Oven Baked Polenta Surprise

Like 99% of all New Yorkers, every day I walk by a corner pizza shop on the way from the subway to my apartment. Regardless of how questionable the establishment is, it’s always tempting to stop in for a slice whether it’s 3 pm or 3 am. On particularly grey, rainy days like yesterday, my cravings for gooey cheese go through the roof. However, on the rare occasion that I do get a slice, I’m often disappointed. The cheese is tasteless, the sprinkled parmesan resembles sand and worst of all, I wake up the next morning with no leftovers. (For anybody that knows me well, I have contemplated calling in sick rather than showing up at work with no lunch.)

This is where Baked Polenta Surprise comes in. It satisfies the exact same craving but it’s tastier and gives me lunch for a few days. I never used to make polenta because like risotto and McCann’s Irish Oatmeal, you have to stir it for way too long. But recently I discovered “An Elegant Gruel: Polenta” on New York Times’ Recipes for Health and now polenta is a fixture.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/08/health/nutrition/08recipehealth.html

All you do is mix one cup of corn meal with 4 cups of water and a bit of salt and throw it in the oven at 350. Fifty minutes later you have a nice, firm polenta to form the base for whatever you want to throw on top (i.e. the substitute for the pizza crust).

From here you can use your imagination. I like to cook up fresh tomatoes, garlic and spinach, layer it on the polenta, cover with cheese and bake for a few more minutes. Mushrooms and gorgonzola are a good topping too. I can imagine that sausage, tomatoes and basil would be delicious. Ham and pineapple? Not so much.

Early Morning Blueberries

Lately I have been waking up at 5 a.m. I think it’s a combination of flying back and forth between London and New York all summer, fear of bedbugs and a total absence of hangovers. The other morning I was actually craving a hangover simply because I so desperately wanted to still be asleep. Anyways, my early morning activities have consisted of washing down all my spices and spice rack, laundering the sub-leasers sheets and emailing my grandparents. If I’m feeling really wild, I indulge in watching Netflix in bed on my iphone. Crazy stuff.

This weekend I was home with my family in Boston so I decided to take advantage of the peaceful, early morning kitchen and make blueberry muffins at the crack of dawn instead. I followed Smitten Kitchen’s Perfect Blueberry Muffin recipe.

http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/08/perfect-blueberry-muffins/

I used those tiny wild blueberries which were amazing – although difficult to stir in without dying the entire muffin purple. I opted for sour cream over yoghurt since good, full fat yoghurt has all but disappeared from the shelves of suburban US supermarkets. (This is a major pet peeve of mine). These muffins aren’t sweet so don’t expect that sugar encrusted NYC deli muffin. Do expect to win major points with your family even if you are 34 years old and have been mooching off their stocked fridge for four days straight.

Love Affair with Lentils

I’m obsessed with lentils. Not only do I include them whenever possible in salads, soups, side dishes, etc. but the word is usually part of my password if you ever want to access my dwindling back account. I don’t think it would work as a little boy’s name but there is definitely a cat in my future named Lentil.

Anyways, after weeks of traveling and gorging myself on Jamón Serrano, deep fried peppers, short ribs, Toast Skagen (fancy way of saying shrimp with mayo) and Swedish meatballs, I was happy to be back at home and cooking up some basic lentils. This is one of my favorite lentil soup recipes. It’s adapted from 101 Cookbooks’ Coconut Red Lentil Soup.

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/coconut-red-lentil-soup-recipe.html

1) Rinse 1 cup of yellow split peas and one cup of red lentils until the water runs clear. Cover with 7 cups of water and bring to a boil.

2) Add 1-2 diced carrots and two tbsp of diced ginger. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

3) In the meantime, sauté another 2 tbsp of ginger, a bunch of diced scallions and 2 tbsp curry powder in a big pat of butter (or two!) for a few minutes. Add 2 tbsp of tomato paste.

4) Add this mixture and one can of coconut milk to the lentils. Let cook for another 15 minutes or so until the lentils are soft. Season with salt.

5) Serve topped with cilantro and green onions. Add Sriracha for extra kick.

A Vegetarian Dish Worthy of Name Day

I prepare vegetarian dishes all the time. During the week I usually throw together a grain, some fresh vegetables, and feta and toss it all with vinaigrette. Or if I want something hot, I often make pasta, baked polenta or a tofu stir fry. It’s cheap, makes good leftovers (I’m not a fan of reheated meat), and healthy. However, whenever I'm actually confronted with making dinner for a real vegetarian, I panic.

Meat-friendly crowd pleasers are easy – short ribs, pork tenderloin, lasagna, steak, etc. The meat forms the centerpiece and the salad and other accompaniments simply keep it company. With a vegetarian meal, however, I struggle to find the ‘centerpiece’ or rather, a dish worthy of presenting to somebody other than myself!

Last week I had to tackle this problem head on as it was Zuzana’s name day (a Czech Republic thing). Given the company, I knew I could just get away with serving dessert for the main course (a Czech Republic thing), but I was determined to find my Zuzana Day centerpiece. Luckily, corn and tomato pie from Smitten Kitchen came to my rescue.

Tomatoe Corn Pie adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1) Make or buy a pie crust with a top and bottom. I made mine (using a bottle of wine as a rolling pin) but I don’t think it’s particularly worth the time unless you are really good at pie crusts –which I’m not.
2) Prepare your pie filling: Slice approximately 2 lbs of beefsteak tomatoes into ¼ inch slices and remove as many seeds as possible. Remove corn kernels from 2 ears of steamed corn. Shred two cups of good cheddar cheese (spend the money). Chop up a generous handful of basil (or substitute pesto) and some chives.
3) Whisk together 1/3 cup crème fraiche and 2 tablespoons lemon juice.
4) Line the bottom of the pie with a layer of cheese (prevents sogginess) and then add a layer of tomatoes, corn, and herb mixture. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Repeat.
5) Drizzle top of pie with crème fraiche mixture and seal up with top pie crust.
6) Brush top of pie with 2 tablespoons melted butter and poke 4 steam holes in the crust.
7) Bake for 25 minutes at 400 degrees. Let stand for 10 minutes when you remove or it will be watery.

Place it in the middle of your table as a centerpiece and toast to Zuzana.

Tortilla: Better as a soup than a name

Chucho thinks I should name my kid Tortilla. I have my doubts about that despite my deep appreciation for tortillas. Tortillas can really make or break a meal, and in NYC, it’s unfortunately often the latter. I recently read an article about Tortilleria Nixtamal and I have high hopes that it will up the standards for tortillas in NYC. In the mean time, tortilla soup satisfies my craving without requiring top notch tortillas. It’s based on a Wolfgang Puck recipe (Qué verguenza!) but it really does the trick.

1. Steam two ears of the freshest most flavor packed corn you can find. Remove the kernels and save the cobs.
2. In a food processor, blend a few jalapenos, one small onion, 4-6 garlic cloves and the corn.
3. Cut up a couple of tortillas and sauté in vegetable oil in a big soup pot until brown and crispy. Add the veggie mixture and cook for a few minutes.
4. Add two large chopped and seeded tomatoes, 2 tablespoons of tomato paste and 2-3 teaspoons of cumin. Cook for 10 minutes.
5. Add 6-8 cups of good stock and the corn cobs and simmer until soup reduces a bit and flavors mix. Add salt to taste.
6. Puree.
7. For garnish, service with chopped cilantro, a dollop of sour cream, baked tortilla strips, pulled chicken, avocado, etc.

Eat it. Enjoy it. But don’t name your kid after it.

Dessert instead of Booze

Most have you have heard my theory regarding sugar cravings and alcohol consumption this summer. I have never liked sweets and didn’t consider dessert to be an integral part of a meal. Now that I’m pregnant, I demand it after every meal…make that after every snack. I think the intense sugar cravings occur because I’m not getting my daily intake of sugar from wine, beer, margaritas, etc. Regardless of the reasons, I have had fun exploring new desserts from foie gras crème brulee (fantastic!) to basic chocolate fudge from Northern Michigan.

So far my favorite dessert however is a Lemon Cornmeal cake with fresh berries. The cornmeal keeps it from being too sweet so I suspect I’ll like it even when I can finally toss back those margaritas again.

Double, if not triple, the lemon zest.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Lemon-Cornmeal-Cake-with-Lemon-Glaze-and-Crushed-Blueberry-Sauce-352048/

Stir fry without the Dreaded Green Pepper

For many years after college, I avoided any recipe that mentioned ‘stir fry’. The name conjured up images of bulk frozen chicken breasts and soggy green peppers doused in soy sauce and bottled garlic. Along with canned Taco Bell refried beans and wilted tortillas, this ‘stir fry’ recipe sustained me through some bleak culinary years in my early 20s.

I rediscovered stir fry when backpacking through rural China with Carolyn in 2001. With limited Mandarin (to say the least) at our disposal, we opted to eat at open food markets where we could point as opposed to verbally order our meals. Upon approaching a stir fry table, we would find countless bowls of fresh seafood, meats, tofu and a myriad of vegetables and spicy peppers. With a few simple hand gestures, we would soon see our picks tossed together in a giant wok and less than two minutes later poured into our outstretched bowls.

The key here is the ‘two minutes.’ Woks should be burning hot and cook the ingredients instantly. Make sure to have all the ingredients chopped and laid out on your “ample” NYC counter space ahead of time.

There are many great stir fry recipes and if you have the time to poke through the Asian markets, there are more authentic recipes to explore. However, this is my favorite standard that can usually be made with the ingredients in my cabinets. I have used pork, shrimp, chicken and beef and it’s always good. Double the ginger, garlic and pepper flakes.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spicy-Pork-and-Cashew-Stir-Fry-with-Snow-Peas-and-Red-Pepper-104637