Pesto

Nothing says summer quite like pesto. Pesto is easy to make and freezes wonderfully so you can tap back into the summer any time you’d like.

• 5 cups basil, losely packed
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/3 cup pine nuts
• Olive oil
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Freshly ground pepper

This recipe relies heavily on a Cuisinart. First place the garlic in the cuisinart and chop until fine. Add the basil and turn the machine on and add the pine nuts through the top, while the machine remains on. Then slowly drizzle in the olive oil until you achieve the consistency of honey. Add a good amount of freshly ground pepper. I never add cheese at this point since I usually freeze some pesto, and I don’t like to freeze it with the cheese.

Tonight we ate the pesto with angel hair pasta. I tossed the cooked pasta with the pesto, and a good portion (maybe 1/2 cup) of Parmesan cheese. I also topped it with some extra cheese. Since parmesan imparts quite a bit of salt, hold off adding more salt until you taste it.

I froze the extra pesto in ice-pop containers. Once they are frozen, they can be removed from the containers and stored in a freezer bag. To heat up, place in a covered sauce pan over low heat. Once re-heated, add cheese.

Oat-y Goji Granola

Granola can be so expensive! However, believe it or not, it is pretty easy to make yourself. I took the basic recipe from Marc Bittman, who has a few variations in his new cookbook: How To Cook Everything Vegetarian. I created my own variation with ground flax seed, goji berries and agave nectar. Agave nectar is a sweetener that is derived from the agave plant. It has a much lower glycemic load than sugar, honey or maple syrup, so you don’t get the high/crash from consuming it. Goji berries (or wolfberries) are used in traditional Chinese medicine as a Blood and Yin tonic and they are very nourishing for the Liver and Heart systems.

• 6 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 1 cup sliced raw almonds
• 1/2 cup ground flax seeds
• 1/2 cup dried goji berries, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2-3/4 cup agave nectar

Preheat oven to 300F. Place a half sheet-pan over 2 burners on medium heat. It is necessary to have thick, high quality sheet pans when using them on the burners. If you don’t, a Pyrex casserole dish will do. Toast the oats for 5-8 minutes, constantly stirring, until they smell fragrant.

Then add the coconut, nuts and flax seeds and continue to stir and toast for another 5-10 minutes, or until fragrant and golden brown.

Clockwise from top: sliced almonds, ground flax seed, coconut, sunflower seeds

Add the agave nectar and stir until the oats and nuts are well coated and place the pan in the oven. After 10 minutes, stir in the cranberries and goji berries. Then split the granola onto 2 pans and roast another 10-15 minutes.

Left: Goji berries. Right: Dried cranberries

When the mixture has nice color and you can smell the coconut, take the pans out and cool on a rack, stirring every few minutes, until the mixture crunches up. Store in a airtight container for up to a week.

Close up of the completed granola

Pantry Pasta Puttanesca

A real favorite in terms of pantry dishes, puttanesca sauce really packs a punch. Easily made with ingredients in the pantry, it is a hearty dish that doesn’t require a trip to the market. Putanesca sauce gets its name from the bold, pungent flavor that the main ingredients (anchovies, garlic, red pepper, olives, capers) impart. Read about the history of the sauce, and how it got its name, HERE.

Pasta Puttanesca

• 3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2-3 anchovy filets
• 1/4 c chopped pitted olives (I always keep a bunch of Fairway’s pitted spicy olives on hand for this dish)
• 2 T capers
• Red pepper flakes
• Pomi chopped tomatoes

Sautee the garlic in olive oil and after a few minutes add the anchovies and olives. Cook another few minutes and then add the tomatoes, capers and red pepper flakes. No need to add salt (with the anchovies already adding plenty) but fresh cracked black pepper kicks it up even more.

Garlic, anchovies and olives

I had a little bit of both orecchiette and perciatelli, and since I didn’t want to open up another box of anything, I mixed both, which was possible since they cook in approximately the same amount of time (11 min vs. 12 min).

Clean Cooking

Tonight was clean cooking night at our house. There’s really nothing like some simply steamed vegetables with a whole grain to make you feel great from the inside out. It couldn’t be easier to make–even if you have no/few fresh veggies on hand. Our fridge is under-stocked right now and I would usually use some broccoli or kale, but since I didn’t have any I used frozen spinach that I keep in the fridge for moments like these.

Steamed Veggies

• 1 bag frozen chopped spinach (the only ingredient listed should be spinach)
• 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1/2 brick firm tofu, cubed
• 1/2 red onion, sliced

Place a metal steamer basket in a pot filled with a few inches of water over high heat. Throw the veggies and tofu into the pot and cover. Steam for 5-7 minutes. This process can be used to steam anything. Times will vary for different vegetables–carrots take longer to cook than spinach, so I cut them quite small.

This was served with quinoa and a sauce made with black bean paste, thinned with some soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and olive oil (I would have used sesame oil, but we just ran out!). The dish was sprinkled with black sesame seeds and a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes.

Special Sandwich Bread

Bread is the perfect thing to make when you’re going to be around the house for the day. Today was one of those days, stormy and humid outside, trying to stay cool inside, in just a few hours, and with minimal effort, I had a fresh loaf of bread.

Special Honey Whole-Wheat Loaf

• 12 ounces bread flour (I always use King Arthur’s)
• 4 ounces whole-wheat flour (you can substitute any whole grain flour, such as spelt or rye)
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp active yeast (no starter needed!)
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 1.5 Cups Water
• seeds and oats for the crust (I used flaxseed meal, oats, and black sesame seeds)
• 1 scrambled egg (optional)

Mix all the dry ingredients (except for the seeds and oats) in a large mixing bowl, and stir in the water and honey until all the flour is incorporated, use a wooden spoon, or your hands.

Cover it loosely with plastic wrap and let it rise for about 1.5 hours, it’ll double in size.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and shape it

The easiest thing to do, is place the loaf pan in front of the dough, and flatten the dough slightly until its a rectangle with it’s width equal to the width of the loaf pan. Then roll it up into a log and place it into the loaf pan, seam side down. I sprayed the pan with canola oil.

If you want to use the egg wash, brush it over the top of the dough. It will help the seeds stick to the bread, but this is optional, and the seeds will be ok without it.

Sprinkle the seed mixture over the dough and gently press it in. Sprinkle liberally.

Cover it again with plastic wrap, and let it rise another hour.

1/2 hour before its done rising, preheat the oven to 450F

Slash the top of the bread using a lame, a sharp razor, or a very sharp knife, in one swift motion.

Bake 30-35 minutes, turn it out and let it cool on a rack. You can check the inner temperature, it should be around 220F.

Nice dark crispy crust, soft chewy interior, a real winner!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is a classic from The Joy of Cooking Cookbook:

• 1 cup + 2 T all-purpose flour
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1 stick softened unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 t salt (the recipe calls for 1/4 t, but I upped it)
• 1 1/2 t vanilla extract
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F

Cream together the sugars and butter in a stand mixer. Add the egg, salt and vanilla. Mix together the flour and baking soda, and then add to the egg/sugar/butter mixture. When smooth, add chocolate chips.

A recent New York Times article talked about refrigerating the dough for at least 24 hours, which gives the egg time to penetrate into the flour and create and more smooth texture. I didn’t have time to do this, although after reading that all the best bakeries do this, I would like to try this technique.

Since I wanted instant gratification, I dropped the dough onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet and baked for 9 minutes. The recipe made 32 cookies.

Panko Crusted Chicken Fingers

This morning I ran a 13-mile “marathon training run” in Central Park.  After the run, I had a very strong craving for chicken fingers. So when we got home, we made ‘em.

Panko Chicken Fingers

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2-3 eggs
• Panko bread crumbs
• Salt, pepper, and dried herbs/spices to your liking (we added paprika, oregano and thyme)

First, wash and dry chicken and cut into strips.  Preheat the oven to 350F. Mix the eggs and thin with a little water. Mix about 2 C panko with salt, pepper and spices.

Put the chicken into the egg mixture and then let it drip off a little and move it into the panko. Coat with the panko and then put on a baking sheet. Bake for about 15-20 minutes.

I made 2 sauces:

Sheila’s Honey-Mustard

Equal parts of dijon mustard and honey were mixed.

Garlic Barbecue Sauce

1 clove garlic, chopped, 1.5 c ketchup, some hot sauce, 1 T soy sauce and 1 T rice wine vinegar were mixed and heated in a small sauce pan for a few minutes.

The final dish...

Knock-Your-Socks-Off-Sides

Dinner tonight was 2 sides. I bought a bunch of Brussel sprouts on Sunday, but I didn’t want to roast them, which is what I usually do with Brussels. So I came up with this, inspired by a side dish I had at The Bear Cafe a while back.

1. Warm Brussel Sprout Slaw with Almonds

First I shredded the sprouts in the cuisinart (I didn’t have the slicer attachment, so I used the grater attachement, which worked fine). I kept the machine on while I dropped in the sprouts.

When they were all shredded, I heated up a pan and sauteed some garlic for a few seconds, then added the shredded Brussel sprouts with some salt and pepper. At the same time, I roasted some raw, sliced almonds in a clean, dry skillet over high heat. After a few minutes, they start to become fragrant—at this point be careful to keep the nuts moving in the pan or they will burn. When they have a nice brownish color, remove from the pan. At this point they can be salted if you’d like.

Toss the sprouts in the olive oil and when they cook for a few minutes, add the almonds and season again with salt and pepper. I would have wanted to add some lemon juice, but I didn’t have any, so I used a splash of sherry vinegar.

2. German Potato Salad with Sardines

This was inspired by my training for the New York City marathon and the fact that I want to up my omega-3/fish intake to promote joint health. I happen to LOVE sardines, and I thought that this would work, which it did. Also, remember those potatoes from the Costco trip a few weeks ago? We still have some left, which I wanted to use.

I cut the potatoes into small pieces and steamed them for a few minutes until they were just done. In the mean time, I mixed up a drained can of sardines with about 2 or 3 T of whole grain mustard, olive oil and about 1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar. When the potatoes where done, I tossed them into the dressing with some freshly ground pepper and chopped parsely.

Pantry Dinner Sandwich

A great satisfying lunch or lite dinner:

• 1/4 to 1/2 ripe avocado
• Tempeh bacon (our favorite tempeh product)
• 2 T Hummus
• Tomato, maybe lettuce, or even sliced cucumber
• On toasted sourdough
• salt and freshly ground pepper.

One trick I learned from making bagels on Long Island on Sundays, is that when you make a sandwich, perhaps the most important step, is to cut the sandwich in half (I prefer on the diagonal, but that’s a personal thing), while gently pressing the sandwich components together. If the sandwich is well balanced, all of the ingredients will meld together. Sometimes I make this in the morning and bring it to work for lunch, but eating it right away is preferred.

Watermelon is a great dessert!

Pantry Pasta

We usually do our food shops every other Sunday night… I wanted to make an in-advance lunch, but since we hadn’t gone shopping yet, we were running low on fresh ingredients. So I decided to make this pantry fave. It is even better with fresh arugula or spinach or some sliced zucchini, but it’s just fine on its own.

Sundried Tomato Orecchiette

• 25 sundried tomato halves (if dried, soak for 20 minutes in warm water; if oil packed, rinse)
• 1 clove garlic
• About 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• About 2 T balsamic vinegar
• 1 can quartered artichoke hearts (packed in water, rinsed)
• Some cheese. I prefer feta or fresh mozzarella, but I was out and all I had was goat cheese, which works fine too. So would grated parm, pecorino or even fontina or gruyere.
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

First place the tomatoes and garlic into a Cuisinart and pulse until somewhat combined. Then, with the Cuisinart on, drizzle in the oil and vinegar until the mixture comes together into a ball. Add more oil or vinegar to taste.

When the pasta is done cooking (I love orecchiette for this, but any pasta shape would do), mix in the sauce, the artichokes, and the cheese.

I added a little dried thyme, and then packed it up for lunch. We have enough for 4 lunches.

Couple this with a baby arugula, tomato and avocado salad and you’ve got yourself a great lunch!