Multi-tasking

Things I made while working from home today (and yes, smarty pants, I did actually get work done. A lot of it!):

• slow cooker white chili
• 2+ quarts applesauce
• 1 roasted butternut squash
• 1 roasted acorn squash
• roasted beets
• pasta with sauteed mushrooms, thyme, and oregano in a white wine, butter, and smoked paprika sauce (after Chris got his serving, I added sage and some of the roasted acorn squash to that)

Things I learned:

•  it is in fact not easier to peel beets after they've been cooked. Well, maybe if you do it right it is. Somehow I didn't do it right
• it is possible to over-roast squash, but as it's going to become a soup this weekend I hope it'll be ok.
• A little sage goes a long way

Coconut and Lime Lassi

I am a fool.

No, no, no, you say. You're not a fool, why would you say such things about yourself.

But nay, let me assure you that I am a fool. Why, you ask? Well, it's perfectly simple. I love lassis. Whenever I go to an Indian restaurant, someone invariably orders a lassi and offers everyone else a sip, and it's wonderful. I never order one for myself because they're about $4 for a tiny glass and I'm too thrifty to pay that for a non-alcoholic drink. So I just watch the lucky joe who's freer with his cash than I am sit back and sip his lassi in perfect contentment.

So that makes you cheap, you say, but not a fool. [At which point, I correct you and say that I'm "thrifty," not "cheap."] It makes me a fool because do you know what a lassi is? It's basically diluted yogurt with sugar or salt. THAT'S IT. I could have been making lassis for DECADES. What a fool I've been!! I thought there was something tricky in it, like rice milk, something that I'd have to actually remember to get from the store and never would remember until I got home, slapping myself on the forehead.

Recipes seem to vary to taste based on how much water to yogurt, and then how much sugar/salt to the base. I saw one that was basically 1 cup of yogurt to 1 cup of water/ice cubes (to your liking), and then 2 tablespoons sugar in that with a pinch of salt, all blended together in a blender. But I think it really depends on your personal preference. Taste as you go. I guess a traditional lassi is actually salty, not sweet, but I may have to work up to that one. I had some coconut milk to use up, and it was hot today so I felt like something with a little more zing in it. I'm putting the recipe here, but I really just eyeballed it.

Coconut and Lime Lassi

Makes 2 drinks

1/2 cup coconut milk
1 1/2 cups yogurt
2 tablespoons sugar, plus more to taste
Juice from 1 lime
Thinly sliced lime circles for garnish, optional

Put coconut milk, yogurt, sugar, and lime juice in a blender. Blend until even and frothy, about 30 seconds. Add more sugar until it’s sweet enough to your liking. Pour into a pitcher or glasses, and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

UPDATE: Peach & coconut is also a great combo.

Drrrrooooooooooolllll...

No-bake chocolate cake

This is on the to-do list. I seem to be accumulating more things on the to-do list than I am actually to-doing. Part of the reason, I think, is that while I've been having an awful lot of appetite for breakfast (and second breakfast, and elevensies), I generally haven't had so much appetite for post-noon meals. Also, I don't think my midwife would approve of me eating this cake for elevensies, as would inevitably happen if I were to make it. So I'll file it away for some lucky future dinner party when I have the pretense of cooking for others to warrant making something that will, of course, need to be eaten the next morning asap before it goes bad. Of course.

Notes to self: berries or bananas on the bottom?

UPDATE 9/6

Results:
This was actually really disappointing. It didn't set very firmly, even after an overnight stint in the fridge. There was way too much salt in it, and it was really nothing more than the inside of a truffle, but a serving was so huge that you got tired of the chocolate (I know, crazy talk!). Anyway. Skip.

Italian bread

From Food.com

• 5 1/2-6 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 5 teaspoons active dry yeast ( 2 packages )
• 1 tablespoon butter or 1 tablespoon margarine, softened
• 1 3/4 cups very warm water ( 120 -130 F)
• cornmeal
• peanut oil or light olive oil
• 1 egg whites
• 1 tablespoon cold water

Directions

• In large bowl thoroughly mix 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar, salt and undissolved yeast.
• Add butter.
• Gradually add warm water to dry ingredients and beat 2 minutes with mixer at medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally.
• Add 3/4 cup flour.
• Beat at high speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.
• Stir in enough additional flour to make a stiff dough.
• Turn dough onto a lightly floured board and knead until smooth and elastic (about 8-10 minutes).
• Cover dough with plastic wrap and then a towel and let it rest for 20 minutes.

To make loaves:
Divide dough in half.
Roll each half into a 15x10 inch rectangle.
Starting at wide side, roll up tightly; pinch seam to seal.
Taper ends by rolling gently back and forth.

To make rolls:
Divide dough into 6 equal pieces.
Roll each piece into a rectangle 8x5 inches.
Starting with wide side, roll up tightly; pinch seam to seal.
Taper ends.

• Place the shaped dough seam side down on greased baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal.
• Brush dough with oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate 2-24 hours.
• When ready to bake, remove from refrigerator and uncover carefully. Let dough stand at room temperature for 10 minutes.
• Make 3 or 4 diagonal slits in dough with a sharp knife or razor blade.
• Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes for rolls, 20 minutes for loaves.
• Remove from oven and brush with egg white beaten with cold water.
• Return to oven; bake 5-10 minutes longer, or until golden.

 **Optional: add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon (adjust amounts to your preferences) of dried oregano OR basil OR rosemary to the dry ingredients. May also add 1 bulb (head) of roasted garlic cloves to the dry ingredients.

Results
I'm not posting this because I thought it was an awesome recipe, and it's not really what I think of when I think of Italian bread (although Betsy might disagree). Italian bread to me is crusty and flaky. This was more like a sweet French bread. Anyway, I'm posting it because 1) Chris liked it and I don't want to lose the recipe, B) it was pretty fast. I didn't put the dough in the fridge, so it was ready to go in the oven after about an 1.5 hr of rising, and finally) I think it has potential. We were talking and it would be a really great breakfast roll with cinnamon or honey butter, or (as I had for my breakfast this morning) with PB&J. I don't think it worked as a dinner roll, but that doesn't mean it might not work for other purposes, with some tweaking.

Lemony Zucchini Risotto

K came up to visit this weekend. We had an awesome time hanging out at the park all day at a bluegrass festival. We stayed until our ears were full, and then we decided to come home and fill our tummies. I found this online, but it's from Bittman's Food Matters Cookbook.

Makes: 4 servings

Time: 45 to 60 minutes

Risotto can be almost meager or incredibly luxurious; this one manages to be both, as the grated zucchini mostly melts away, leaving behind a creamy richness that doesn’t depend on tons of rice or mounds of cheese. Parboiling the brown rice as directed in Step 1 helps the rice absorb water quickly and evenly.

• Salt
• 1 cup short-grain brown rice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• Black pepper
• 1⁄2 cup dry white wine or water
• 3 to 5 cups vegetable or chicken stock or water
• 4 small or 2 large zucchini (about 1 1⁄2 pounds), grated
• Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1⁄2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, optional
• 1 tablespoon butter or additional olive oil, optional
• 1⁄2 cup chopped fresh basil, plus more for garnish, optional

1. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and salt it. Stir in the brown rice, adjust the heat so that the water bubbles steadily, and cook, without stirring, for 10 to 15 minutes. Drain well.
2. Put the oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. When it’s hot, add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until it softens, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring occasionally, until it is glossy and coated with oil, just a couple of minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then add the wine. Stir and let the liquid bubble away.
3. Begin to add the stock, about 1⁄2 cup at a time, stirring after each addition and every minute or so. When the stock is just about evaporated, add more. The mixture should be neither soupy nor dry. Keep the heat medium to medium-high and stir frequently.
4. After about 15 minutes of adding stock, stir in the zucchini and cook, stirring, until it releases its liquid and the mixture again becomes dry. Begin tasting the rice about 5 minutes later; you want it to be tender but with still a tiny bit of crunch. It could take as long as 45 minutes to reach this stage. When it does, stir in the lemon zest and juice, and the Parmesan, butter, and basil if you’re using them. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve immediately, garnished with additional basil if you like.

Lemony Zucchini Risotto with Fried Eggs. When the risotto is almost done, put a medium skillet over medium heat for about a minute. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil or butter and swirl it around the pan. When the oil is hot, crack 4 eggs into the skillet. When the whites become opaque, a minute later, turn the heat to low and sprinkle the eggs with salt and pepper. Cook until the yolks are set as you like them and the whites are completely firm; cut through the uncooked parts, if necessary, to encourage the still-liquid white to spread over the surface of the pan. Put 1 fried egg on top of each serving of risotto.

RESULTS: We both thought the flavor of this was spot on. Lemon + basil + Parmesan + shallots = yummy. (We used a shallot instead of an onion because we halved the recipe, and that's what I had on hand anyway.) The egg was also great. However, we found it took considerably longer than 60 minutes to make. After an hour and a half, we decided that it was good enough and ate it a bit closer to crunchy than al dente. From that, we have a couple notes: The first is to really par boil the rice for longer at the beginning (we did use the brown rice. This wouldn't be a problem if you used arborio rice). We only did it for 10 minutes, so try 15 or maybe even 20. The second is that if you do need to use more liquid than the recipe calls for, just use more water, not more stock. It gets more salty the more stock you add, and we found that even with an extra cup of stock (and trust me, I put in more than just one cup of extra liquid) it crossed the line from good salty to too salty. Otherwise, a great recipe! 

Taco seasoning

Plan A was to grill some hamburgers, but the big black rainclouds made us think better. I was out walking Harper before the rain started, and I promise you the temperature dropped 5 degrees in the span of a minute. Anyway, Plan B was then to make tacos, but upon arriving home from the store we realized we forgot taco seasoning (in addition to whole wheat flour and I'm sure a dozen other things that I meant to put on the list but didn't). Like the good husband to a mother-to-be that he is, Chris was all prepared to go back out in the storm to get some, but then, Internet to the rescue! I found the following on allrecipes.com. We think this recipe makes the equivilent of one taco seasoning packet. After you drain the fat from the browned meat and sprinkle this on (start with half and then work up to all of it, just in case it's too spicy), add about 2/3 cup of cold water with a little corn starch (I don't know, somewhere around half a teaspoon to a teaspoon?) dissolved in the water and let the water cook down.

• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (I would ease up on this a bit and only add more if you think you need it)
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Beet Rosti with Rosemary

From How to Cook Everything:

Yield 4 servings

Time 30 minutes

Keep the heat moderate — cooking too quickly will burn the sugary outside of the pancake while leaving the inside raw. And don’t forget to wear an apron when you're grating the beets. 

Ingredients

• 1.5 pounds beets 
• 1 teaspoon coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 tablespoons butter
• Minced parsley, a few rosemary leaves, or grates Parmesan cheese for garnish

1. Trim beets, and peel them as you would potatoes; grate them in food processor or by hand. Begin preheating 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat.

• 2. Toss grated beets in bowl with rosemary, salt and pepper. Add about half the flour; toss well, add rest of flour, and toss again.
• 3. Put butter in skillet; heat until it begins to turn nut-brown. Scrape beet mixture into skillet, and press with spatula to form a round. With medium to medium-high heat -- the pancake should gently sizzle -- cook, shaking pan occasionally, until bottom of cake is nicely crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Slide cake onto a plate, top with another plate, invert the two plates, and return cake to pan. Keep cooking, adjusting heat if necessary, until other side is browned, another 10 minutes or so. Garnish, cut into wedges, and serve hot or at room temperature.
• Results:
• Salty, sweet, and buttery, this is basically beet hash browns. It was just a gorgeous treat to make, first of all. I used red and golden beets, so the shredded beets in the glass bowl with little bits of rosemary were just lovely. To make things "easier" on myself, I learned how to use the grater on my food processor. I say "easier" because there was a bit of a learning curve. But once Chris figured it out, it really was very fun -- the food processor makes a great whirring noise--and I didn't have beet juice all over my kitchen.  I love that food processor. 
• Burning the sugars in the beets before the beets are cooked through is a real possibility--I would aim a little lower on the heat (medium or medium low), and only turn it up only if things seem to need a little more oomph. Be patient. If you're the only beet eater in the house, I would say go ahead and make the full recipe--the leftovers, though less crispy, are still pretty tasty, and beets are a great source of vitamins. And cheap, especially now at the farmers market.
• Finally, don't get too hung up on the amounts listed here. The recipe I found online actually called for 2 pounds of beets for 1/2 cup of flour and 2 tsp of rosemary, but I'm pretty sure the recipe in the book said 1.5 pounds of beets for the same amount of flour and half the rosemary (which is what I retyped above)... basically, this can really be to taste as long as you've got enough butter and flour to make the mechanics work.