There are few things I love more with my dinner than a soft roll. (Sticky rice is one of those few things…but that’s for another post). I also really love baking with whole wheat flour, but that and softness don’t usually go together. Normally I don’t mind that healthy bread is a little drier and more firm than white bread, but I figured there had to be a way to make a dinner roll that was both pillowy and made with whole wheat flour.
I started with some white whole wheat flour, and added gluten because I like what it does to the texture of the bread I bake. I know gluten is a hot topic these days, and one that I know far too little about. What I do know is that it doesn’t bother my stomach at all, and it does really nice things to yeast breads. So I use it.
I packed 12 rolls into a 9″ cake pan, as you can see in the first picture. I think only baking 8 or 9 in each pan would make the rolls have a nicer shape, so that’s what I wrote below.
Recipe:
(loosely based on this King Arthur Flour recipe)
3/4 cup warm water (around 110 F)
1 packet (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup milk, warmed up a little
2 tbsp softened butter
3 cups white whole wheat flour
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
1 1/2 tsp salt
Combine the warm water, sugar, and yeast in a small bowl and stir to combine. Let stand for about 5 minutes, or until the yeast looks creamy and frothy.
Put the flour, salt, and gluten in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix with a fork. Add all the remaining ingredients, including the warm water and yeast. Mix with the dough hook for about 10 minutes, or until you have a smooth, elastic dough (if it’s not coming together, add a little warm water and keep mixing).
If you want to knead on the counter instead of using the dough hook, knead until the dough is nice and stretchy and doesn’t tear. Then shape it into a ball, put it in a lightly oiled bowl, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
Grease two 9″ cake pans. Fold the dough over on itself a few times, then divide it into 16 or 18 little balls, and arrange them evenly in the pans. Cover the pans with plastic wrap and let rise for an hour.
Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.
I make hummus all the time. I just love having it in the fridge as an easy snack, and it’s rare that I don’t have all the ingredients on hand. Baba ghannouj, on the other had, is a little more “special occasion” to me. The ingredients are pretty similar, with smoky eggplant rather than garbanzo beans, but the process is slightly more complicated.
There’s the charring of the eggplant that has to come first, and that takes a little more effort than just opening a can of garbanzos.
Some people recommend roasting the eggplant in a hot oven, others suggest putting it under the broiler. I will stick with the burner on my gas oven, even if it makes a little bit of a mess. The most crucial thing is to make sure the skin gets very charred, and the whole eggplant is very soft. Once that’s accomplished, the rest is easy! Like hummus, you’ll want to play around with the amounts listed. Some people like a lot of lemon, others prefer more garlic. When I have fresh mint around, I love to chop up a few leaves and mix them in to add another layer of flavor.
Recipe:
1 large eggplant
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp olive oil
fresh mint (optional)
Place the eggplant over a gas burner and turn every few minutes until all the skin is black and charred and the entire eggplant is very soft. Place in a bowl and cover with a clean towel. When the eggplant is cool enough to handle, scrape off and discard the skin (I like to use a paring knife to scrape it off). Put the eggplant into the food processor (if there are a lot of large seeds, throw them out, but most of the time I don’t bother).
Peel the garlic and mash it up with the salt in a small mortar and pestle. Once you have a smooth paste, add it to the food processor with the remaining ingredients. Pulse until smooth, then taste and adjust seasonings.
Serve garnished with fresh mint
I used to have a fairly major parsley aversion. Too much of it (which usually amounted to anything over about 1/4 tsp) would completely ruin a dish for me. I think it was mostly a mental hang-up though, because I’ve been known to polish off loads of tabouli in a single sitting, and what is tabouli absolutely full of? Parsley. So I’m working on being more accepting of it in dishes other than this one.
Tabouli is so healthy it’s almost ridiculous. Bulgur, a whole grain we all should love. Lemon juice, parsley, mint, green onions, and tomatoes – lots of vitamins, antioxidents, and other great stuff there (not to mention killer flavor). You can put some olive oil in yours for healthy fat but I actually prefer it without, because I think olive oil kind of gums up the texture. It comes together pretty quickly and is even better after sitting in the fridge overnight. It’s right up there with green papaya salad on my list of foods I must consume on a fairly regular basis, so I urge you to make some today!
Recipe
(adapted from The New Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen)
1 cup bulgur
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
4 green onions (white and green parts), chopped
15 fresh mint leaves, chopped
1 cup chopped fresh parsley (I generally use curly parsley)
3 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
Bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan. As soon as it boils, remove it from the heat and stir in the bulgur. Let stand covered for 30 minutes.
Fluff the bulgur with a fork, then transfer to a bowl and stir in remaining ingredients. Chill 20-30 minutes before serving.
When I found out my former roommate and sorority grand-big-sis was engaged, I was obviously really excited for her. When she asked me to make the cupcakes for her wedding, I got even more excited. This weekend she and her fiance came to my town to do some wedding planning (because they’re getting married at a winery nearby) and wanted to do a cupcake tasting. Since I NEVER turn down the opportunity to bake, I was stoked that she wanted to try strawberry and lemon, two kinds of cupcakes I’d never made before.
These cupcakes are a little unusual because they have oil instead of butter, and a light meringue icing instead of buttercream. They were instantly a hit with the groom-to-be, who loves lemon meringue pie. If you like fluffy meringue, you’ll love these, but you could always do lemon buttercream if that’s more your style.
Recipe:
Posted on coconut & lime
The only change I made to the original recipe was to omit the lemon zest from the frosting.
If you’re ever hesitant about trying a new vegetable, roast it with tons of butter and it’s pretty much guaranteed you’ll fall madly in love. At least, that was my experience with parsnips. I had never tried one until about two years ago, when Mike brought some home from the store, sliced them up, and roasted them with ungodly amounts of butter. Ever since then, I’ve been smitten.
When I saw this recipe, I immediately knew parsnips would play a major part in it, but I was also excited to try turnip and rutabaga for the first time. (The verdict? They’re good, but not as good as parsnips).
Anyway, since winter is prime root vegetable time, this is a perfect dish to make right now. The original recipe called for wheat berries, but I used barley because that’s what I had in the cupboard. I suspect it would be good with whatever whole grain you happen to like. I added some orange zest, toasted walnuts, and balsamic vinegar, but there are a whole bunch of other ideas for making this on David Lebovitz’s post.
Recipe:
(adapted from David Lebovitz)
1 1/2 cups pearled barley
4 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
bay leaf
2 lbs mixed root vegetables (carrots, parsnips, turnip, rutabaga), cut into 1/2″ dice
1 red onion, diced
1/4 cup olive oil
10 sprigs fresh thyme
1/3 cup toasted walnuts, chopped
zest from 1/2 an orange
1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Preheat the oven to 425 F.
Bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan and add the salt, bay leaf, and barley. Simmer, partially covered, until the barley is tender, about 35 minutes. Remove from heat and keep covered until you’re ready to mix up the salad.
Toss the vegetables, onion, olive oil, thyme, a few pinches of salt and a few grinds of black pepper and spread on a sheet pan. Roast for about 25 minutes, stirring once or twice, until tender.
Toss the barley and vegetables together in a large bowl with the balsamic, walnuts, and orange zest. Taste and adjust the seasonings.
Serve warm or at room temperature, garnished with a few sprigs of fresh thyme.
It seems like every morning I wake up, look out the window, and fall in love with California all over again. Where else do you get sunny, seventy degree days in the middle of January and a summer and fall free of hurricanes or tornadoes? Yes, we miss out on the seasons a little bit, but there was definitely no doubt that it was winter a few weeks ago, when it was 50 and pouring for an entire week straight.
My first winter here, I remember being shocked to see fresh, local strawberries in the farmers market in early February. In Oregon, the strawberry season was painfully short so the idea of being able to get strawberries that had not spent weeks in transit completely blew my mind.
If you happen to be in a place where there’s snow on the ground and no strawberry plants for thousands of miles, these cupcakes are here to put a smile on your face and bring you a little bit of summer…all you need to do is pick up some frozen strawberries at the grocery store. (And in all honesty, I think these may actually be better made with frozen strawberries!)
Some of the comments on the recipe indicated that the strawberry flavor wasn’t strong enough in the icing, so I took the advice of one commenter and boiled the puree to reduce it and concentrate the flavor. It not only gave the frosting a beautiful pink color, it definitely made the strawberry flavor nice and strong. I only made 6 cupcakes because I was baking a few other desserts the same day, but the recipe is easy to double.
Recipe:
(adapted from Martha Stewart, originally from Candace Nelson at Sprinkles Cupcakes)
Cupcakes:
3 tablespoons strawberry puree (just puree fresh or thawed frozen strawberries in a food processor)
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
2 tbsp whole milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) softened butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
Frosting:
1/4 cup soft butter
1/2 cup thawed frozen (or fresh) strawberries
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
To make the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Put paper liners in 6 cupcake tins.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt onto a piece of wax paper. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together the milk, vanilla, and strawberry puree.
Cream the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer, and add the sugar. Beat for a few minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix on low until combined.
Add half the flour mixture and mix briefly on low. Scrape down the bowl and add the milk mixture, mixing just until combined. Scrape down the bowl and add the remaining flour mixture. Mix on low, then divide the batter evenly among the prepared cupcake tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
Cool in the pans for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the frosting:
Beat the butter, sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the strawberry puree a teaspoon or two at a time until the frosting is smooth and spreadable.
I kind of group tamales with cupcakes in my own personal Food Taxonomy. They’re both a little time consuming because each one needs individual attention, but when you’ve turned out a batch or two, your mind fills with possibilities and you know you’ll be making dozens more.
The first time I made tamales was for a project for my high school Spanish class. I had to cook a Mexican recipe on video, narrating the whole process in Spanish. I’m not sure why I chose to make tamales, because they are pretty labor intensive and require all kinds of verbs you don’t use in every day conversation, but it all worked out, I got an A, and my Spanish teacher said they were as good as her grandmother’s. That definitely boosted my confidence in both my culinary and Spanish-speaking abilities!
Although they do take some time, these are actually fairly simple; you just have to plan ahead. I cook the beans and put the corn husks in a bowl of water to soak the night before, then set aside a few hours during the day for preparing the masa (I just use masa harina because it’s easy), making the tomatillo sauce, and assembling the tamales. They only steam for about 15 minutes, so once they’re all prepared, you don’t have to wait long to eat. They freeze beautifully, too.
This batch happens to be made with black beans and jack cheese. Perfect for vegetarians, but hearty enough for meat-eaters too. Mike made some awesome-looking chicken tamales, so I’ll try and get him to post his recipe sometime soon!
Recipe:
1 8 ounce package of corn husks
Filling:
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp chile powder
1 cup dried black beans
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups water
1/2 cup diced or shredded jack cheese (cut into 1/4″ cubes)
Tomatillo Sauce:
4 large tomatillos
2 cloves garlic
1 poblano pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 tsp salt
Masa:
3 1/2 cups masa harina
3 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup shortening
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chile powder
Completely submerge the corn husks in water and soak for 12 hours (you can reduce the soaking time to 3-4 hours by starting with boiling water).
Combine the garlic, onion, oregano, chile powder, black beans, salt, and water in a slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours, or until the beans are tender (you may need to add a little extra water if they begin to look too dry). Alternatively, drain a can of black beans and saute it with the onion, garlic, chile powder, black beans, and salt. When the beans are cooked, transfer them to a bowl to cool, then stir in the cheese.
To make the tomatillo sauce, spray a shallow broiler-safe pan with nonstick spray. Remove the husks from the tomatillos, and place them in the pan with the peeled garlic and poblano. Cook under the broiler, turning occasionally, until the poblano is blackened and blistered and the tomatillos are soft. Set the pan aside with a clean kitchen towel over it for about 10 minutes, then scrape the skin off the poblano, remove the seeds, and transfer everything to the food processor, along with cilantro and some salt. Puree, taste and add more salt if needed, then stir 1 cup of tomatillo sauce into the beans. Keep the remaining sauce for spooning over the finished tamales.
To make the masa: Combine the masa harina, shortening, 2 cups of broth, chile powder and salt and mix well. Add more broth a few tablespoons at a time as needed. You want the masa to have the consistency of soft play-dough, so if it’s too crumbly, add warm water a few tablespoons at a time until you have a soft, but not overly sticky dough.
To prepare the tamales: Tear a few corn husks into thin strips. Remove one of the large, intact corn husks from the soaking bowl, rinse it under the tap, and pat dry. Put it on your work surface with the narrow end towards you. Pat 1/4 cup tablespoons of masa into a 3-4″ square in the center of the corn husk. Spoon 1-2 tbsp of bean mixture in a line down the middle of the square. Fold the sides of the husk in, then fold the bottom up and secure with one of the thin strips.
When you’re ready to steam the tamales, open a steamer basket and place it in a large pot over an inch or so of water. Bring the water to a boil, then stand the tamales up vertically on the steamer basket. Cover the pan with a lid and steam for 15-20 minutes, or until the masa no longer feels sticky. Make sure you have extra simmering water handy to add to the pot if it gets dry before the tamales are done. Serve with sour cream and the remaining tomatillo sauce.
I happened to stumble across this recipe at the perfect time. I had a partially-used can of coconut milk in the fridge, and a forlorn butternut squash that had been sitting on the counter for over a week waiting for inspiration to strike. That, on top of the cold and rainy weather outside (which always makes me crave soups like this) sent me straight to the kitchen to get this soup on the stove.
The recipe called for chicken broth, so I decided to make my own vegetable broth to stand in for it. When it came time to strain the broth I realized the soup would probably benefit from having the onions and carrots pureed right along with the squash, so I just added the rest of the ingredients to my pot of broth, stuck the immersion blender in, and went to town.
I love the warmth of the cumin and curry, and while the pistachios provide a nice color contrast, I think their flavor and crunch really make this soup spectacular!
Recipe
(adapted from Mango & Tomato)
3 cups water
1″ piece of ginger, quartered
1 onion, peeled and quartered
1 carrot, cut into 1″ pieces
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 small butternut squash (or 1/2 a large squash), seeds removed
1 cup coconut milk
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp cayenne (optional)
cilantro and chopped pistachios, for garnish
Preheat the oven to 400 and grease a small roasting pan.
Combine the water, ginger, onion, and carrot in a large saucepan and bring to a simmer. Simmer, partially covered, for 45 minutes to an hour.
Meanwhile, place the squash cut side down on the roasting pan and bake for about an hour, or until very tender. Scrape the flesh out and add to the simmering vegetable broth.
Stir in the coconut milk, cumin seeds, salt, curry powder, and cayenne and puree well with an immersion blender. Taste and adjust seasonings, then serve garnished with cilantro and chopped pistachios.
Combine the
I must have really been missing Asia this week because I decided it was time to attempt my first batch of kimchi (BIG fail) and break out the giant wooden mortar and pestle to make some curry paste (FTW!)
By the way, was that a proper application of FTW? I still don’t really get it, but if the 10 year olds I work with and tons of poeple out in blog-land are using it I figure I should probably attempt to figure it out.
So yes, we hauled a huge wooden mortar and pestle all the way home from Bangkok, and honestly, I’m really happy about it. Of course, you can make curry paste in a blender but there’s just something supremely satisfying about pounding the crap out of a bunch of shallots, lemongrass, and chiles using this. It also comes in very handy for papaya salad, which I’ve professed my love for many times.
I borrowed from the recipes I learned in both the Khmer and Thai cooking classes I took last year and it turned out beautifully. Last night I fried about a tablespoon of it in some oil, added half a cup of coconut milk, and simmered for a few minutes. Then I poured that sauce over some roasted kabocha squash and was happier than I’ve been in quite some time. Mike even said “this totally takes me back to Thailand!” so I figure I must have done something right.
This recipe is obviously extremely adaptable. You can add more or less of anything depending on your preferences, and if you can find some keffir lime leaves (I couldn’t, but I hear they’re available frozen online) then use them! I just used the zest of one lime and it tasted alright to me!
Recipe:
zest of 1 lime
3 thai chiles, stems removed
4 1/4″ slices of fresh turmeric
4 1/4″ slices of galangal
1 shallot, sliced
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 stalk lemongrass, thinly sliced
Chop all ingredients very finely, then either mash everything together in a wooden mortar and pestle like the one pictured, or puree in the blender with a few tablespoons of water.
I think my sister likes to bake even more than I do, so when she was in town for a few days, cupcake-making had to be on the agenda. Although she doesn’t like coconut, she figured this recipe would be a crowd-pleaser and it definitely was!
I was a little nervous as the cupcakes went into the oven because the batter seemed really heavy on the pineapple. They turned out beautifully, though, and I love how the flat tops were perfect for icing. The frosting didn’t taste very coconutty, so next time I might sub coconut extract for vanilla, or, as my sister suggested, use a little Malibu rum!
Recipe:
(adapted from Coconut & Lime)
10 oz (canned) crushed pineapple in juice (not heavy syrup!)
1 cups flour
3/4 cups sugar
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
Mix the baking soda, flour, sugar and salt together with a fork.
Beat the oll and eggs together in a glass measuring cup and pour into the flour mixture.
Mix well, then add the pineapple and stir gently until combined
Pour into the prepared muffin tins, and bake 15-20 minutes or until the cupcake bounces back when you press lightly on the top (they’ll be pretty golden-brown when they’re ready).
Cool on a wire rack, and frost when completely cooled
Frosting:
(adapted from Epicurious)
1 stick butter
3 cups powdered sugar
3-4 tbsp coconut milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut
Preheat the oven to 300 F and spread the coconut onto a baking sheet. Toast for 4-8 minutes or until just golden, then remove and set aside to cool.
Beat the butter and powdered sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the coconut milk about a teaspoon at a time until the icing has a smooth, creamy consistency. Beat in the vanilla.
Transfer the frosting to a piping bag, and pipe onto the cupcakes. Sprinkle with toasted coconut.
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