Recipe, interrupted

Recipe: Raspberry Sauce

We went raspberry picking over Labor Day weekend at Thompson-Finch Farm in the Hudson Valley. It had taken a little bit of searching to find a u-pick place that doesn’t spray their berries. But when we found it, we showed up bright and early so that we could get some good picking in before we had to wrap up our vacation and head back home to Brooklyn.

As I reached out for that first berry I was feeling especially thankful that it was free of pesticides and said to my 5-year-old, “I think fresh raspberries straight from the bush are my favorite food.”

In response, she sweetly asked, “Why are fresh raspberries straight from the bush your favorite food?” (Have I been pushing the idea of speaking in complete sentences too hard?)

“Because they are so sweet and delicate and still warm from the sun. And they are fun to pick and pop in my mouth,” I answered with a raspberry-tinged grin.

They were fun to pick. We kept picking and picking, and by the time we got back home, after several hours in the car, popping berries in our mouths like they were popcorn, we still managed to bring a small bucketful up to our kitchen. By this point, I could hardly look at them. I considered the possibility that it was my full belly pleading, ‘no more!’ But I had to admit, they really did look a little worse for the wear. During the drive, with the bucket being passed around, accidently kicked, and jostled over bumpy roads, these very ripe raspberries had gotten a little bruised. They were still quite plump, but the deeply red juice was starting to seep out and stain the bottom of the bucket.

Something had to be done with them soon. They were going to go downhill fast. And so was I. I was tired from the long day and was not interested in doing anything complicated. The raspberries went straight into the saucepan (I don’t like to wash raspberries, another reason for picking organic) with some sugar and simmered gently for about 15 minutes. After straining the thick liquid, I had a deeply crimson sauce that was rich with the flavor of the sun-soaked berries.

In the days that followed, I poured the sauce over ice-cream, pancakes, and cake. I also sneaked a spoonful of it every now and then, just to hold on to that feeling of soaking up the summer sun.
 

Preparation time: 25 minutes

Makes about 1 cup
 

1 pound fresh raspberries (or, if you are longing for that summer flavor in the middle of winter, frozen raspberries work nicely, too)

½ cup sugar (or more if you prefer a sweeter, less tangy sauce)
 

1. Bring raspberries and sugar to a simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low and continue to simmer until raspberries have broken down into a thick sauce, about 15 minutes.
   
   
   
   
   Using a fine mesh strainer or chinois placed over a bowl, strain the seeds out of the sauce. Encourage the liquid to pass through with a plunging motion of a pestle, wooden spoon, or small ladle. Try to squeeze as much liquid out of the pulpy mess; the final pressings will add thickness to the sauce.
   
   
   
2. Serve warm, cold, or at room temperature over ice cream, cake, pancakes or waffles. It also can be drizzled into mixed drinks and smoothies.

 

Recipe: Toasted Okara

A recipe that calls for okara, the soy bean pulp leftover from making soy milk, may seem kind of esoteric. But these last weeks, I'd been working on a how-to post for Serious Eats about silken tofu and soy milk. So the question of what to do with all the by-product of okara, was a practical one. When I made my first couple of batches of tofu, I just dumped the okara in the compost bin. But after a while, I started having a guilty conscience over wasting the stuff, considering that it's supposed to be very nutritious and that many dishes could be made out of it.

It needs to be cooked further before eating, as the soybeans aren't fully cooked. One night, I simmered them with some vegetables, ginger, soy sauce, garlic, mirin, and added lots of lime juice. That was great, but I couldn't serve okara every night this week. Then I focused on making something I could keep in the fridge and add to whatever dishes I happened to be making.

This toasted okara comes together very quickly and easily and makes a savory vegan and gluten-free substitute for breadcrumbs. It's also a nice protein-packed topping on salads and steamed or sauteed vegetables.


Makes about 1 cup

Preparation time: 25 minutes

1 cup okara

2 tablespoons roasted sesame oil

2 tablespoon raw sesame seeds

1. Preheat oven or toaster oven to 300F. Whisk together all ingredients.

2. Spread okara mixture on a baking sheet.

3. Bake until deeply golden and crisp, about 15-20 minutes, stirring halfway through to ensure even toasting. 

4. Cool completely. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

Recipe: Pimento Cheese Spread, Zesty Happy Hour Version

As a follow-up to yesterday’s post, I’ve got a spicier, more grown-up version of pimento cheese spread. To add a little kick that goes well with beer and crackers, I first made a few substitutions. Hot pepper Monterey Jack cheese took the place of plain Monterey Jack and hot mustard replaced yellow mustard. On top of that, I added scallions and horseradish. It’s not crazy hot, but it does have a pleasant heat that is definitely not for kids.

 Here are the ingredients that make this grown-up pimento cheese spread different
from the lunchbox version.

 

Preparation time 5 minutes

Makes about 1 ¼ cups

 

4 ounces sharp orange cheddar, cubed

4 ounces hot pepper Monterey Jack cheese

¼ cup sliced, drained pimentos (such as Cento pimientos)

¼ cup cream cheese, at room temperature

3 tablespoons crème fraiche

White and light green portions of two scallions, roughly chopped (about 2 tablespoons)

2-3 teaspoons grated horseradish (the fresher it is, the hotter)

1 teaspoon hot mustard (I used Colman’s mustard)

1 clove garlic, finely minced or passed through a garlic press

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Pinch Kosher salt (to taste)

Optional (for heat lovers): hot sauce (such as Tabasco), to taste

 

1. Place all ingredients except salt into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until well-blended and more or less the consistency of a small curd cottage cheese. Salt to taste. Add hot sauce if desired.
   
2. In order for the garlic, horseradish, and scallion flavors to develop, make the spread a couple hours ahead of serving and refrigerate until shortly before serving. Allow the spread to come to room temperature, or at least lose its chill, before serving.

 

 

 

Recipe: Lunchbox Pimento Cheese Spread

The first time, and, up until very recently, the last time I had pimento cheese spread was in Louisville, Kentucky, where I spent the summer after graduating college. I taught at a summer enrichment program for at-risk children. Whenever we had a break to run out and get food, the teachers would go to a nearby supermarket and pick up provisions. As soon as I tasted the odd, lumpy orange spread that someone had brought back, I was hooked. Every few days I stopped by the prepared food/deli section and pick up a container of it. I really had no idea what was in it but I loved the stuff. I’d roll it up with lettuce and avocado in flatbread or sometimes just scoop it up with Triscuits. Yet when the summer was over, my love affair with pimento cheese seemed to end as quickly as it began.

Until the heat of this summer hit New York. Somewhere in the dusty recesses of my brain I must associate pimento cheese with stiflingly hot weather and kids. Out of nowhere I started to crave pimento cheese sandwiches and wanted to put them in my kids’ lunchboxes for summer camp.

Fortunately, I was able to consult with my hair stylist buddy, born and raised in the South, while getting my hair cut the other day. Cheddar, pimentos, garlic (usually in powder or salt form, she told me), and mayonnaise are the main characters in most versions of pimento cheese. Variations include cameos by cream cheese, hot pepper, and pickles. She always ate it between two slices of Sunbeam white bread.

I weighed my options and considered a few additions. I didn’t want to stray too far from the classic version. The mayonnaise, though, had to go. I love homemade mayonnaise, but in this heat, I really didn’t want to make up a batch. Of course, I could’ve used mayonnaise from a jar, but I felt there had to be another, less oily option. Crème fraiche has a very similar consistency that would help make the cheese mixture more spreadable, plus it adds a nice mild tang.

If my pimento cheese spread was going to stand a chance of making it into my kids’ lunchbox rotation, it couldn’t be too spicy. So I stuck with mild and lightly tangy flavors. It turned out to be perfect comfort food, delicious in a sandwich spread with a light layer or sweet relish. And instead of Sunbeam, I used an all-natural honey oatmeal bread that is just as soft. My younger daughter loved helping me make it. She’s good at dumping things into the food processor and pressing the button (supervised, of course!). My older daughter loved eating it. And so did I.

P.S. A happy hour pimento cheese spread to enjoy with beer is next on my list. Stay tuned for jalapeno- and horseradish-spiked version.

 

Preparation time 5 minutes

Makes about 1 ¼ cups

 

4 ounces sharp orange cheddar, cubed

4 ounces Monterey Jack cheese

¼ cup sliced pimentos (such as Cento pimientos) 

¼ cup cream cheese, at room temperature

3 tablespoons crème fraiche

1 teaspoon yellow mustard

1 clove garlic, finely minced or passed through a garlic press

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

pinch Kosher salt (to taste)

 

1. Place all ingredients except salt into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until well-blended and more or less the consistency of a small curd cottage cheese. Salt to taste.
   
   
2. In order for the garlic flavor to develop, make the spread a couple hours ahead of serving and refrigerate until shortly before serving. Allow the spread to come to room temperature, or at least lose its chill, before serving. Delicious with crackers or in a sandwich with soft sliced bread and relish.
   

 

 

Recipe: Kale and Sundried Tomato Pesto

It was a proud motherly moment for me when my younger kid (often referred to as the ‘picky eater’) added kale to the list of foods she’s willing to eat. I’m probably over-invested in what my children eat but after almost five years of seeing vegetables vehemently – and sometimes violently – rejected, I’m so relieved that a world beyond bread and rice is becoming less offensive to her. Kale is also one of my favorite veggies, so I was eager to find more ways to incorporate it into our family meals.

A recipe with the words “pesto” and “sundried tomato” may seem like a complete 80s throwback but my daughter wasn’t even a glimmer in my eye then so it’s all new to her. Besides, I could call this a raw foods pesto, and here we are right back in the new millennium. Of course, none of this matters. It’s yummy, easy to make, and packed with nutrients.

I generally like to toast nuts before adding them to a dish, but this time I didn’t. I had some raw almonds that were so deliciously fruity and had that slightly bitter pure almond flavor, I decided they’d be perfect without the heat.

This pesto is terrific spread on crackers, added to sandwiches, or tossed with fresh pasta. I also like to stuff it under the skin of a chicken before roasting it. It keeps well in the fridge, with a little extra olive oil drizzled on top, for about a week.

 

Makes 2 cups

Preparation time: 10 minutes

 

3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

¼ cup packed sundried tomatoes

½ cup raw almonds

¼ cup grated parmesan

Kosher salt, to taste

6 cups kale, ribs removed, roughly chopped

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

 

 

1. Place garlic, tomatoes, almonds, parmesan, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Add as much kale as will comfortably fit and pulse several times. Scrape down the sides of the processor, add the remaining kale and continue pulsing until all the ingredients are well combined and chopped fine.  
   Ignore those walnuts in there. It was better when I made this with raw almonds.
   
   
2. With the food processor running continuously, slowly drizzle in the olive oil through the feeder tube until the consistency of the pesto has gotten finer and the oil is well incorporated.
   Time to add the oil.
   
   
3. Use immediately or store covered in the refrigerator until ready to use.

 

Recipe: Quince Jam

Quince has an aroma that is heavenly to me, like roses crossed with tropical fruit.  The alluring smell is a bit of a tease though – you can’t just bite into a raw quince like you would an apple. In fact, they’re pretty inedible in their raw form. But with a long cooking period and a good dose of sugar, you can coax out a flavor to match the beautiful scent.

After some experimentation over the last few quince seasons, I’ve landed on this uncomplicated and very effective method for making quince jam. The convenient thing about quince is that it is high in pectin so there’s no need to add pectin powder in this recipe. There’s also no need to core the fruit before cooking – the pectin is concentrated at the core – just cut up the fruit into chunks and cook it in water. Once the fruit is cooked, you do need to run it through a food mill to filter out the tough parts, but that takes just a few minutes.

When the puree is cooked gently with some sugar, it begins to turn a beautiful sunset-y color. Kind of an orange-red, like the flesh of a red grapefruit. That’s when it’s ready to be spread on a warm biscuit. You could also cook it down further, spread the very thick mass onto a baking sheet, allow it to cool and set, and cut it into pâte de fruit, a very elegant addition to a holiday cookie platter.
 

Makes 3 cups

Preparation time: 2 hours 45 minutes
 

2 pounds fresh quince, scrubbed to remove any outer fuzz and cut into roughly 1½-inch chunks

4 cups water

1 ¼ cups granulated sugar

Place quince and water into a heavy bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven. This should be enough water to just cover the quince. Add water if necessary.

Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until quince is very tender and cooked thoroughly, 25-30 minutes.

Strain quince, reserving the cooking water. Using a food mill with the finest-level insert, puree quince. Discard seeds and fibrous remains.

Return puree and reserved cooking water to saucepan or Dutch oven. Stir in sugar. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, reduce heat to low, partially cover, and cook until mixture is reduced, thick, and reddish-orange, stirring occasionally to prevent the scorching. This will take approximately 2 hours. Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.