Saag

Let me start this post with 3 confessions:

1. I don't know jack - Jitendara? - about Indian food, other than that it's delicious.
2. I don't know diddly about babies.
3. I can't stand low-carb diets.

Ironically, I've made Indian food twice this week, am 7 months pregnant, and am on a low-carb diet due to gestational diabetes.

Life is weird that way.

Friends of mine had a baby boy last month.  They've been incredibly kind and supportive as I've progressed through my own pregnancy, so I offered to take them dinner and a gift for the baby.  They gladly accepted.  Then the wife drops this bomb: she's allergic to tomatoes.

I started going through my mental recipe repertoire & excluding the things that have tomatoes in them.  Crap, that's like everything that I make this time of year.  Chili, pot roast, many soups... all out.  And because I can only have very limited amounts of carbs, no pastas either.

I remembered having seen a Veena's Market saag spice packet in my cupboard.  I bought a few of them last year around Christmas and this was the last package.  I called my friends and asked if they like Indian food and, if so, could she eat spicy food while breastfeeding.  The answer to both questions was a resounding "yes".  Saag it was!

What, exactly, is "saag"?  According to this website:

Saag, or palak, dishes are spiced purees of spinach or other greens common in northern India. They often contain additional ingredients such as potatos, fresh cheese, chicken or chickpeas to make a more substantial dish.

Gene, who doesn't like cooked spinach, loves this dish.  If you're not a cooked spinach fan, try this recipe once before dismissing it.

I wanted to make my saag with chicken.  I started out with cutting up 2 chicken breasts and cooking them in oil.  Then I just put them aside while I made the spinach puree.

Veena's instructions are to saute the spices in oil, then add chopped onions.  You have to be very careful about this because it's shockingly easy to burn the spices and ruin your dish.  Her packets are numbered for you.  (BTW, Veena is a friend of mine but I bought these packets.)

Next, you add the spinach and let it wilt - this takes about a minute.  Don't be shy about how much spinach you're using; it will reduce significantly.

From there, you put the spinach into a blender with some water and puree it.  Return it to the saucepan with the chicken to reheat, salt to your taste, and stir in a dollop of plain yogurt.  Serve the saag over rice or...

... can you guess what this is?  It's not rice.  Nor is it couscous.

This, my friends, is cauliflower!  Run raw cauliflower through a food processor until it looks like couscous.  Out it into a microwave-safe bowl and cook without water until it's done, perhaps 3-4 minutes.  Voila: low-carb rice alternative.

Because I was travelling with this dish, I simply layered the ingredients in a covered Pyrex dish and reheated it once I arrived at my friends' house.

They asked to keep the leftovers. 

As for the gift for their son, a little pair of light green merino wool booties, I completely forgot to take pictures!  The booties fit him perfectly and both parents were appreciative.  They've promised pictures, which I'll post upon receipt.

I still have so much to learn about babies.  The first time I held my friends' new son I experienced a panicked feeling of "ok, now what do I do with this little guy?".  I haven't changed a diaper since the early 1990s, if then.  I just bought some nursing bras and laughed at the sight of my boobs in holsters.  Gene, who has children from his first marriage, looks at my boobs & apologizes "for what's going to happen to them in the next few months".  Yikes.

I'll figure it out.

Some Like It Hot

My parents gave us a spice rub from Costco about a year ago and to be honest, I just gave it away.  It was very salty and the spices were, well, boring.  It had pepper and something red - probably paprika - but no oomph, nothing to blow your skirt up.

Not so with this spice rub.  The salt is but a minor player in this recipe, singing back-up to the Aretha, Mariah, and Christina of the spice world: pepper, chili powder, and cinnamon.

When I first made this recipe, it was because I had all the ingredients.  This time I had to go get many of the spices.  Rather than buy bottles of spices, which would make this ridiculously expensive, head for a grocery store that sells bulk spices (Fred Meyer has these) and get just what you need.

In a bowl, mix together the following:

• 
  
  1/4 cup kosher salt
• 
  
  2 T coarsely ground pepper
• 
  
  1 T ground coriander
• 
  
  3 T ground cumin
• 
  
  2 T each: paprika, dried thyme, *chili powder (see update below re: chili powder)
• 
  
  1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 
  
  2 t ground cinnamon

This is what it looks like.  I wish you could smell it.

The sugar caramelizes on the meat as it cooks and the spices blacken.  It's spicy but oh-so-good!

The recipe suggests these marinating times:

• shrimp/scallops - 15 mins
• chicken breats & thighs - 30-60 mins
• beef & lamb - 60 mins
• pork chops & tenderloin - 45-60 mins

I bet if you mixed this with some yogurt and marinated some chicken in that, it would be delicious and tender.  Try it, and tell me what you think!

And anytime you're marinating over an hour, put it into the fridge.

**UPDATE**

My neighbor told me that the 2nd batch of rub didn't have the same kick as the first one.  I may have used cayenne pepper instead of chili powder.  Make it per the recipe & add some cayenne if you want it spicier.

Making scones healthier

I have no photos for this post.  I was pre-coffee/tea and just didn't get around to it.  Sorry.

The Pioneer Woman makes lots of lovely things, including butter- and cream-ridden scones that probably top out around 600 calories each.  We don't live on a cattle ranch and we don't quite expend the calories a typical day of wrangling does.

So as much as I love Ree's scones - and her cooking in general - I just can't bring myself to make them the same way she does, with butter and cream and cheese, oh my!

What I can do, however, is use her recipes for ideas and starting points for my own cooking.

Today, for example, I decided to make vanilla bean scones.  I happen to have a few vanilla beans lying around.  I also have quite a few cherries because they're in season and I've been buying them up like it's my patriotic duty to consume as many cherries as possible.

I took at look at Ree's recipe and decided that 2 sticks of butter was not gonna happen.  Additionally I didn't have any cream and I wanted some fiber in the scones. 

Her recipe called for -> I used instead:

• 2 sticks of butter -> about 1 1/3 sticks butter
• 3 cups all-purpose flour -> 2 cups AP flour + 1 cup whole wheat
• 3/4 cup cream -> 3/4 cup 1% yogurt
• a glaze using 3 cups powdered sugar and whole milk -> nothing
• nothing -> 1 cup chopped fresh cherries

My Alton Brown-esque rationale is that as I was figuring out the replacements was to determine the purpose of each.  In general fat is what makes baked goods moist.  The addition of the cherries introduced moisture that was removed by the reduction of the butter. 

The cream is there to act as a binder (along with an egg) to pull together the dry ingredients and to make it all moist.  I may try to decrease the butter to 1 stick next time, while increasing the yogurt to 1 cup.

As for the whole wheat flour, it gave the scones a slightly nutty flavor and made them a bit heartier.  Heartier = more satisfying = eat less.

Right as I pulled the scones out of the oven my dad showed up for a visit.  He stayed for a cup of coffee and some fresh, hot scones.  G-man is working from home today and I finally put the scones away after hearing him amble through the kitchen and mutter "these things are too damn good".  This from a man who doesn't generally like cooked fruit.

That seems a good endorsement of the healthy-fied recipe!  We didn't miss the sweet glaze nor any of the fat from the cream and extra butter. 

It's totally possible to make many recipes healthier.  Try your own recipe edits and let us know how they go.

Get some culture

Do you remember this commercial for Rice Crispy Treats where the mom is in the kitchen reading a juicy romance novel?


There's another, older version here.

Making creme fraiche is a lot like that commercial.  It's easier and faster than yogurt, which makes me rethink my yogurt methodology. 

If you're not familiar with creme fraiche, here's some info from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-creme-fraiche.htm:

Crème fraiche is a delicious, thinner form of sour cream first developed by the French. It has a slight hold and tanginess because it contains bacterial cultures. Crème fraiche can be used as a topping, in sauces, or in a variety of other applications, and many prefer it to the standard and more commonly available sour cream because of its creamy texture.

One of the advantages of crème fraiche is that it doesn’t “break” or become unstable when added to sauces. This is due to its high fat content. If you’re making thick cream soups, Hungarian Goulash or any type of sauce that you want thickened with cultured cream, crème fraiche is a great choice, and a much better choice than sour cream. Crème fraiche is additionally delicious when you whip it with a little powdered sugar and vanilla. It can be ladled over fresh berries, or any kind of fruit, or can make up a sweet filling for crepes.

If you've ever added sour cream to a hot soup or sauce and it curdled, then you know what it means to have a cream "break".  It looks gross when that happens.

Why would you make your own?  Because it's ridiculously expensive.  An 8-ounce tub or jar of it starts around $5.

But cream is only a couple of bucks for a pint (16 ounces).  Buttermilk, which provides the starter culture, is also cheap.  Once you have a batch you can use the leftover bits of one batch to start another.

Here's how.  Are you ready?  You need:

• One pint heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons of buttermilk (use the leftovers to make pancakes or blueberry muffins)
• Clean jar with tight-fitting lid
• A countertop
• A fork or small whisk
• A night

Make sure that your buttermilk contains live active cultures.  If you can get buttermilk without all this extra crap, go for it.  The main thing you need is the cultures. 

I made my most recent batch from the previous one so you're going to see that my pics vary somewhat.  I also used Smith Brothers instead of Darigold.  Smith Brothers is the last dairy in the area that delivers.  We love them lots and lots and lots!

OK, since you're starting from scratch, get ready for this part.  It's really hard. 

Open the pint of cream and microwave it for about 50-60 seconds.  You're not heating it, just taking the chill off of it.

Next, pour it into a jar or container.  The pic below is from the first batch I made a couple of weeks ago.  Pour in 2 tablespoons of buttermilk (1 for each cup of cream) and mix vigorously with a fork or cocktail whisk or put a lid on the container and just shake it.  Who needs a shake-weight?

This pic is from the second batch, which I made from my first (the one above).  I warmed up the cream then poured it into the old jar.  I put on the lid, shook the crap out of it, then poured the cultured cream into a clean jar.

We're talking radical stuff here.  You don't see the blue bag that my husband accidentally moved into the shot, really you don't! 

Almost done.

Put a lid on it and leave it on the counter overnight.

Really people, it's OK to leave dairy on the counter for a while.  Leave it out all night.  These are beneficial bacteria, not the ones that promote spoilage.

I eat cultured dairy products all the time and I'm fine.  See?

Bwahahah.  I love that picture.  I can't believe how many teeth I used to have!

The next morning you'll open the jar to find a thick, possibly bubbly or foamy batch of creme fraiche.  Use it in asparagus soup, pasta with bleu cheese-tomato sauce, or add some sugar and vanilla to it and serve with fresh fruit and berries. 

It's so thick that the bubble I broke stayed there.

G-man and I can't wait for local fruits to come into season.  We are really sick of apples.  Creme fraiche will be a perfect accompaniment to some strawberries.

Cherry-almond scones with chocolate

Last June I canned and froze a whole bunch of cherries.  This year I think I'll dry some instead of canning because they'd be great in granola.  Besides, canned cherries are kind of ugly and we never knew what to do with them.

There are still 2 baggies of frozen cherry halves in the freezer.  With cherry season rapidly approaching those cherries need to get used. 

I awoke this morning with an idea for cherry-almond scones with chocolate.  I decided to adapt someone else's recipe to fit my needs.  Mine are quite different, however, and marginally healthier.

I thought there might be some almonds squirreled away somewhere.  This was all that was left.  That changed my plan to have almonds in the scones. 

I chopped them up anyway and then I did something completely crazy: measured.  I don't measure too carefully when it comes to cooking, but baking is another matter. 

CHERRY-ALMOND SCONES WITH CHOCOLATE AND WHOLE WHEAT

SCONES

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/3 cup sugar

5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/2 cup chopped chocolate bits

2/3 to 3/4 cup chopped fresh, frozen, or canned cherries

1 egg

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup yogurt

1/2 tsp almond extract

GLAZE
2 cups powdered sugar
2-3 drops almond extract
Mere dribbles of milk

Preheat oven to 350.

Put the first 6 ingredients in a food processor and mix until blended.  This should take about 30 seconds or so.  The bowl of my processor was too small to handle all this, so I just did the flours and butter, then mixed in the rest by hand.

Chop up the frozen cherries.  Do not thaw.  If you're using fresh or canned cherries, be sure to drain them well before adding to the mix.

Mix the cherries and the chopped chocolate into the flour mixture.  Doing this before mixing in the wet ingredients coats the cherries with flour so that they won't clump together.

Mix the cream, yogurt, egg, and almond extra together.  If you're wondering why I used part yogurt and part cream, it's just because I had cream leftover from making creme fraiche.  Any other day I probably would make this only with yogurt.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry...

... mix quickly but thoroughly.  You are not trying to create gluten like you would in a bread.

Dump the whole kit-n-caboodle onto a a floured surface.

Gently pat it into a disk.  You can roll it afterwards with a rolling pin but I don't think it's really necessary.

Using a large, sharp knife, cut the disk into 8 or more wedges.  I made some big ones and some small ones.  I've got this ancient, super thin spatula that a former roommate left in my old apartment.  It's perfect for sliding underneath delicate things like scones.  She thought it was junk but it's my favorite spatula.

Transfer the scones to a baking sheet lined with a silicone pad, parchment paper, or one that's been sprayed liberally.  I baked half of my scones and froze the other half.  I'll pull them out of the oven in a few weeks and have homemade scones with tea or coffee in less time than I could run to Starbucks.

If you do freeze yours, freeze them on a silpat or parchment paper, then put them into a baggie once they're solid.

Put the scones into the pre-heated oven and cook for 25 minutes if you used frozen cherries.  My small scones needed the full amount of time and my larger scones needed another 5 minutes.  If you're using canned or fresh cherries, I'd start checking the scones around 22 minutes.

While the scones are cooking, make the glaze.  Put the powdered sugar into a bowl, add a couple of drops of almond extract, then add about a half a teaspoon of milk.  It will look like this, and you'll be tempted to add a lot more milk.

Don't do it.  Add milk just a few drops at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Go slowly here!  It's really surprising how little liquid it takes to melt powdered sugar.  Keep going until it looks like this:

Cool the scones completely on a rack over waxed paper.  This is the hardest part because they smell so good!  But if you try to ice them before they're cool, the glaze will just run off in a hot mess.

Dribble the glaze onto the cooled scones.  Depending upon how thick you made the glaze, it may need some coaxing like mine did.  Before the glaze dries and sets, sprinkle on the chopped almonds.

Now make yourself a cup of tea or coffee and go enjoy a peaceful breakfast.

Spinach-feta pie with a potato crust

I saw a recipe the other day for a cauliflower pie thing with melted cheese.  It had a crust made of grated potatoes & onions instead of flour and butter.  Then I forgot where I'd seen it (just remembered it was on CrumblyCookie.net). 

Turns out that the recipe has been around for years.  All that's old is really new again, eh? [shrug]

The problem was that I didn't have cauliflower.  I did, however, have a few eggs, some spinach, half an onion, feta cheese, creme fraiche, and some spring onions that needed to get used.

This potato had a bad toupee, which necessitated surgical removal.

Thus was born "Spinach-feta pie with a potato crust".  It was pretty darn tasty, too.

Crust:

• 2 cups grated raw potatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup grated onion
• cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Salt the potatoes & onions, then put them in a colander or strainer for about 10 minutes to drain.  After 10 minutes, squeeze them to work out some stress.

Combine the grated stuff with the beaten egg.

Spray a 9-10" pie pan liberally (there's a political joke in there somewhere).  Plop the mix into the pan and smoosh it out and up the sides so that it looks like, well, a crust.  Not much to this part.

Bake for about 40-45 minutes or until it's brown and crispy-looking.

Filling:

• 6 eggs
• 1 cup dairy of your choice: milk, yogurt, cream, creme fraiche (I had some because I'd tried making my own... more on that in a future post)
• Dash of nutmeg
• Red pepper flakes
• Salt & pepper
• 1/2 to 3/4 of a bag of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 4-5 green onions, finely chopped
• 1 package of feta cheese crumbles

Whisk together the eggs, dairy, and seasonings.  My red pepper flakes have lost their zip, so I added quite a lot (1/2 teaspoon).  Be conservative with the nutmeg - it's just enough to add a certain je ne sais quois.

Add in the spinach, green onions, and feta.

Yum.

Turn down the oven to 375.  Pour the filling into the potato crust and bake for another 35-45 minutes or until the filling is puffy and golden on top.

I liked this but my primary complaint is that we didn't eat dinner until almost 7:30.  This is not a fast meal.

But it is a yummy one!

The ingredients of a perfect weekend morning

I tend to be an early riser on weekends, up normally by 7 or 7:30. Today I was up before 6:30.

It's not because I'm one of those up-at-the-buttcrack-of-dawn people, either. Beaker was in the coop screeching to be let out at 6:24.

Ahh, chickens.

I think tomorrow's "spring forward" will be the first time I'll be glad to lose the hour because it will mean that Beaker and crew will start up at 7:20 instead of 6:20. At least for a little while. Last summer we were up at 5:30 some days.

Since I was already up I decided to make one of my favorite breakfasts: blueberry muffins. It's a recipe from Cooking Light's "Complete Cookbook" published in 2000. It's my go-to cookbook for ideas, tips, methods, and even recipes.

I'll post the recipe at the bottom.

What I love about this recipe, besides the fact that it's a cinch to make and the end result isn't cake-sweet, is that it's really flexible.

Don't have yogurt? Use sour cream!

If you haven't got any orange juice, increase the sugar and use lemon juice instead.

Heck, if you don't have a citrus juice OR a creamy dairy thing of some kind, make your own buttermilk and use that instead of both ingredients. You just need something acidic to activate the baking powder and soda.

Believe me, this is a very forgiving recipe.

Measure all your dry ingredients into a bowl and stir around with a fork to mix. My baking powder was lumpy so I broke it up between my fingers.

Save the fork. You'll use it again in a second.

My kitchen rules: don't dirty more dishes than you have to, and clean as you go.

Anyway, the recipe calls for a carton of yogurt - that's 1 cup.

Use whatever creamy dairy thing you happen to have in the fridge and want to use up, like ricotta or sour cream. I suppose you could thin some mascarpone with milk and use that, too.

I make yogurt a half gallon at a time, so you can imagine that I'm glad to find recipes that call for this much yogurt.

I would draw the line, however, at using tofu or ranch dressing. Gross.

Since I can't be bothered with getting another bowl dirty, I just combined the rest of the wet ingredients in the measuring cup and mixed it with the fork I had used to mix the dry ingredients.

Dump all of the wet ingredients on top of the dry ones and mix until it looks like you need to stir it 5-6 more times.

But don't.

The batter will look lumpy and will feel sponge-y (that's the baking powder and baking soda creating bubbles).

This is perfect. If you overmix the dough, you'll get lop-sided muffins with tunnel-like bubbles in them.

As Alton Brown would say, "that's not Good Eats". [...moment of nostalgia for cable...]

Gently fold in your blueberries, being careful not to squish them.

Spoon the batter into muffin tins coated with cooking spray, place in a pre-heated oven, and cook for 18 mins.

While the muffins are cooking, make yourself a pot of tea. I prefer a basic black English breakfast tea, myself.

Grab a muffin, a spot o' tea, and the newspaper and head for your favorite spot in the house.


This is my kitchen nook and the window looks into a giant French lilac.

You can barely make out the bird feed that's mounted about 12 inches outside the window. We call it kitty porn.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a date with a very handsome boy.


COOKING LIGHT BLUEBERRY-YOGURT MUFFINS

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

1 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

1/4 c orange juice (or lemon juice, or buttermilk)

2 T vegetable oil

1 t vanilla extract

1 cup or an 8-oz carton of yogurt (or a creamy dairy thing or some sort)

1 large egg

1 cup fresh or frozen bluberries

Cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix with a fork.

3. Combine all wet ingredients in a measuring cup and mix with a fork.

4. Dump wet into dry and stir until just barely incorporate. Do not overmix.

5. Fold in blueberries.

6. Spoon batter into muffin tins.

7. Bake for 18 mins or until wooden pick comes out clean.

8. Remove muffins immediately & cool on a rack.

9. Enjoy muffins with tea, a newspaper, and the company of a cat.

----------

LOCAL ingredients: yogurt, egg, blueberries