Rhubarb-Raspberry GF Crostata

I went through my Ramadan fasting days without eating sugar - I did have dates of course, and some honey, but I didn't eat sweets or ice cream or baked goods (mainly to have more ease for my fast, because sugar creates for me a vaccuous hunger). It seemed fun then to make some kind of special thing for Eid, especially since my rhubarb plant has been particularly robust, sunning itself these days, with some fat stalks. I also had some raspberries in the freezer, and just enough GF flour mix to make this crostata. I used to love pastry making - so this was a fun revisit to using a rolling pin.

In the early days of my food blogging, when I still ate gluten, I made a zucchini gallette (which does look decidedly more stunning - glutenous flour really can do that for you!) It turns out crostatas and gallettes are really Italian and French words for the same thing: a pie pastry folded over itself in a casual, rustic sort of way. Freedom from the pie pan! I could have rolled mine out a little bigger, I grew impatient, and had a smaller, thicker crust and some leftover filling.

The original recipe is from a low fodmaps website, which is a particular anti-inflammatory way of eating that seems to help with several chronic health conditions. It was the only GF crostata recipe I came across, though I could have made one up, I suppose. This recipe was not at all sweet, so I increased the sweetener to half cup (from 1/3 cup), and I modified it a bit because I had frozen berries and added my tapioca starch directly (no added water), which seemed to do the right thickening trick. I ate my crostata with heavy cream and a little maple syrup on top, which was very tasty.

Crostata crust:

1 large egg, cold
3 tablespoons ice water
1/4 teaspoon cider vinegar
1 1/4 cups Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar/sweetener
1/2 (Scant) teaspoon xanthan gum
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

 

1. Place the flour, sugar, xanthan gum and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade attachment and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse on and off until the butter is cut into very tiny pieces; the mixture should ultimately be a consistent meal texture, like coarse corn meal. 

2. Sprinkle wet mixture over the dry and pulse on and off until dough is evenly moistened, then process on “ON” until dough begins to form in a ball above the blade. Put dough ball in fridge until ready to roll out.

Filling:
1 1/4 pounds (about 4 cups) rhubarb, trimmed, cut into 1/2-1" pieces
6 ounces raspberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup sweetener: sugar, coconut sugar, honey, etc
2 T cornstarch (I used tapioca flour)

1. Stir rhubarb, raspberries and sweetener together in a non-reactive saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until juices begin to exude. Continue simmering until fruit is nice and juicy and a bit tender but not yet soft, about 3 to 5 minutes total.

2. Stir in the cornstarch mixture. Boil for 1 minute, stirring well to combine, then remove from heat. Scrape into a bowl and refrigerate for about 30 minutes, stirring once or twice to release heat.

3. Position oven rack in upper third of oven. Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C.

Roll out dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper to a large freeform round about 15-inches across. Scrape chilled filling into center of dough, leaving a broad 4-inch (10 cm) border. Flip the edges of the dough up and over the filling, leaving the center open. Slip parchment onto a baking sheet pan. Brush dough with a little beaten egg or milk, if desired, and bake for about 40 to 50 minutes, until pastry is golden brown. Cool pan on rack for 10 minutes. Serve crostata warm or at room temperature. 

 

Bonus rhubarb cordial recipe (courtesy of Hilary): I also made a half batch of this cordial (gin/rhubarb/orange peel), which requires a month or so of sitting before it is ready to drink with some grand marnier and soda water. If it is good I'll post about it later! 

 

Dandelion greens, fennel & pear salad

This is my latest favorite salad - the combo of the bitter dandelion greens with the crisp fennel and sweet pear is really perfect. I had some parsley and radish thinnings, so I threw those in too, though you don't need them. I had this salad with my leftovers from Eid dinner (a cheeseburger, plus potatoes with spring onions and asparagus) and a cocktail called the "suffering bastard" which I'd seen during Ramadan and wanted to try. It is gin, bourbon, lime juice, bitters, and ginger brew, all of which I had in the pantry, plus a mint sprig from the garden. I added a splash of sparkling water because I found it a little sweet, and that was just perfect on the humid evening.

Suffering Bastard - weird drink name

I didn't measure these quantities, but here is my best ratio guess for a salad for 2.

Salad - combine the following in a bowl:
2-3 cups dandelion greens (I go for small-medium sized leaves), cleaned
1/2 of a large fennel bulb, sliced thinly
several fennel fronds, chopped
1 pear, julienned
handful of parsley or other garden thinnings
handful of pecans (I did not toast mine, but you could and that would be extra good!)

Dressing:
Mix equal parts lemon juice (or apple cider vinegar) and olive oil with a squirt of mustard and pinch of salt. Toss with salad to coat.

Banana Oat & Buckwheat GF Pancakes

Eid Mubarak! A day late. I had much feasting the past two days, and one particular delight were these morning pancakes with turkey bacon. I made them on my lefse griddle - why don't I use that griddle every time I make pancakes?! I don't know. From now on, at least when making pancakes to serve two, I will. The even heat and larger surface is far superior to using multiple cast iron pans and making one pancake each in the center.

I modified a bon appetit recipe for this particular pancake edition - I think there might be as many GF pancake recipes out there in the world as...well, I don't know what. Bunny rabbits in the spring? (I saw 3 around a neighbor's raised bed on my walk this afternoon, and a 4th emerged out of the bed itself. I also saw a very cute little baby bunny near my own garden beds, which are largely fenced in this time due to said baby bunnies.)

My pandemic-pod-mate, who is also my Ramadan-fasting companion, inspired the turkey bacon selection. I have never had it, and it turns out it is smoked turkey leg formed into bacon-like slices. It is tasty! There was no fat, so you are effectively just heating your slices in a pan. We made double use of the bacon for Eid dinner, which featured kimchi-bacon-cheeseburgers with spicy mayo. (Our back-up to cooking goat leg, which was postponed due to Holy Land being absolutely packed, as in shoulder to shoulder, for Eid shopping.) I also made a rhubarb-raspberry tart, post forthcoming, for dessert.

Banana Oat & Buckwheat pancakes

¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter, plus more for pan

1+ cup coconut milk

1 banana

1 cup old-fashioned oats (not quick-cooking)

2 large eggs

½ cup buckwheat flour

2 tablespoons ground flaxseeds

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon kosher salt

splash of water

1. Melt ¼ cup butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring often, until butter foams, then browns (do not burn), 4–5 minutes. Let cool slightly.

2. Meanwhile, purée buttermilk and oats in a blender until smooth. Add eggs, buckwheat flour, flaxseeds, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Blend on high 30 seconds. Add butter and blend just to combine.

3. Heat a large nonstick skillet (or griddle!) over medium. Coat very lightly with butter. Working in batches, scoop about 3 tablespoonfuls of batter per pancake into skillet and cook until bottoms are golden brown and tops are evenly covered with bubbles, about 3 minutes. Turn and cook until cooked through and undersides are golden, about 2 minutes. Keep warm in oven and serve with maple syrup & berries (and tahini sauce, if you are like me). 

Eggs and Asparagus Broiler Breakfast

I got this idea from Nom Nom Paleo, where the main flavoring is furikake, which I don't have, but sounds delicious. Basically, you just saute some asparagus in a cast-iron skillet for a few minutes, then crack some eggs in the same pan, and put the whole thing under the broiler until it's done to your liking (for me, like 2 minutes or so, but I'm a time optimist, so I could be wrong about that estimate).

The flavorings I use are also inspired by Nom Nom Paleo - before I read her cookbook, I'd never thought of using powdered mushrooms before. She has a flavor mix she calls Magic Mushroom Powder, which I've made before and which is good. Lately, though, I've been using an onion powder mix, which I made partly with spices from an outfit called Burlap & Barrel, and I also sprinkle some dried porcini powder on top.

You can get dried porcini mushrooms in small packs at the co-op, and then blitz them in a spice grinder or coffee grinder (if you don't also use it for coffee). I just keep mine in a jar next to my stove.  Add it to anything, for FLAVOR.

SPICE BLEND
Onion Powder
Sumac (I used sumac that was flaked and then cured in oil and salt, as opposed to whole berries)
Pepper flakes (I used "Aleppo-style" pepper flakes - also cured in oil and salt)

I think I used fairly equal parts of the three ingredients, but possibly more onion powder than the other two, as it's kind of the base. I keep this in a jar by my stove, like the mushrooms. It does get kind of caked up, so you have to crumble it with your fingers over the food. I think the oil-cured ingredients help it to not turn into a total brick, which has happened to me before with other onion-powder blends.

BROILER BREAKFAST
Handful of asparagus, washed and chopped (or you can cook them whole)
Two (or more) eggs
Your favorite fat to fry eggs in (I've been using some schmaltz I made)
Oniony spice blend to taste
Dried porcini mushroom powder to taste
Salt to taste

1. Turn on the broiler.
2. Heat the fat in the skillet on the stovetop.
3. Add asparagus and saute them for a few minutes, to par-cook them.
4. Crack the eggs into the skillet and turn off the heat.
5. Sprinkle everything with salt, the spice blend, and the mushroom powder.
6. Put the pan under the broiler and cook until the eggs are done how you like them. I don't like undercooked whites, but I do like the yolks to run a bit, so I wait until there's a skim of white on the top of the yolks (see picture above, and below, where I've scraped that white away so you can see the yolks aren't overcooked).

Egg Foo Young with Nettles and Bacon

I came across this recipe from Nom Nom Paleo, and I made it with my bounty of nettles, and found these little egg cakes so tasty! They really would make a perfect road snack, or lunch. You know, for the time when I might ever go on road trips or work away from home again.

I basically followed the Nom Nom Paleo recipe, with a couple exceptions: I made mine with bacon, used nettles instead of spinach, and I used a flour combo of buckwheat/tapioca flour instead of coconut flour. Mine turned out more green and less egg-y, I think because nettles are just more dense than spinach, so they are more robust. Next time I want to try these with left over bbq meat, for some reason that sounds like a really good combo. (Egg Foo Young is a Cantonese dish made to use up left over meat and veggies, so left over bbq is totally appropriate.)

Egg Foo Young (makes 6-7 small cakes)
3 large eggs
scant ¼ cup gf flour (I used 2 T buckwheat & 2 tsp tapioca flour)
1 teaspoon fish sauce
½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
½ cup chopped cooked bacon, diced ham or cooked meat of choice
5 ounces frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry (or cooked and squeezed nettles)
1 scallion, sliced
¼ teaspoon baking soda
Freshly ground black pepper
oil for frying

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, flour, fish sauce, and apple cider vinegar until smooth.
2. Mix in the meat, spinach/nettles, scallions, and baking soda, and some freshly ground black pepper.
3. Melt a tablespoon of ghee/coconut oil/bacon fat/avocado oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Use a scoop to plop the batter in the pan, and flatten the pancake to ½-inch thick with the back of a spoon. Don't overcrowd!
4. Fry without disturbing the patties for 2 minutes before flipping the pancakes over and cooking it on the other side for about 1 to 2 minutes more. The pancakes  are cooked through when the centers bounce back when you press down on them with your finger.
5. Cook through all of batter, and serve!

Oftentimes Egg Foo Young is served with a gravy, but I I ate mine plain, and with sriracha. Both ways were super tasty.

Okonomiyaki - Japanese Savory Pancakes with Nettles

I've been wanting to attempt Okonomiyaki for years, and finally decided to try a version from the Smitten Kitchen. I've never had Okonomiyaki before, and clearly this recipe is less traditional because they are small and less batter-y. She (the Smitten Kitchen blogger) calls them more latke-like. It was an easy recipe to make GF, and I found them quite tasty, especially with the tangy sauce and mayo. Yum. 

I gathered a bucket of nettles this week, so I added them along with the cabbage, carrot and scallions. I opted to steam them first because I wasn't sure if they would cook enough otherwise to eliminate the stinging edges. I also halved her recipe and that is what I list below. The first half of the batch I ate plain (with the sauce and mayo), and the next night I ate the leftovers with some bacon wrapped sardines. Yum! (They reheated really nicely on a baking sheet in the oven.)

Pancakes
1/4 small head cabbage, very thinly sliced (2-3 cups shreds) *I used a mandoline
2 medium carrots, peeled into ribbons with a vegetable peeler
1 c of loosely packed steamed nettles, chopped (after measuring, squeeze all the excess water out)
2 scallions, thinly sliced on an angle
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 heaping cup gluten free flour (I used a gf blend, but oat flour or chickpea flour would work well)
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
Coconut oil or bacon grease for frying

Make the pancakes:
Toss cabbage, carrot, nettles, scallions and salt together in a large bowl. Toss mixture with flour so it coats all of the vegetables. (The nettles might clump a bit because they are wet and squished together from getting the water out. Separate them so they are mixed throughout the other veggies.) Stir in the eggs. Heat a large heavy skillet on medium-high heat. Coat the bottom with oil and heat that too.

I used my fingers to grab little piles of batter, depositing them on the skillet to form 3 to 4 pancakes. Press down gently with a spatula so they flatten slightly. Cook for 3 minutes, or until the edges brown. Flip the pancakes and cook them again until brown underneath. Keep them warm in a 250 degree oven until they are all cooked. (And again, these saved just fine in the fridge for me to reheat on a baking sheet later.)

Tangy Sauce
2 T ketchup
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce (or sub fish sauce)
1/4 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 tsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp tamari2 tsp honey
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

Combine all sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and let simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, until smooth and thick. (I think you can probably do this without cooking and it will be just fine! My ketchup was pretty thick, so I only simmered mine a couple of minutes, and it seemed unnecessary.)

Kimchi Bacon Cheeseburger

I don't know why I haven't thought of making my own kimchi burgers before, but I DID think about that this week (again, a TOP Chef inspiration after there was some kind of burger last chance kitchen thing). This particular burger combination is outstanding: Bacon. Spicy Mayo. Cheese. Kimchi. What?! It feels fancy and treat-like during this time of fasting and coronavirus - maybe because I don't usually have cheese, and I don't think I've ever made a cheeseburger with mayo and bacon! It is definitely the best and most amazing burger I've ever made at home. Which is what I was going for - a restaurant sort of burger meal (in lieu of fries I roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes). I made mine without a bun because I didn't have any GF buns (nor do I really like most of the GF buns that are available). I did not miss it.

I did a search for kimchi and burgers, and clicked on an Emeril Legasse Kimchi-Bacon Cheeseburger combo with gochujang spicy mayo. Wow. It calls for special gochujang sriracha, which I didn't know existed, and which I didn't have, so I mixed my mayo with regular sriracha and added gochujang flakes, which I have aplenty for when I make kimchi. It meant my mayo had the flakes in it (gochujang powder would be better for this application), which was a little texturally strange, but still delicious.

For the mayo:
3/4 c (Homemade) mayo
1 1/2 T sriracha
1 T gochujang powder or flakes
1 tsp sesame oil (or hot sesame oil if you have it)

Mix everything together, and add more sriracha or sesame oil to taste.

For each burger:
Cheddar cheese slices
1/4 - 1/3 c chopped kimchi
1-2 slices of bacon
opt - 2 green onions, cut into thirds, using only the bottom two thirds

1. Season the burger with salt and pepper, and cook as you like. Add your slices of cheddar at the end to melt on top.
2. I stuck my green onions in the pan with my roasted potatoes and roasted them for 4-5 minutes. You could also saute them on high heat on the stove top.
3. Assemble all of your ingredients, including the spicy mayo (which I put on the side because, having no bun, felt like the more practical way to eat!)

Roasted Potatoes, Asparagus, and Tarragon

Yesterday's garden harvest included the first 3 spears of Asparagus (I have a fledgling patch that I am in the process of bolstering), a trio of green onions, some dandelion greens for a salad, and fresh tarragon. I actually pulled a lot more dandelions while prepping my community garden plot, but that was mid-day and they didn't make it in my home-bound bucket. I ended up walking home from my garden plot with my rather large metal trash can atop my head (carrying said bucket), because really that is the best way to carry such a vessel. It was a bit awkward and I had to use my arms to keep it up there, but, I mention it because it was a delight from the day, ferrying a large thing the 8 blocks between here and there in such a manner!

At least an hour of my fasting days involves me thinking about what I want to eat for Iftar, so after harvesting the asparagus, I set to consider how to eat them. Maybe wait until Suhur, the pre-dawn Ramadan meal, and have them with eggs? I thought that was the plan until I spied how much tarragon came up, overnight it seems, and decided I wanted potatoes, tarragon, and the asparagus to eat with some steak. I love tarragon. I planted it last year, and it proliferated in great abundance, so I started putting it in everything: roasted carrots, salads, potatoes, chicken, eggs. It reminds me of my teenage years working at Hotel Sofitel where their house salad dressing was a creamy tarragon, and they made a bernaise sauce to go with the pommes frittes. Which, come to think of it, would be really delicious (I just looked it up, bearnaise is a hollandaise-like sauce with tarragon and white wine and vinegar, withe butter and egg). Anyway, the tarragon came back up this year, before the mint, even!

This dish was simple. The tarragon crisps up in the roasting pan with the green onions, the potatoes are crunchy and creamy, and the first asparagus - well i can't wait for more. I am not including amounts here, use whatever you have.

Roasted Potatoes, Asparagus, and Tarragon
potatoes (red or gold are nice), diced
asparagus spears, chopped
green onions, chopped - separate green and white parts
fresh tarragon leaves - as many as you have!
salt & pepper
olive oil

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Start with the potatoes, doused with olive oil in a baking pan, with enough room to all be in one layer. Roast for 12ish minutes. Pull them out, add the asparagus and white parts of the onion, and toss and turn everything so the potatoes land on a new side to brown and the veggies get coated in the olive oil. Roast for another 8-10 minutes, add the tarragon and green onions, and repeat the toss/turn. Roast for a final 8-10 minutes. Salt everything, and serve.

Onion Dandelion Pakora

I was out walking in the late afternoon sun yesterday when I spied some bright yellow dandelion heads. Remembering a recipe for dandelion fritters, I picked as many flowers as I could cradle in my cupped hand for the walk home. And, I resolved to carry some kind of vessel for future walks now that spring is here and edible things are popping up everywhere. The flowers fared well enough, though they lost a bit of their buoyancy from the cramped quarters.

The fritter recipe I'd saved included flour and beer, and when I was sorting through my GF flours to figure out what I might substitute, I came upon garbanzo flour. At which point I realized I wanted to make pakora with the dandelions, which are GF to begin with. That, food makers, was a very good call. I have never made pakora, but these were easy and delicious. The recipe I used was for onion pakora (with cilantro and jalapeno), and I opted to add the dandelion flowers rather than use them alone because I wasn't sure how the latter would go. Now that I've made them, I would do it - but the combo was great in this iteration.

The pakora recipe also included a "ketchup chutney" that was really good, despite seeming kind of weird. While not a tamarind sauce from Gorkha Palace, it was definitely tamarind-chutney-like, and in what turned out to be a fun "what-can-I-substitute" experiment, I made it with things I had. I did not have chaat masala spice mix, so made my own with heavy substitutions. I'll list them below in case you, like me, want to try this. I was rather impressed with my ingenuity to substitute sumac for mango powder, the most key ingredient in the mix. A substitution search told me to use tamarind powder (didn't have), or lemon or lime juice, because mango powder is tangy. At first I was going to use kefir lime leaves, but the ones I had were 10 years old (I am now rid of said lime leaves) and had no taste. But then I thought of sumac, which is tangy, and brings a middle eastern-Nepalese mash-up to this chaat masala.

I made half of this recipe, and it made 7 pakora clumps. If you are going to make the ketchup chutney, make that first so you can eat these as soon as they are done frying. Chaat Masala spice mix recipe and substitutions are at the bottom.

Ketchup Chutney
1/4 cup ketchup
1/2 Tablespoon water
1 teaspoon chaat masala
1/8 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
squeeze of lemon or lime 

Pakora Batter (serves 2-4)
1 cup Chickpea/Garbanzo Bean Flour
1/2 Tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 green chili pepper, sliced
1/4 cup Cilantro leaves, chopped (I only had parsley)
1/2 yellow onion, sliced into 1/8-inch half moons
1/3 cup dandelion flowers
1/2+ cup luke-warm water
 Coconut oil for deep frying

Make the Chutney (Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.) 
Make the Pakoras.
1. Fill an 8-inch cast-iron skillet half-way up with oil. Heat the oil to 360-375ºF.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, red chili flakes, salt, baking powder, sliced chili pepper, cilantro, sliced onion and dandelion flowers.
3. Slowly add in the water, while mixing with a wooden spoon or your hands. Vigorously mix for a couple of seconds. The batter should be thick, almost like heavy (double) cream and there should be air bubbles throughout.
4. Once the oil is heated, carefully place in heaping tablespoonfuls of batter into the hot oil. Try not to overcrowd the oil because it will result in greasy pakoras. Fry until the pakoras are a pecan-brown.
5. Drain on a cooling rack placed over a cookie sheet.
6. Repeat with the remainder of the batter. Serve the warm pakoras right away with the Ketchup Chutney, and enjoy.

Chaat Masala spice mix, with substitutions:

3 tablespoons cumin seeds* sub powder
1 tablespoon coriander seeds

1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seeds
4 tablespoons raw mango/amchur powder* sub sumac
3 tablespoons powdered black salt* sub sea salt & decrease by half
1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper (freshly ground)
1/4 teaspoon asafetida powder* sub garlic or onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ginger powder
1 teaspoon dried, powdered mint* sub insides of a mint tea bag!
1 1/2 teaspoons ajwain/carom seeds* sub thyme

1. Heat cumin, coriander, and fennel seeds on a hot skillet. Dry roast until the seeds begin to turn a little darker and start to give off their aromas. Stir often while roasting, to prevent the seeds from burning.

2. When the seeds have roasted, remove them from the pan and spread on a plate to cool.

3. When cool, mix the seeds with all the other ingredients in a clean, dry, coffee grinder until you get a fine, smooth powder.