Whole Cauliflower in Traditional Curry Sauce

1,000 Indian Recipes by Neelam Bantra
Cookbook 5, Recipe 1 (total 10)

Happy Birthday Mom (yesterday). Mom picked out this recipe for her Birthday meal from the cookbooks I had selected for this project. Neelam Bantra is an excellent Indian cookbook author - I've used this book many times in the past. Mom looked through the many post-it noted recipes and choose this dish not realizing that the cauliflower is cooked whole.

Did I like it? I tasted good - the look was appropriate for an MST3k evening - brain on a plate...

Recipe

Take a 1.5 lb cauliflower and cut out the stem as deep as you can to form a cavity inside the head while still leaving it whole. Steam for 15 -20 minutes - until slightly tender.

While it is steaming blend together the following ingredients to make a paste: 1 onion, two "thumbs" of ginger, 2 cloves garlic, 1/2 jalapeno. Place into a bowl. Then blend 4 canned whole tomatoes and set in a separate bowl. Then blend 1/2 cup yogurt with 1 cup water and 1/4 tsp nutmeg, place in a third bowl.

In a small bowl combine: 1.5 tps ground cumin, 1/2 tsp garam masala, 1/4 tsp turmeric and 1/2 tsp salt.

Heat a wok on high and add 1 T oil - brown the head of cauliflower until browned as best you can all over - set aside. Add the onion paste and cook for 10 minutes or until well browned. Add the tomatoes and cook until most of the moisture is evaporated. Add the dry spices and cook for 2 minutes. Then add the yogurt mixture and bring to a boil.

Move the sauce to a pan with a lid and add the cauliflower - cavity side down - cover and simmer 10 minutes. Flip the cauliflower cavity side up - fill the cavity with sauce - cover and simmer 20 minutes.

Quinoa, Bacon and Mushroom Cake

Chocolate & Zucchini, Daily Adventures in a Parisian Kitchen, by Clotilde Dusoulier
Cookbook 4, Recipe 3, (Total 9)

This author likes to explore French natural foods stores and is shows up in recipes such as this with quinoa. I've cooked a couple of breakfast dishes with quinoa never a savory dinner.

Did I like it? Yes, it was interesting in a positive way. I would describe it as almost barney - like you would describe an English farmhouse cheddar. I was happy to find it paired very well with the Carignane wine that I purchased to drink with it. I first enjoyed Carignane two years ago at a restaurant with beef (which I generally do not enjoy) it was excellent. I later learned that it's usually a grape used for blending into other wines not featured on its own. Anyway another interesting bit of info is quinoa is actually an herb not a grain.


Recipe
Bring to a boil 2 cups of water, add one cup of quinoa and a pinch of salt. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, turn heat off and leave cover on for 5 more minutes.

Cook 3 strips of thick cut bacon, place aside. Drain the fat out of the pan and cook 1/2 a chopped onion over medium heat until soft, add 1/2 lb sliced mushrooms and cook covered 3 minutes or until the mushrooms have given off their liquid. Cook with out the cover until most of the liquid is gone.

Chop 1/4 cup parsley and mixed with crumbled bacon.

Beat 2 eggs and 2 T cream in a bowl, add 1/4 tsp salt and pepper to taste. Add cooked quinoa and mushrooms, fold in bacon and parsley.

Place in a 7 inch spring form pan and bake at 400 for 35 minutes, until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Side note: Stephen wasn't around to hold this book down so I could get a closer shot of the recipe. If you click on most of the cookbook/recipe shots - they will enlarge big enough for you to read the original recipe.

Chocolate & Zucchini Cake

Chocolate & Zucchini, Daily Adventures in a Parisian Kitchen, by Clotilde Dusoulier
Cookbook 4, Recipe 2, (Total 8)


With a cookbook titled Chocolate & Zucchini of course I need to make this cake. The recipe made a 10 inch cake - I cut the recipe in half to make a 7 inch cake.

Did I like it? It's yummy, but strange to see green things in my chocolate cake!

Recipe:
Beat together:
1/4 cup butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar
Add:
2 eggs, 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1/2 tsp instant coffee pwdr
In another bowl combine:
1 cup flour, 1/4 cup dutched cocoa-pwdr, 1/2 tsp b. pwdr, 1/4 tsp b. soda, 1/4 tsp salt
Take 1/2 cup of the flour mixture and add to:
1 cup grated unpeeled zucchini and 1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate.
Mix butter mixture with flour, then fold in zucchini.
Bake in a buttered 7 inch spring form pan at 350 for 40-50 minutes.

Celeriac Remoulade with Trout Roe

Chocolate & Zucchini, Daily Adventures in a Parisian Kitchen by Clotilde Dusoulier
Cookbook 4, Recipe 1 (Total 7)

Rachel bought me this cookbook for my Birthday last year. I've admired the recipes in it many times but sadly have not made anything until today. It's one of those few cookbooks that have both great photography and good recipes.

I was surprised at her definition of a medium celeriac - 3 lbs! Most celeriac I find around here is maybe 1 to 1.5 lbs.

Did I like it? Yes. Both Stephen and I were wishing for hot dogs to accompany it. It's coleslaw and pickles all rolled into one dish. I believe it will become my new picnic dish.

To make this side dish:
In a bowl combine:
3/4 cup Greek Style Yogurt
2 Tsp Dijon mustard
1 T lemon juice
1 clove garlic smashed and minced
2 T chopped dill
Add in
1.5 lbs grated celeriac
Salt and pepper to taste. Let sit in the refrigerator for 1 or more hours before serving.

Lamb and Leeks Mahala

The Complete Greek Cookbook, The Best from 3000 Years of Greek Cooking, by Theresa Karas Yianilos
Cookbook 3, Recipe 2, (total 6)

The more I read this cookbook the more it reminds me of a Chinese American restaurant where you can find (fill in the blank) Pork, Chicken or Beef. Pick your sauce and choose your meat.

Did I like it? Yes, but I wouldn't make it again. Instead I would adapt the Lamb and Cabbage Stew recipe from Andreas Viestad's cookbook to include leeks. Both recipes are essentially boiled dinner - I missed the cabbage and whole black peppers tonight.

Recipe
Heat 1 T oil over high heat and add 1 lb of lamb meat (lamb stew meat from bob otis again), cook for 10 minutes. Add 1 1/2 cups water, 3 chopped up leeks, 1 clove smashed garlic and 1 tsp salt, cover and simmer for 2 hours.

Avgholemono (Egg and Lemon Soup)

The Complete Greek Cookbook, The best from 3000 Years of Cooking by Theresa Karas Yianilos
Cookbook 3, Recipe 1, (5 Total)

I bought this cookbook a while ago for a buck at half price. The chapter titled "Feasting in Ancient Greece" including recipes for peacock, camel (hump, stomach or feet), and Hippocrates spiced wine caught my attention. Plus this lady seems to think that all Greek recipes are straight from the ancient times...it amuses me.

2 Quarts Chicken Broth
1/2 cup rice
3 eggs
Juice of 2 lemons (1/3 cup in today's case)

Bring the chicken broth to a boil. Add rice and simmer 15 minutes.

In a medium bowl whisk eggs until thick, whisk in lemon juice.

Bring the soup back to a boil and then pour into a tureen, take a cup of the hot stock and whisk into the egg/lemon mixture. Repeat. Whisk the egg mixture into the soup tureen. Serve immediately.

The biscuits in the picture are made with White Lily Flour brought to me from Eppie - Thanks Eppie!

Pork (Lamb actually) in Oaxacan Mole Verde

Foods of the Americas Native Recipes and Traditions by Fernando and Marlene Divina and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.
Cookbook 2, Recipe 2 (4 total)

I used Lamb instead of Pork for this recipe. Unfortunately I did not do a very good job of getting ingredients this time around. I should have had dried oregano and parsley on hand...Oh Well... This cookbook has an issue with waste - I ended up with at least 1 1/2 cups of extra sauce.

Did I like it? Yes - it was excellent. I wouldn't expect swiss chard, romaine, and pumpkin seeds to go well together but it was yummy.

How to make this recipe:
Bring to a boil and then simmer for 40 minutes:
1 pgk lamb stew meat from Bob Otis (i think it was about 3/4 lb - i should have used 1.5 lbs), 2 cups chicken stock, 5 pepper corns, 1/2 a chopped onion, 1 inch cinnamon stick.

Meanwhile pan roast:
1/8 tsp cumin seed, 1/8 tsp anise seed, 2 allspice, 2 cloves - place into a bowl.

Then roast:
1/4 cup raw pumpkins seeds until they start popping - add to previous spices.

Then roast:
1/4 cup sesame seeds - add to previous spices.

In a blender puree:
1/2 cup tomatillo salsa (i couldn't find fresh tomatillos), 1/2 cup water, 1/2 - 1 jalapeno chile, 3 cloves garlic, 1/2 onion.

Heat 2 T oil in pan, Add blendered items. Cook for aprox 7 minutes. Place back in blender with spices and 1/ cup of the stock you have been simmering the lamb in - puree. Place back in pan and simmer 10 minutes.

Take a cup of the stock you have been simmering the lamb in and add 2 T corn meal. Add that to the spiced/tomatilo mixture. Simmer 10 minutes.

In a blender puree:
3/4 cup water, 3 leaves romaine, 2 leaves swiss chard. Add to simmered mixture with the simmered meat. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Roasted Chile Poblano Rellenos

Foods of the Americas Native Recipes and Traditions by Fernando and Marlene Divina and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian
Cookbook 2, Recipe 1



I purchased this cookbook a number of years ago at the Half Price in St. Louis Park. It's the only cookbook I've ever seen with the Smithsonian as a contributing author. The recipes are interspersed with photos from the Smithsonian collection as well as photos of artifacts.

A note about this recipe - I strongly disagree with recipes that call for baking/cooking an entire item only to use a fraction of it in the actual dish. This one called for an entire sweet potato to be baked and then only used 2 Tablespoons - sacrilege says I!

A note about dried chipotle - After chopping my dried chipotle I swept it from the cutting board into the dish with the back of my right hand. See photo below of me soaking my hand in cold milk. Just because its dry does not mean it can't burn skin...oops...

Did I like it? Stephen and I both described the filling as Fun. Half way through our respective chile's we ran for milk...I would use the filling, minus the whole dried chipotle, to stuff plain old green peppers.

Recipe
Roast 4 poblano chilis over fire until they are black, place in plastic bag for five minutes, rub all the black skin off. Cut a slit the length of the chile and stuff with filling. Roast covered with foil for 30 minutes at 400.

Filling - mix all ingredients:
2 T currants, plumped and drained
1/2 cup roasted sweet potato in 1/4 in dice (or there abouts)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup grated Pleasant Ridge Reserve (recipe called for Gouda)
1 chipolte minced (disregard!)
1/2 tsp adobo sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
3/4 cup ricotta salata (recipe called for queso fresco or ricotta cheese, I thought ricotta salata to be a better substitute)

I will now go fill up on brownies that just came out of the oven - Wee Hoo!

The Rolled Souffle

The Way to Cook by Julia Child
Cookbook 1, Recipe 2

This recipe was chosen as a Birthday lunch for Stephen's Mom. Her Birthday was yesterday and we had her over for lunch today. Stephen did much of the cooking on this one.

Did I like it? Delish!

Bechamel sauce:
8 T butter
2/3 cup Flour
3 Cups Hot Milk
1 tsp salt
Melt butter in pan, add flour and cook until it looses it's paste-like quality and becomes more of a foam. Add hot milk, whisking quickly. Bring to a simmer and cook aprox 3 minutes - until thick and coats a spoon.

Souffle:
3 Cups bechamel sauce
3/4 tsp paprika
pinch nutmeg
3/4 tsp salt
pepper to taste
6 eggs
1 cup grated swiss cheese
Whisk paprika, nutmeg salt, pepper and egg yolks together. Whisk egg whites to a stiff peak. Fold 1/4 beaten egg whites into yolk mixture. Add the swiss cheese and fold in the remaining egg whites. Pour into a buttered and parchment lined jelly roll pan (half-sheet pan) and cook at 425 12-15 minutes. (Stephen forgot to look at the temperature required for this recipe. As he was putting it in the oven I asked if it was at the correct temp. Nope it was at 375. So ours was placed in the oven at 375 then turned up to 425 and cooked for 18 minutes) Bake until set (doesn't giggle) and immediately flip out onto another sheet of parchment paper - let set for five minutes. Then remove the paper, spread with remaining 2 cups of bechamel sauce (we only had one) followed by the piperade. Roll up lengthwise and serve.

Piperade (Filling):
Heat a saute pan with 2 T olive oil. Saute 1 onion over medium heat until translucent, add a sliced red, green and yellow peeper along with a mashed clove of garlic. Saute 2-3 minutes - until the peepers are just barely tender.

Hashed Brown Turnip Cakes with Ham and Eggs

The Way to Cook by Julia Child
Cookbook 1, Recipe 1

Just to clarify a couple of items right away. I will give you the recipe as I made it not necessarily as the cookbook said to make it. For the purposes of this endeavor my definition of a week is flexible. A week may start on a Saturday, Sunday or Monday - which ever suits my needs!

Did I like it? If I liked turnips I would have. I tried this recipe because I had leftover ham and I'm trying to like turnips. They are similar to brussel sprouts - I'm not a fan of the mustard-e-ness. However, if you like turnips I'm sure you would like this. Normally I will give you Stephen's opinion as well - he was not here to taste it.

Mise en place
Leftover ham about 1/2 to 3/4 cup
butter to fry ham in
1 turnip
1 potato about 1/2 the size of the turnip
1 egg
2 spoons of sour cream
butter to fry turnip/potato hash in
Freshly chopped tarragon
1 egg

Directions
Place water on to boil for poached egg. Grate the potato and turnip into the towel, wring out as much water as possible. Beat egg with 2 sour cream, add turnip/potato mixture, add salt and pepper to taste. Heat up butter in a skillet to fry hash in and fry it up how you would like.* Place egg in boiling water for 10 seconds. Turn the water down to the lowest setting and crack the egg into it - simmer for 5 minutes. Heat butter in another pan and fry up the ham adding tarragon to taste. When hash is done place on a large plate, top with ham followed by the poached egg. Season with tarragon to taste.

*Julia Child calls for a 1/16 inch of butter or oil in a non-stick pan to fry your hash in. I do not own a non-stick pan and I didn't want to fry with that much butter/oil. I simply added 2 tsp of butter and fried it up not expecting to have a nice patty.