Ginger-miso soup with noodles

I really like soup, and I really like Jeanne Lemlin's cookbook (see gingerbread post below), but I've never been a big fan of miso soup, despite its amazing nutritional qualities. (I guess I don't like plenty of nutritious foods, like eggs. But anyway.) Enter JL's ginger-miso soup: this is a delicious soup! The key, I think, is to use sweet white miso, which has a milder flavor than some other types of miso.

From Vegetarian Classics:
8 oz. udon or linguine (I use udon, but want to experiment next time with soba)
1/4 c. tamari
1/2 c. roughly sliced gingerroot (with skin on)
4 oz. firm tofu, cut into 1/2-in. cubes
2 scallions, thinly sliced (I use more)
1/4 c. white (sweet) miso
1 T. sesame oil

1. Boil water for the udon and cook until tender but not mushy--approx. 6 minutes. Drain in a colander, rinse under cold running water, drain again, and then set aside.
2. In the same pot (make sure it's fairly large), bring 6 cups of water plus the tamari and ginger to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the ginger with a slotted spoon and compost.
3. Stir in the tofu and half the scallions. Lower the heat to very low. NOTE: I'm not a fan of raw tofu, so I fry mine up in some sesame oil and tamari until they are crisp little cubes, and then I add to the soup. But if you like raw tofu, all the better since it saves a step.
4. Place the miso in a small bowl. Remove about 1/2 c. broth and stir it into the miso to dilute it and prevent lumping. Pour the mixture into the broth. Stir in the sesame oil and udon. Let the udon heat through, but do NOT let the soup boil after the miso is added. (To do so would destroy some of its aforementioned nutritive value!)
5. Garnish with remaining scallions and serve!

Upside-Down Pear Gingerbread Cake!

I have a bunch of recipes backed up since I've been super lazy about cooking recently (and these are all from three or so weeks ago). Anyway, I made this cake when my mom was visiting in October. I wanted something special and autumnal, and this seemed fairly easy, which is important to me because I am not all that into baking. And it was delicious! Oh, and it's from this great cookbook by Jeanne Lemlin called Vegetarian Classics: 300 Essential and Easy Recipes for Every Meal. (Full title! Sometimes when I'm writing papers, I make sure to list the entire title to eat up space. Oh dear.)

Anyway, here it is!

Topping:
4 T. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 c. firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
2 ripe but firm pears (Bosc or Anjou)

Cake:
1 c. unbleached flour
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. ground ginger
1/2 t. ground cloves
1 egg
1/2 c. firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
1/3 c. unsulfured molasses
1/2 c. sour milk (combine 1/2 c. milk with 1 T. vinegar and let sit for 5 minutes)
4 T. melted butter

To serve: whipped cream, spiked with rum! (This is especially good.)

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees and butter the sides of a 9-in. round cake pan (not a springform pan, apparently).
2. To make the topping, melt the butter in a small saucepan, add the brown sugar and stir together until blended. Scrape into cake pan and spread evenly.
3. Peel and slice each pear into quarters and get rid of the cores. Slice each quarter into 3 slices and then arrange 'em evenly around the pan (there should be 24).
4. To make cake: in a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. In a separate bowl, beat together the egg, brown sugar, molasses, sour milk, and melted butter. Add to flour mixture and stir until well-blended. (I tried not to overmix because I have heard that does something weird to cake batter.)
5. Pour the batter over the pears. Bake 30 minutes, or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cook for 10 minutes or so and then invert on a plate (this is the fun part!). Serve with the whipped cream!

Baked Chiles Rellenos and Mesa Red Sauce

Can you handle yet another Rebar recipe? This one is amazing, though a little high maintenance with roasting the peppers...but so worth it. I had a bunch of poblano and banana peppers that I picked pre-frost last week, and have been wanting to make chilis rellenos for awhile. Maybe the fried version next! Rebar suggest serving these "in a pool of" mesa red sauce - which is a great sauce for all kinds of things. That recipe follows.

1 1/3 c. masa harina
1/2 c. hot water
6-8 chiles (Anaheim, Poblano, or Pasilla)
2 t. veggies oil
1 med. yam, peeled and diced
1 c. corn, fresh or frozen
2 jalepenos, seeded and diced
2 T. butter, softened
2 T. vegetable shortening (i used lard from the seward. yum.)
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 c. warm water
1 c. grated jack cheese
2 t. ancho chili powder
1/2 recipe mesa red sauce

1. Combine masa harina and water in a mixing bowl and mix at medium speed for 5 min. (i did this by hand and all was well.) Cover and let dough rest for one hour.
2. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Place whole peppers on parchment lined baking sheet. Cut a slit along the length of each pepper and roast for 15-20 minutes until the skins blister. put in plastic bag or in bowl covered with plastic wrap for 10 minutes. Peel away skin (gently!) and try to keep chili as intact as possible. *For the record, I found this difficult. Rinse out the seeds and set aside to dry.
3. Reduce oven to 350 degrees. Heat ooil in skillet and saute yams for 5 min. Add corn and jalepenos, season with a pinch of salt, and saute for until veggies are tender. Transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool.
4. Return to masa dough and mix in butter and shortening - one spoonful at at time until well blended. In a separate small bowl, combine salt, baking powder, warm water and stir to dissolve. Mix in masa dough until well combined, then stir in veggies, cheese, and chili powder. Fill each chili until plump. Place chilis on a lined baking sheet and bake 20 minutes until the filling is golden brown and heated through. To serve, heat the masa sauce, spoon 1/4 c. on each plate/bowl and place a chili relleno on top. Garnish with cilantro, scallions, or chives.
*I had extra masa dough left and made masa cakes...they were still good.

Masa Red Sauce - yields 4 cups
2 T. vegetable oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, minced
4 T. masa harina
4 T. chili powder
1/2 t. cumin
1/4 t. cayenne
1 t. salt
1/2 t. cracked pepper
1 T. minced oregano
4 c. veggie stock (or water), heated
2 T. tomato paste
1 t. brown sugar

Heat veg. oil in a pan over medium-high heat and saute onions until translucent. Add garlic and cook 3 minutes. Sprinkle in masa harina, stir constantly as it cooks and turns golden. Add spices and oregano and stir 2 more minutes. Slowly whisk in warm stock and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and whisk in the tomato paste and sugar. Simmer partially covered for 30 minutes, stirring regularly. Season to taste.
*This sauce is also good for enchiladas, huevos, eggs, etc.

Maple Pumpkin Pie with Candied Ginger

Eren and I first made this pie 8 years ago. Every time the weather turns cold we remember this recipe, and yearn for the fall that we lived in the same town and baked pie after pie. I think it is everything pumpkin pie should be: not too sweet, perfect custard texture, creamy, and very pumpkin-y. The maple adds this really nice richness without being too sugary, and the ginger is amazing. And we got to make it this weekend! Pie recipe is here at Epicurian: Ginger Maple Pumpkin Pie. The "pumpkin" we used was actually a kabocha squash that was a super rich dark orange color.

The crust we used was another Baking Illustrated recipe. Baking Illustrated is like the science version of cooking - they test every recipe (ever seen America's Test Kitchen? this is them) with different ingredients to come up with the fail-proof perfect one. According to science. Kind of fascinating.

Pie Dough for Prebaked Pie Shell (1 single 9" pie)
1 1/4 c. unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
1/2 t. salt
1 T. sugar
3 T. vegetable shortening, chilled
4 T. unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/4" pieces
4-5 T. ice water

Process flour, salt and sugar in food processor until combined. Add shortening and process 10 sec until texture is like sand. Scatter butter over flour mix and pulse to a course mixture (10 - 1 second pulses). Turn the mixture into a medium sized bowl. Sprinkle 4 T. ice water over mixture and use a folding motion to mix. Press down on dough until it sticks together, adding 1 more T. of water if dough is not coming together. Flatten dough to 4" disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least an hour or up to 2 days. *I have made this crust without a food processor: grate butter into flour mixture with a cheese grater and cut it in using one of those cutter-inner tools.

Remove dough from fridge (if in longer than one hour, let stand at room temp until malleable). Roll the dough on a lightly floured work surface, or between two sheets of parchment to a 12" circle. Transfer to a 9" pie plate. Trim the edges to 1/2 beyond the pan and fold it under itself. Refrigerate until firm (40 mintues) and then freeze 20 minutes. (*Note, I don't have a 9" pie pan so I used a bigger tart pan - no prob. Also, I skipped the refrigerator/freezing step and all was fine.) Preheat oven to 375. Press foil to chilled crust (make sure to cover edge) and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake 25-30 minutes and carefully remove weights. Continue baking 5-6 minutes for a partially baked crust, or until golden brown for a fully baked crust (12 minutes more).

Using a partially baked crust, we filled it with the custard and baked it according to the pie recipe. Because of my odd pan, the edge was a little too low, so it could not hold as much of the custard. Alas. Still delicious.

Pizza: Sauerkraut, Apple, Cranberry and Pesto Tomato

This weekend brought Eren and Naomi to town for anniversary and birthday celebrating, Barebones, and some seasonal feasting. Pizza was selected for Saturday dinner. I got the crust recipe from Baking Illustrated (my go to for always perfect baking) and we tried a couple of different toppings. Topping one involved some recently finished sauerkraut and an amazing Sauerkraut/Apple/Cranberry recipe from a canning class KP and I took earlier this month. Topping two included leftover Cilantro Pesto and roasted tomatoes. Yum. Perfect early dinner pre-Barebones and to celebrate the years of love among us.

Pizza Dough (makes enough for three pizzas) *hand kneading version
1/2 c water
1 envelope instant yeast
1 1/4 c. water at room temp
2 T extra virgin olive oil (just realized I forgot that part!!)
4 c bread flour (Up to half can be wheat - I went 1 c wheat/3 c white)
1 1/2 t. salt

Sprinkle yeast on warm water and let stand until the yeast dissolves and swells (about 5 minutes). Add remaining room temp. water and oil and stir to combine. In separate, deep bowl, combine half the flour and salt. Add the liquid ingredients and use a wooden spoon to combine. Add the remaining flour and stir until a "cohesive mass" forms. Turn out to a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (7-8 minutes), using as little dusting flour as possible. Form the dough into a ball, put it in a deep oiled bowl, cover with a damp towel and let rise until doubled in size: 1 1/2-2 hours. (Note the wheat flour will slow rising time a bit.) When risen, press dough to deflate, divide into three balls, and stretch/pull with hands to form crust.
*Baking Illustrated recommends a pizza stone for perfect pizza. Sprinkled semolina/corn meal or parchment paper allows you to transfer the uncooked crust to the pizza stone that you want to have pre-heating in the oven. Cook pizza hot - 500 degrees, and remove when crust is turning brown and toppings are sizzling (6-12 minutes).

Pizza One: Sauerkraut with Apples and Cranberries and Squash
*Makes 3 pints (which you then would can, 1/2 the recipe for a more manageable amount to consume before it goes bad!)
1/2 c. apple cider vinegar
1/2 c. light brown sugar
3 large sweet apples - peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
1/2 large onion, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
1/2 c. dried cranberries or cherries
1 t. caraway seed
1 t. fennel seed
1 bay leaf
4 c. fermented sauerkraut and juice

Combine apple cider and brown sugar in a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil to dissolve sugar. Add onion, apple, cranberries and spices and simmer gentely until apple is tender. Stir in sauerkraut and juice. *If canning, heat mix to 180 degrees, fill scalded jars leaving 1/2" headspace and process for 25 minutes.
We put this mix on the pizza with some baked squash and cheese. Yum. Toss a little salt on too for some improved flavor.

Pizza Two: Spicy Pesto Tomato
Cilantro Pesto: food process 1/2-1 bunch cilantro with nuts (almonds or walnuts), salt and pepper, parm cheese, and olive oil. Sorry I don't have better amounts, I don't think you can go wrong though!
Roasted tomatoes
2ish T. Red Onion, chopped
2ish T. Jalepeno, minced
Cheese!

chili! part two.

Allison's last post made me crave Chili and, one day, after I go to the store and get the ingredients for it, I'm really looking forward to trying it.

...but since I didn't want to leave the house, I improvised this recipe from what I had on hand. Really easy and delicious.

chili:

any type of beans (i used a mixture of pinto, kidney, black eyed peas, and adzuki beans)

roasted tomatoes (from the garden last year, roasted and then frozen)

vegetable stock

pureed chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

onion

salt+pepper to taste

i used dried beans, cook until tender then drain. add to sauteed onions and add rest of ingredients. simmer. even better the next day.

cornbread:

2 Tbsp butter

1 1/4 cup yogurt (or buttermilk)

1-1/2 cups medium-grind cornmeal

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1-1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp sea salt

1 egg

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Use a square 8x8" baking pan and heat the butter directly in the pan until hot for about 2 minutes and then turn off the heat.

Mix the egg into the yogurt. In a separate bowl, place all the dry ingredients and mix well. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined, if the mixture seems too dry, add in a few tablespoons of milk. Pour directly into the pan with the butter in the bottom. Smooth out the batter if necessary and place into the oven.

Bake for about 30 minutes and the top is lightly browned, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the sides of the bread shrink back from the skillet. Serve hot or warm.

Chili!

Although I wouldn't really consider myself a chili fan, I was really craving some the other day, so turned to Heidi Swanson (of course!). This recipe is a beast! It's actually quite easy, but she isn't kidding when she says to use your largest pot--it makes so.much.food. Which is great. Anyway, I'm excited about adding this to my rotation. Enjoy!