notes from my food diary

When life gives you a box of green tomatoes, what would you do with them?  I found a perfect recipe for using your late harvest green tomatoes a few weeks ago.  Those hardy green tomatoes don’t want to turn red in my garden box that I almost gave up on them.  I hate cutting the plants away but October came and went, those plants really need to go.  So enchiladas it is then, butternut squash and pinto beans are the filling along with Monterey Jack cheese.  The green tomatoes came out pretty tasty, similar to tomatillos, but without the hint of lemon.  Since green tomatoes are pretty tart, adding sugar would balance the flavor better.

Squash, Beans and Cheese Enchiladas with Green Tomato Sauce

Makes 4 to 5 servings

Sauce:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/2 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 7-ounce can whole green chiles, drained and chopped

1 pound green tomatoes, chopped (about 2 1/2 cups)

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup vegetable broth 

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves

Filling:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/2 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

2 cup peeled and diced butternut squash (1/2-inch pieces)

1/2 cup water

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 diced chipotle chile in adobo (1 tablespoon)

1 14-ounce can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

10 corn tortillas

1 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese (divided)

Preheat the oven to 350 degree F.

To make sauce:  Heat the oil in a large skillet ste over medium-high heat.  Add the onions and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute more.  Stir in the green chiles, green tomatoes, cumin, oregano, salt, sugar, broth and water.  Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes break down and the mixture becomes saucy, about 10 minutes.  Pour the mixture into a blender or food processor, add the cilantro and puree until smooth.  Set aside.

To make filling:  Rinse and dry skillet and return to medium-high heat.  Add the oil.  When hot, add the onion and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute more.  Add squash and saute for about 3 minutes or until it is starting to brown around the edges.  Add the water, cumin, sugar and salt.  Cover and cook until squash is tender but not mushy, about 10 minutes.  Add the chipotle in adobo, pinto beans and 1/2 cup of the green tomato enchilada sauce.  Simmer for a few minutes until beans are heated through.

While the filling simmers, wrap the tortilla in foil and place in the oven until warm and pliable, about 5 minutes.  Ladle 3/4 cup of sauce in the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch pan.  Spoon 1/4 cup filling onto each tortilla, then top with 1 tablespoon cheese.  Roll up the tortillas and place folded side down in the pan.  Cover enchiladas with the remaining sauce and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.  Bake until hot in the center and cheese is melted, about 30 minutes.

Source:  from FOODday test kitchen director, Linda Faus

Dinnertime could be stressful and to make things easier, I choose easy but equally tasty meals.  One of my family’s favorite proteins is egg.  Eggs could be made into frittata or omelette, with the addition of vegetables or cheese and pair it with a side dish, you’ll get a meal in about one hour.  I made the latter about a month ago and it was also submitted to ThinkSpain guide for the recipe section in its October edition.  The recipe was adapted from my favorite cooking book, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison.  Armed with this one book, I won’t go hungry at every meal time

Chard and Onion Omelette (Trouchia)

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large white onion, quartered and thinly sliced crosswise

1 bunch chard, leaves only, chopped

Salt and freshly milled pepper

1 garlic clove

6 to 8 eggs, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

2 tablespoons chopped basil

2 teaspoons chopped thyme

1 cup grated Gruyere

2 tablespoons freshly grated Pecorino-Romano

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a 10-inch skillet, add the onion, and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until completely soft but not brown, about 15 minutes. Add the chard and continue cooking, stirring occasionally,
until all the moisture has cooked off and chard is tender, about 15 minutes. Season well with salt and pepper.

Mash or chop finely the garlic with a pinch of salt, then stir into the eggs along with the herbs. Combine cooked chard mixture with the eggs and stir in the Gruyère and half the Pecorino-Romano.

Preheat the boiler. Heat the remaining oil in the skillet and, when it’s hot, add the eggs. Give it a stir and keep the heat at medium-high for about 1 minute, then turn it to low. Cook until the eggs are set but still a little moist on top, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the remaining Pecorino-Romano and broil 4 to 6 inches from the heat, until browned. Serve trouchia in the pan or slide it onto a serving dish and cut into wedges.

Source: adapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison

My plan was to make some sushi with baked marinated tofu but I failed big time in the rolling department.  Making sushi is such an art that one should plan to take a class or at least have repeated tries before producing very good sushi.  I have problem in that the sushi rice didn’t cover the filling completely.  All my rice went to one place and the filling stayed in another place, it’s like they hated each other   This is a very easy recipe though, just pile up the tofu, cucumbers, carrots, green onion, a dab of wasabi and then roll it.  But in the end, I used all my tofu to make a stir-fry dish, using garlic, ginger, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and a bit of sesame sauce.  Eaten with hot rice, it’s just better than my mediocre sushi!

I’m submitting my top photo for the CLICK event this month that has the theme Cheese/Tofu. 

Lately I’ve been cooking vegetarian dishes for my family.  It’s not a new diversion for me because I cooked vegetarian on and off, sometimes it’s a means for wanting to be creative with my weekly menu.  I don’t want to be bored with same old dishes day in day out.  I own several vegetarian cookbooks and I also spend much time browsing the Vegetarian Times magazine.  It’s a great magazine and with its new look this year I think I’m going to borrow it more often. 

I don’t particularly have a resolution every new year because I could never keep it up for the whole 12 months.  But this year I’m trying to cook better food and try out more vegetarian dishes.  I’ve even tried baking something vegan and they turned out good, in this case they were banana muffin.  I could see some belly fat disappearing from my significant other and I felt good in doing so.  You could say that I’m very concious about what my family is eating.  Some things need eaten more than once to be enjoyed fully but I think it’s worth the try. 

A few days back, I tried these potato pancakes with avocado salsa.  They’re not bad at all for a quick dinner meals.  These reminds me of potato latkes and croquette.  Simple and satisfying.

Potato Pancakes with Avocado Salsa

Serves 6

Avocado Salsa

1 large avocado, peeled and seeded

2 medium tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped

4 green onions, finely chopped

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon red pepper sauce, such as Tabasco

Potato Pancakes

1 pound potatoes, cooked and mashed

3 tablespoons butter, melted

2 eggs, lightly beaten

3 onions, finely chopped

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons self-rising flour

1/2 teaspoon all-purpose seasoning

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Extra virgin olive oil or cooking spray, for frying

To make Avocado Salsa:  Mash avocado with fork.  Stir in tomatoes, green onions, lemon juice, and red pepper sauce.  Season with salt and pepper.  Mix well, and chill for 20 minutes.

To make Potato Pancakes:  Mash potatoes with butter.  Transfer to medium bowl, and add eggs and onions.  Sift flours, spices, and salt to taste with potato mixture; stir well to combine.

Heat oil in nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Spoon potato mixture into skillet in 2 tablespoons dollop.  Cook 3 to 4 minutes, then flip, and cook 3 to 4 minutes more, until golden brown.

Drain pancakes on paper-towel-lined plate, transfer to separate plate, and keep warm in oven.  Repeat process with remaining batter.  Serve pancakes warm, topped with Avocado Salsa.

Source:  adapted from Vegetarian Times, issue June 1, 2008

I’ve been watching Sara Moulton’s show "Weeknight Meals" on PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) for a while.  When she was in Food Network, I’ve never watched her since her show time was in the morning and I didn’t remember to tape any of it.  Here, now that she moved to PBS, I could catch her show because it’s aired on nightime here.  I don’t always like her performance in the show, sometimes she seems to be hurried to finish the dish, and other times I just don’t like the food she prepared   But recently I watched an epidsode where she made a quick asparagus lasagna. 

Instead of the regular lasagna noodles, she used wonton skins.  I’ve either watched or read about using wonton skins for making lasagna but have never tried it.  The steps are pretty easy and quick, no question that the name fits the description.  Since asparagus is not in season anymore, I substituted with frozen spinach that’s been defrosted and drained well.  Sara Moulton suggested using broccoli too if people like broccoli better.  Her method included roasting onions, garlic and asparagus with a little bit olive oil, salt and pepper in the beginning.  You could imagine the smoky flavor in the lasagna already.  A little different is not a bad practice.  The only disadvantage of using frozen spinach is that I couldn’t roast it in my broiler and I was too lazy to sauté it, so I left it as it was.  But I still roasted the onions and garlic that way I could get a bit smokiness in the lasagna.  The other thing that bothered me a bit was that my wonton skin was of thin variety.  I purposedly bought the thin variety because when I make fried wonton I’ve always like biting the thin skin of wonton.  As a result the middle layer of the lasagna seemed a bit lost in the spinach-cheese mix.  And I used two kinds of cheese available in my fridge which were Italian Fontina and Provolone.  All is not lost because the lasagna still turned out great and tasted delicious.  They’re like round cheesy mounds easily divided for individual portion.

It’s not bad for a weeknight meal in my household!

Quick Asparagus Lasagna

Makes 4 to 6 servings
 

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly milled black pepper
1 pound asparagus, trimmed—I used frozen spinach, thawed and drained well 
1 medium onion, halved and sliced (about 1 cup)
2 garlic cloves, sliced (about 2 teaspoons)
One 15-ounce container ricotta cheese
2 teaspoons unbleached all-purpose flour
18 refrigerated wonton skins
8 ounces Italian Fontina cheese, coarsely grated (about 2 cups)—I used half Italian Fontina and half Provolone 

Preheat the broiler to high. Lightly oil a rimmed baking sheet and a lasagna pan (9-by 13-inches roughly). Combine the oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper in a shallow bowl. Peel the lower stalks of the asparagus if they are thicker than 1/3 inch. Toss the asparagus in the oil mixture and arrange at one end of the oiled baking sheet. Toss the onion and garlic in any remaining oil in the same bowl and arrange them on the other end of the baking sheet. Broil until the edges just begin to brown, about 5 minutes.  If using spinach, you could sauté it on the pan with a little bit of olive oil.

Reduce the oven to 375°F. Combine the onion and garlic with the ricotta, flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper in a blender; puree until smooth. Cut the asparagus into 1-inch pieces. Arrange 6 wonton skins in the bottom of the pan. Top with half the asparagus, one-third of the ricotta mixture, and one-third of the Fontina. Add another 6 wonton skins, the remaining asparagus, and another third of the ricotta mixture and Fontina. Top with the remaining wonton skins, ricotta mixture, and Fontina.

Bake the lasagna in the top third of the oven, 30 to 35 minutes, until bubbly and lightly browned.

Note: On the show I added the onions and garlic to the asparagus; if you prefer to do that rather than purée them with the ricotta, that is fine.

Source:  adapted from Sara Moulton Weeknight Meals episode #101