover the entire cake with the remaining frosting.  Cover and refrigerate the cake until serving time.

Makes one - 9 inch (23 cm) layer cake.

Yellow Butter Cake

I found this recipe on thejoyofbaking.com

There is a long description of how to combine the ingredients and why the order and process is important to the actual moistness of the cake. Due to the fact that my cooking assistant was a one year old birthday boy who thinks he's too big for a nap, I completely messed up this delicate process. The result was not the perfectly moist cake that was promised, but rather a kind of dry and crumbly one. The birthday boy in question had no reservations about enjoying his very first slice of cake, but I was disappointed....

However, I was comforted in knowing that this information matters, and that if I had followed the directions properly the cake would have been perfect, and in the future I might just do that.

6 large egg yolks

1/4 cup milk + 3/4 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

3 cups sifted cake flour (I couldn't find cake flour at the store, but my brilliant baker cousin Molly informed me that I could just substitute all purpose flour with a bit of corn starch, and a little internet searching proved this to be true. Cornstarch lightens all purpose flour and reduces the protein content... however using actual cake flour probably would have helped some.)

1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar 

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder 

3/4 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into pieces (I was a little impatient with the butter getting to room temp. It was probably too cold)

Preheat oven to 350º F.  

Butter two 9-inch x 1 1/2 inch cake pans, line bottoms with parchment paper, then butter the parchment paper. Set aside.

In a medium bowl lightly combine the egg yolks, 1/4 cup milk, and vanilla extract. (pay attention here! I added the entire cup of milk at this point...this was a crucial error!)

In the bowl of your electric mixer combine the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) and mix on low speed for about 30 seconds or until blended.

Add the butter and remaining 3/4 cup milk. ( I had to start adding the egg mixture here because of my milk error, which means the gluten didn't have a chance to break down before I added the liquid, which has a toughening effect, which is why the cake was dry.) Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened.  Increase the speed to medium and beat for about 2 minutes to aerate and develop the cake's structure.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Gradually add the egg mixture, in 3 additions, beating about 30 seconds after each addition to incorporate the egg.  

Divide the batter and pour into the prepared pans, smoothing the surface with an offset spatula.  (Pans will be about half full.) Bake 25 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in center.  

Place the cakes on a wire rack to cool, in their pans, for about 10 minutes.  Then invert the cakes onto a greased rack.  To prevent splitting, re-invert cakes so that tops are right side up.  Cool completely before frosting.

Mayonnaise

According to Ms. Julia Child, "Mayonnaise...is a process of forcing eggs to absorb a fatty substance, oil in this case, and to hold it in thick and creamy suspension." I don't know exactly why, but I love that and now that I have made mayo, it makes the process make perfect sense.

Julia says that you can make mayonnaise one of two ways.
1. With a wisk or an electric hand mixer
2. with a blender.

"Blender mayonnaise uses a whole egg rather than egg yolks; it is almost automatic and no culinary skill whatsoever enters into its preparation."

"Mayonnaise made by hand or with an electric beater requires familiarity with egg yolks... and you should be able to make it by hand as part of your general mastery of the egg yolk."

Well I certainly couldn't handle the shame that making blender mayonnainse would have rained down on Some Assembly Required, so I opted for the electric hand mixer, and embarked on achieving my general mastery of the egg yolk.

Temperature:
Everything needs to be at room temperature. Julia suggests warming the mixing bowl with hot water before beginning to take a chill off.

3 egg yolks
1 Tablespoon Wine Vinegar of Lemon Juice (I used white wine vinegar)
1/2 teaspoon spalt
1/4 teaspoon dry or prepared mustard (I don't know what she means by "prepared mustard" I used dijon.)
11/2 - 21/4 cups olive oil, salad oil or a mixture of both. If you are a novice, use the minimum amount. (I did not read this novice advice until just now. It would have made the process shorter and easier. I used almost 2 cups of oil)
2 tablespoons of boiling water.

Add the egg yolks to a 3 quart mixing bowl and beat for 1-2 minutes until they are thick and sticky.

Add the vinegar or lemon juice, salt and mustard. Beat for 30 seconds more.

The egg yolks are now ready to receive the oil. The oil must be added very slowly drop by drop. (I used condiment dispensers with a very tiny opening. I got them at the 99¢ store.) You must not stop beating until the sauce has thickened. (This is why I think that the electric mixer is a much better choice than the whisk unless you are trying to develop your Popeye forearms) Stop pouring and continue beating every 10 seconds or so, to be sure the egg yolks are absorbing the oil. After 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup of oil has been incorporated, the sauce will thicken into a very heavy cream and the crisis is over. (Crisis?!)  Beat in the remaining oil by 1 to 2 tablespoon dollops, blending thoroughly after each addition. (I just squirted larger amounts from the ketchup dispenser)

When the sauce becomes too thick and stiff, beat in drops of vinegar or lemon juice to thin it out. Then continue with the oil.

Beat the 2 Tablespoons of boiling water into the sauce. This is an anti-curdling insurance. (I forgot this step and it was fine. Now curdling disaster, so no insurance needed.)

Season to taste.