off the (meat)hook » Appetizer + Snack Recipes

{recipe} Sweet & Spicy Holiday Nuts

Karen — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:01:11 +0000

This is one of my favorite holiday snacks – crunchy sugar-coated nuts with balancing hits of salt and spice.

The trick with these is to stir them super vigorously so the sugar starts to crystallize and help the spices cling to the nuts. Once they start to get sandy and sugary, you’ll know they are ready to go. I remember learning learning to make these in pastry school and not seeing them get sandy, despite what I thought were my best efforts at stirring them. The instructor came by and sneered, “you call that VIGOROUS? You need to stir VIGOROUSLY!” So I always think of that and smile while I’m stirring them. Vigorously.

And since you get a mini arm workout, you can justify eating a few extra nuts.

You can easily double or triple this recipe or play with the spices to your liking. If you don’t have a candy thermometer, here’s a guide to help you get to soft ball stage without one.

Recipe: Sweet & Spicy Holiday Nuts
makes 1 1/2 cups nuts

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
Large pinch of cayenne pepper
Large pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups unsalted shelled nuts of your choice

METHOD:

Combine sugar and water in a saucepan on the stove over medium high heat. Meanwhile, combine spices and salt in a bowl.
Insert a candy thermometer into the sugar and when it reaches 238 degrees (soft ball stage) turn off the heat and add the spices and the nuts.
Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon for 2-3 minutes, until the nuts start to get a sandy texture.
Pour nuts out onto a sheet of parchment paper or foil to cool. When they are cool enough to handle, gently break the clumps up with your hands.
You can store them for up to a week in a sealed plastic bag or tightly closed container.

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{recipes} Southeast Asian Potstickers and Duck a l’Orange Potstickers

Karen — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:06:37 +0000

(Note: This happened several months ago, but I couldn’t find the recipes I wrote down, so I hadn’t posted about it. I found them wadded up in the bottom of a drawer recently, so here goes.)

My Dad and I have birthdays a week apart, and often do things together to celebrate. When I turned 6 and he turned 40, I asked my parents if we could eat at Windows on the World, the restaurant at the top of the World Trade Center. (We lived in New York at that time.) I guess at that point my parents realized they had a strangely fancy food-obsessed kid on their hands. I don’t remember much about the food, but I do recall going to the bathroom with my sister, who was 10, and being thoroughly confused by the presence of a restroom attendant. When I turned 16 and he 50, we donned our tuxes and prom dresses and got the best seat at Julius’ Castle, a venerated old dining institution with views of San Francisco Bay. Of course neither of those places is still in business, sadly, but we still try to do food-related birthdays together.

This year I was a little surprised when he told me that for his birthday, he wanted to have a potsticker competition. (OK, not that surprised, considering our past food competitions.) Maybe at this time you’re thinking “what does an old white guy know about making potstickers?” But in fact, as a retired professor, my dear old Dad has had the pleasure of working with scores of visiting Chinese postdoctoral students–and while he edited their neuroscience papers, they shared their dumpling-making secrets. So he has been making excellent potstickers for a couple of decades, at least, and they are better than the ones you get in most restaurants. It also doesn’t hurt that he has traveled to China dozens of times to do lots of taste-testing.

Back to the fierce competition: there were 4 competitors, me, my Dad, and two of his friends. There were also several extremely partisan judges to taste-test the total of seven varieties that were on offer. I am happy to say that I totally kicked a$$ by winning with my Southeast Asian-inspired potstickers. The non-traditional filling includes mint, cilantro, chopped cashews, and lime, along with the more standard potsticker filling items like ground pork and cabbage.

I kind of cheated though, because I had two entries. Although it came in 4th place, I actually preferred my other entrant, a duck a l’orange potsticker, which involved duck confit and orange zest. So I’ve decided to share both recipes with you.

If I’m making 2 kinds, I like to fold them differently so it’s easy to tell which is which. I’ve included directions for both square and round wrappers, so if you’re making multiple varieties, you might want to make one type with square wrappers and one type with circular wrappers.

It’s more fun (read: easier) if more people help out, like an assembly line.

A caveat: we don’t make our own dough, which some people might think is lame. (I’m happy to see that the inimitable Jaden Hair agrees it’s not really worth it. However, the unparalleled Andrea Nguyen would probably disagree.) Baby steps, people. It took us 25 years to get this good at the other aspects of potstickery. We’ve got big plans to attempt a reverse engineering of Shanghai’s finest Yang’s crispy dumplings, dough included, in the near future. I favor Japanese gyoza skins for my potstickers, because they are a little bit thinner. You can buy Japanese gyoza wrappers or Chinese potsticker skins in the refrigerated section of an Asian market.

Southeast Asian Potstickers

Makes a lot. Serve alongside small empty bowls and some soy sauce, black or rice vinegar, and hot chili flakes or hot sauce like sriracha or sambal oelek – so people can make their own dipping sauce to their liking. Or, mix 2 parts soy sauce, 1 part vinegar, and a dash of hot sauce to make sauce for everyone.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb ground pork
1 egg
1/4 cup finely chopped mint leaves
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro leaves
3-4 cloves finely chopped garlic
2 Tblsp grated ginger
1/3 head chopped cabbage, lightly sauteed in a teaspoon of sesame oil and dried on paper towels
1/2 cup grated carrot
1/3 cup finely chopped cashews
2 Tblsp soy sauce
1 Tblsp sesame oil
zest of 1 lime
sambal oelek or sriracha to taste
1-2 packages gyoza or potsticker wrappers
vegetable oil for cooking

METHOD:

Combine everything (except the wrappers and the cooking oil) in a bowl with a spoon or your (clean) hands. Make sure it’s very well mixed together.
Get a small bowl of water, the wrappers, and a sheet pan covered with parchment or foil out so you can fill the potstickers and set them aside.
If you’re using round wrappers: Put 1-2 teaspoons of filling in the middle of a wrapper. Dip your finger in the water and draw it around the rim of the wrapper halfway, to make it stick together. Fold the wet half and the dry half together and clamp tightly so no filling falls out. (If you would prefer to make fancy pleats, I recommend this tutorial from Steamy Kitchen.)
If you’re using square wrappers: Put 1-2 teaspoons of filling in the middle of a wrapper. Dip your finger in the water and draw it around the entire rim of the wrapper, to make it stick together. Fold the corners in to make a little pyramidal purse-like shape, and make sure it’s clamped together well so no filling falls out.
Once you’ve finished you’re wrapping, get out a large saute pan (note: you need a pan with a lid.) Put about 1 tablespoon oil in the pan and heat over high heat to very hot.
Add the potstickers to the pan, flat side down, close but not touching. Cook over high heat until browned. Pour about 1/4 cup water into the pan and cover quickly with a lid. Steam for 3-4 minutes with the lid tightly closed. Remove lid and continue cooking until all the water evaporates and the potstickers crisp up.
Remove to a plate layered with paper towels and set aside. For remaining batches, clean the pan out with paper towels and start over with new oil.
Serve over cilantro and mint leaves, alongside small empty bowls and some soy sauce, black or rice vinegar, and hot chili flakes – so people can make their own dipping sauce to their liking.

Duck A L’Orange Potstickers

Makes a lot. Serve with a little bottled plum sauce or hoisin sauce on the side, like you do with Peking Duck.

INGREDIENTS:

meat from 4 legs of ghetto duck confit - no skin (just eat it.)
1/3 cup hoisin sauce
1 bunch of scallions, slivered and cut into 1 inch pieces
large handful of blanched, squeezed purple cabbage
2 tsp grated ginger
finely chopped zest of 2 oranges
1-2 packages gyoza or potsticker wrappers
duck fat for cooking (reserved fat from confit)

METHOD:

Shred the duck meat and combine everything (except the wrappers and the duck fat) in a bowl with a spoon or your (clean) hands. Make sure it’s very well mixed together.
Get a small bowl of water, the wrappers, and a sheet pan covered with parchment or foil out so you can fill the potstickers and set them aside.
If you’re using round wrappers: Put 1-2 teaspoons of filling in the middle of a wrapper. Dip your finger in the water and draw it around the rim of the wrapper halfway, to make it stick together. Fold the wet half and the dry half together and clamp tightly so no filling falls out. (If you would prefer to make fancy pleats, I recommend this tutorial from Steamy Kitchen.)
If you’re using square wrappers: Put 1-2 teaspoons of filling in the middle of a wrapper. Dip your finger in the water and draw it around the entire rim of the wrapper, to make it stick together. Fold the corners in to make a little pyramidal purse-like shape, and make sure it’s clamped together well so no filling falls out.
Once you’ve finished you’re wrapping, get out a large saute pan (note: you need a pan with a lid.) Put about 1 tablespoon duck fat in the pan and heat over high heat to very hot.
Add the potstickers to the pan, flat side down, close but not touching. Cook over high heat until browned. Pour about 1/4 cup water into the pan and cover quickly with a lid. Steam for 3-4 minutes with the lid tightly closed. Remove lid and continue cooking until all the water evaporates and the potstickers crisp up.
Remove to a plate layered with paper towels and set aside. For remaining batches, clean the pan out with paper towels and start over with new oil.
Serve alongside hoisin sauce or plum sauce, on a bed of purple cabbage if you want to look fancy.

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{recipe} Yosemite-Ready Granola Bars with Dried Cherries, Almonds, & Cocoa Nibs

Karen — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:07:37 +0000

Last weekend I had the great fortune to spend some time in Yosemite. I went with some friends who are really excellent cooks and hosts, so I wanted to impress them by showing up with homemade granola bars for our hikes so I could seem like one of those overachieving perfectionist-types. Of course, these guys have known me for about ten years, so we all knew I wasn’t fooling anyone! Still, the end result for all of us: homemade granola bars with dried cherries, almonds, and cocoa nibs to fuel us through our very non-strenuous and pleasant hikes.

What can I say about Yosemite that hasn’t already been said? We got to see the beginnings of fall colors, with vibrant yellow and orange leaves contrasted with the towering granite grays and misty white waterfalls…

Sun glinting through the pine trees as if they were daytime fireworks…

And of course, the always heart-stopping view of that most famous of Yosemite landmarks, Half Dome.

The icing on the cake: dinner in the dining room of what is ostensibly the masterpiece of all national park lodges, the 1927 WPA-era Ahwahnee Hotel, and a brandy by the oversized fireplace to top off the evening.

Recipe: Granola Bars with Dried Cherries, Almonds, & Cocoa Nibs
makes about 16 granola bars

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups rolled oats (not quick-cooking)
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup sliced or slivered almonds
1/2 cup almond butter
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 Tblsp flaxseed oil
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp freshly grated ginger root
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup cocoa nibs
1/2 cup dried cherries (cut in half if they are large)

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment or foil.
Combine oats, sunflower seeds, wheat germ, and almonds. Spread on baking pan and toast in the oven for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and pour into a large mixing bowl.
Meanwhile, combine almond butter, honey, maple syrup, flaxseed oil, brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon, and salt in a saucepan. Heat over medium heat, whisking, until the mixture is melted together and fully combined.
Pour melted mixture into oats. Add cocoa nibs and dried cherries and mix everything together until fully combined.
Lightly oil your hands. Press mixture on to the baking sheet, pressing the mixture down and squishing it tightly together, forming an even rectangle that’s about 18 inches by 24 inches.
Bake 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for at least 2 hours.
Use a large sharp knife to cut into bars. Store in an airtight container , with pieces of parchment, saran wrap, or foil in between.

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{recipe} Crunchy Oil-Free Granola Made Exactly to your Liking

Karen — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 23:02:08 +0000

I used to think eating granola was healthy. I would eat a big bowl with milk for breakfast, feeling virtuous about starting my day right with one of those “balanced breakfasts” people are always going on about. Several years back, I took a temporary job making granola for a high-end, organic boutique granola business. I was more than mildly surprised to learn that this expensive, hand-crafted, and much sought-after granola was loaded with Wesson oil. I mean, we’re talking bottles and bottles of the stuff for a reasonably small batch. Virtuous? Hardly. I might as well be eating a giant plate of french fries dipped in mayo for breakfast. An order of large fries from McDonald’s has fewer calories than a cup of most kinds of granola! Of course some of the granola’s calories come from the sweetening and the nuts, but the oil is definitely not helping. So why not make your own?

The weird thing is you can make really terrific granola with no oil, so it’s unclear to me how that practice got to be so commonplace. You do need something sweet, or else you just have some dried-out oats, so let’s not be crazy here. But you actually don’t need very much sweet stuff to make good granola. Also, making it yourself is really cheap, especially if you’re like me and you use it as a way to clean out the hodgepodge collection of nut remnants that lurks in your freezer. (Or am I the only one who has miniscule amounts of 15+ different kinds of nuts leftover from other projects?)

This is more of a how-to than a recipe, because you should be allowed to put whatever you like in your granola. I mean, it’s a free country so if you hate raisins then by god you shouldn’t have to wake up to them. This is a basic formula I use that can be adapted depending on which types of dried fruits, nuts, and seasonings you like. Compared to store-bought granola, this version is a lot cheaper, it’s a lot less caloric, and it tastes better because you can make it just how you like it.

Oil-Free Granola Made Exactly to your Liking
makes about 7-8 cups

INGREDIENTS:

5 cups rolled oats
about 1 1/2 cups dried fruit, raisins, etc. of your choice (I used a medley of dried cherries, dried apricots, dried bananas, and dried mango)
about 1/2 cup chopped or sliced nuts or seeds of your choice (I used sliced almonds)
1/2 cup brown sugar (could substitute date sugar, white sugar, raw sugar, your choice)
1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
1 tsp vanilla (more or less as you like it)
big pinch of salt
1-2 tsp cinnamon or other spice of your choice (powdered ginger, pinch of cloves, allspice, etc.)
optional: handful of flax seeds, dried coconut, sunflower or pumpkin seeds, etc.

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 275 F. Prepare a half sheet pan or other cookie sheet with sides with a piece of parchment or foil. Spray with cooking spray or brush lightly with oil. (If you are super anti-oil you can skip this without too much harm, but it does help it prevent sticking.)
In the microwave or on the stovetop, heat the brown sugar and maple syrup or honey with 1/4 cup of water until the sugar is melted and combined. Add salt and any seasonings like vanilla or spices to the mixture and stir to combine.
Toss the sugar mixture with the oats to coat well. Add the nuts, seeds, and dried fruits and toss again.
Pour onto prepared pan and flatten into an even layer. Bake 15 minutes at a time, stirring well in between. After 45 minutes, test a few oats to see if they are crunchy. When oats are crunchy, remove from the oven. Total cooking time should be about 1 hour.
Let cool to room temperature, tossing occasionally during cooling process. Store in an airtight container.

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{recipe} Creamy Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho

Karen — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 19:34:04 +0000

In San Francisco, we suffer through a cold and foggy July and August in anticipation of the warm, sunny Indian summer days that arrive during September and October. While our East Coast counterparts are thinking about pulling out winter coats and boots, in the Bay Area we’re just breaking in our shorts and flip-flops to soak up these late-arriving rays. The heirloom tomatoes are perfectly ripe and the sun is out, so what better time to make cool, creamy gazpacho?

I think gazpacho is a smashing summer idea, but it always has cucumbers in it. At the risk of offending cucumber-lovers out there, let me just say that cucumbers are so gross. I’ll grudgingly admit that they add some creaminess and tang to the soup, so I adapted a Melissa Clark recipe for gazpacho that eschews the cucumbers in favor of sheep’s milk yogurt–which is both creamy and tangy, and more importantly, totally not gross.

I made a big batch to bring over to some friends who are about to have their first baby. With this in their freezer, they can pull it out to thaw in the fridge and enjoy it some sunny day in the near future. I saved some for myself and poured it into 5 oz glasses so I could serve it as a tiny soup course before a dinner party. No spoons needed – just a shot of late-summer tomato sweetness down the gullet.

Creamy Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho
serves 8

INGREDIENTS:

4 garlic cloves, peeled
4 scallions, white and light green part only
about 2 lbs. ripe heirloom tomatoes, cored and roughly chopped
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 Tblsp red wine vinegar
about 2 tsp salt (more to taste)
large pinch cayenne pepper (more to taste)
16 oz. plain full-fat sheep’s-milk yogurt (can substitute regular yogurt, but for best results use a full-fat yogurt with a creamy texture)

METHOD:

Put everything except yogurt in a blender and blend until creamy.
Add yogurt and blend again. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
Serve immediately at room temperature or chill in the fridge for a few hours to overnight and serve cold.

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{how to} Five Minute Padron Peppers

Karen — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 14:01:40 +0000

Every year, it seems like all of the restaurants get together and decide they’re going to put some new food on every single menu in town. Whether it’s purslane, chicories, Calabrian chiles, or ramps–I’m quite convinced that the restaurant mafia is constantly figuring out how to promote some non-mainstream produce item that suddenly shows up everywhere. A few years ago, you couldn’t eat out in San Francisco without being offered roasted Brussels sprouts (not new per se, but new to fancy food). Years before that, you couldn’t open a menu that didn’t have fingerling potatoes on it. Last year, this nouveau item was padron peppers (or sometimes, shishito peppers, which look pretty similar.)

Padron peppers are one of the most exciting vegetables you can buy, because about 95% of them are sweet and delicious, with maybe just a hint of spice, while the other 5% are super spicy. You can’t tell which is which, though, until you take a bite. This makes them fun to share with friends, and the risk/reward really livens things up. They are almost always served in some variation of the same preparation: sauteed in a pan. When I saw them at the Farmers Market recently, I bought a whole mess, rinsed them off, and quickly seared them with salt in a hot pan of olive oil. They only take about 5 minutes, and you just eat them whole off the stem.

So thanks, restaurant mafia- without you, I may have died not knowing what a padron pepper was or how to eat one. They’re so easy and tasty, and their spice variance provides a nice conversation point. These are definitely becoming part of the regular last-minute side dish repertoire.

This is too easy to be an actual recipe, so I’ll just explain how you make them. Rinse whole padron peppers off well and leave to dry in a colander. Heat a little olive oil in a pan on high heat and heat to very hot. Add peppers and season with salt. Cook, tossing or stirring often, for about 5 minutes, until peppers have some blistered and blackened bits and they are soft enough to eat. Serve immediately with an empty bowl on the table for discarded stems.

A quick note: I don’t really like bell peppers, especially green ones, but I like these.

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{recipe} Tuna Confit on Avocado Toast

Karen — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 18:53:08 +0000

I mostly prefer to eat my tuna raw or seared, but I make an exception and eat it fully cooked when it’s prepared this way. You need to plan ahead, as the tuna has to marinate in an oil mixture for at least 6 hours, but all told it’s a snap to make. Instead of buttering or oiling the toast that holds the confit, I was inspired to add the avocado smear instead after eating a fabulous avocado toast with boquerones at Beast and the Hare.

Originally conceived as an appetizer, I’ve found that tuna confit can be appropriately served and enjoyed nearly any time of the day. You can eat this in place of your usual lunchtime sandwich, or for a luxurious breakfast. My husband particularly likes to eat this for a hearty weekend brunch, topped with a runny fried egg and some chili flakes.

Tuna Confit on Avocado Toast

serves 4 as an appetizer; 2 as a main dish

Ingredients:

1/2 pound fresh tuna, cut in chunks
1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp olive oil, divided
zest of 1 lemon
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1 Tblsp Dijon mustard (smooth or grainy is fine)
1 Tbsp sherry vinegar (can substitute white wine or champagne vinegar)
leaves from 8 sprigs thyme, chopped (can substitute another fresh herb if you like)
2 tsp capers, rinsed
salt and pepper to taste
6 slices crusty bread of your choice (if serving as an appetizer – use smaller pieces or cut them in halves or thirds again)
half of a soft avocado

Method:

Place tuna, 1/2 cup olive oil, lemon zest, and garlic in a small bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste and mix well. Try to cover the tuna with the oil. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap on top of the tuna. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours, for up to 24 hours.
About 40 minutes before serving, put the tuna mixture into a saute pan and cook for about 5 minutes on medium low, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat and let sit 20-30 minutes.
Remove tuna from oil and mash well with a fork. Add mustard, vinegar, remaining Tbsp olive oil, herbs, capers, and salt and pepper to taste.
Toast bread in the oven, on the grill, or in the toaster. Smear a dollop of avocado on each piece of toast. Top with tuna mixture. Serve immediately.

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{recipe} Spring Tart with Favas, Asparagus, Ramps, and Fromage Blanc

Karen — Wed, 25 May 2011 05:44:39 +0000

This is a tart that practically screams “SPRING!!!!”–and as the springtime is rapidly coming to a close for this year, I’d better share the recipe for this seasonal favorite.

You get to enjoy the fresh asparagus, fava beans, and ramps two ways in this super spring tart: in a pesto that makes the base, and as whole pieces scattered on top. Topped with a few shallots and a smattering of fromage blanc on a puff pastry crust, you have the perfect dish to serve at brunch, as an appetizer, or as a light dinner. Drizzle it with a little truffle oil and you’ll put it over the top. If you serve it at brunch time, you can top each square with a fried egg. Any way you serve it, this tart will be a hit!

Of course, in other seasons, you could use the same basic premise and employ the bounty of {insert season here.} Feel free to be creative! If you can’t find ramps, you can try substituting a few scallions plus a clove of garlic.

Fromage blanc is a lovely cheese that stands up really well in the oven, but if you can’t find it or don’t like it, you could substitute goat cheese, feta, or, for a very different taste, crumbles of blue cheese.

If you’ve never worked with fresh fava beans, and you want more details, you can read this post–although, I’ve become much less of a fava wimp since then.

Spring Tart with Favas, Asparagus, Ramps, and Fromage Blanc

serves 6

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb fresh fava beans in their pods
1 bunch asparagus (about 15 medium stalks)
1 small bunch ramps, trimmed and roughly chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 Tblsp olive oil
1/4 cup parmesan
1/2 tsp lemon juice
2 shallots, sliced thinly
1/4 to 1/3 cup fromage blanc
1 sheet frozen puff pastry

Method:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Remove the fava beans from their pods. Boil a salted pot of water and cook the favas for about 2-3 minutes, until their secondary shell starts to come apart at the edges. Drain and rinse in cool water. Remove the peels and discard.
Trim the asparagus spears, then cut them into 1 inch pieces. Reserve the flowery top sections and set aside. Boil a salted pot of water and cook the asparagus bottoms in the pot for 3-4 minutes, until tender. Drain and rinse with cold water.
Put about half the fava beans, the cooked asparagus bottoms, and half the ramps in the food processor and pulse to chop finely. Add olive oil, parmesan, lemon juice, and salt to taste. Continue processing until you have a pesto-like consistency.
Roll out the puff pastry on a silpat or piece of lightly oiled parchment paper, to a rectangle the size and shape of a half sheet pan. Roll the edges of the puff pastry inward to create a small edge.
Spread the pesto evenly across the puff pastry with a spatula. Distribute the reserved fava beans, uncooked asparagus tops, and ramps on top of the pesto. Add the shallot slices. Crumble the fromage blanc over the top with your hands.
Bake for 30-40 minutes, until the puff pastry is cooked through and lightly browned. Let sit for about five minutes, then cut and serve at the table with a drizzle of truffle oil, if desired.

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{recipe} Balsamic Baby Artichokes with Garlic Chips and Parmesan

Karen — Mon, 09 May 2011 03:30:44 +0000

When I walk by those cute little baby artichokes in the store, I can’t resist them. They are adorable! Plus, unlike fully mature adult artichokes, they don’t actually have a “choke” to contend with, so they’re a bit easier to prepare. I like them parboiled and sauteed, then simply tossed with balsamic vinegar, a squeeze of lemon, a splash of tabasco, a handful of parmesan, and some savory garlic chips.

I like artichokes for health reasons, too. The edible part of a large artichoke is only about 25 calories! Plus, they are a good source of fiber, vitamin C, and folic acid. They are also one of the most antioxidant-rich foods you can eat. A USDA study ranked the antioxidant content of different vegetables, and found that artichokes are the number one vegetable for antioxidants.

Did you know that artichokes temporarily change your taste perception? Artichokes contain a compound called cynarin that mess with your tongue–and your mind–making things taste sweeter post-artichoke. Take a sip of water after your next bite of artichoke and you’ll see that it tastes sweeter. This is why you’ll never see artichokes at a wine tasting; they alter the taste of the wine significantly. If you want to serve wine with artichokes, you can counteract the sweet effect by choosing a highly acidic white or a bone-dry champagne.

Balsamic Baby Artichokes with Garlic Chips

serves 2 as an appetizer or side dish

Ingredients:

3/4 lb baby artichokes
Juice of 1 lemon
2 Tblsp olive oil
5 cloves garlic, sliced as thinly as possible
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
Tabasco to taste
3 Tblsp grated parmesan

Method:

Prepare a medium-sized bowl with cold water. Add half the lemon juice.
Trim the bottom of each artichoke, then cut them in half. Use your hands or your knife to strip away the tough outer leaves (this may be a lot of leaves–don’t be shy about stripping them away; the tough leaves won’t taste good.) As you’re working, place the trimmed artichokes in the bowl with the lemon juice and water so they don’t oxidize.
Heat a pot of salted water on the stove over high heat. When the water boils, drain the artichokes and add them to the boiling water. Cook for 2-4 minutes, until tender. (How long you cook them will depend on how big they are.) Drain well, then pat with paper towels to dry and set them aside.
Prepare a small plate with 2 layers of paper towels and set it by the stove. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the olive oil over high heat. When oil is shimmering, add half the garlic slices and watch them very carefully. As soon as they begin to brown around the edges, remove them from the pan with a slotted spoon and put them on the prepared plate. (They will continue to cook and fully brown after you remove them.) If you burn some, it’s OK – just throw them out. Repeat process with remaining garlic slices.
Make sure there is no garlic in the pan before proceeding. Add artichokes to the garlic oil in the pan and season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Cook the artichokes, flipping every minute or so, for about 3-5 minutes, until they are crisp and browned. (Be careful as the oil may splatter when you first add the artichokes.) . Remove the artichokes to a small mixing bowl.
Add vinegar, remaining lemon juice, and Tabasco to the bowl and toss the artichokes. Add almost all of the parmesan, reserving one or two teaspoons, and toss to mix. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed. Add half of garlic chips and toss to mix.
Spoon onto serving platter. Sprinkle with reserved parmesan and remaining garlic chips. Serve immediately.

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{recipe} Mexican Green Goddess Dressing

Karen — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:24:03 +0000

The other night, my sister graciously invited me over for dinner and asked me to bring a salad. She told me she was making potato and chorizo tacos from this fantastic Tacolicious recipe featured in Food & Wine, and I hemmed and hawed over what kind of salad to make, since I can never figure out what salad goes with Mexican food. I decided to take a little creative license and throw a bunch of things in a blender to create something akin to a Mexican Green Goddess dressing–a tangy, creamy blend of pepitas (raw green pumpkin seeds) from the local Mexican market, coriander, cilantro, and lime.

Call me La Ganadora! I was tempted to lick the jar clean before the salad was served. This would be good on tortillas, on chicken, on toast, whatever–to me, it’s like salad dressing crack. Did I mention you just make it by throwing a bunch of things in a blender?

As for the salad, do what you like. I went with a torn head of red leaf lettuce with Granny Smith apple, red onion, and avocado, topped with corn tortilla strips quickly fried in oil and salted.

Did you know that coriander and cilantro are from the same plant? “Coriander” usually refers to the seed and “cilantro” usually refers to the seed. However, I was just in England where the term “coriander” is used interchangeably for the seed and the leaf–something worth noting if you’re one of those folks who can’t stand cilantro. In this recipe, the coriander flavor will pop more if you grind whole coriander seeds fresh, and it will be more subtle if you use powdered coriander. I have an extra coffee grinder at home just for spices, because I don’t fancy my coffee tasting like coriander.

Mexican Green Goddess Dressing
Makes enough to dress one head of lettuce

Ingredients:

1/2 cup pepitas (raw green pumpkin seeds)
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 cup packed cilantro leaves
juice and zest of 1 lime
3 green onions, trimmed, light green and white parts only
2 Tblsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 large pinch salt
6 Tblsp vegetable oil

Method:

Put everything except the oil in a blender or food processor and blend to chop finely.
With the blender going, add oil in a slow stream and process until smooth.
If not eating immediately, store in a jar or closed container in the fridge.
If it’s too thick, whisk in a bit of oil or water before serving to thin it out.

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