Tag Archives: recipes

Eat your greens the Moosewood way–with tofu and spice

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I first heard of Moosewood Restaurant sometime in the 1980′s when I lived in Fargo and often took cooking classes from Andrea Halgrimson. She spoke highly of the restaurant located in Ithaca, New York that serves natural, healthful food, making it sound exotic, alluring and hippie-ish and very alternative to the common, everyday meals I was preparing and eating for my young family in Fargo, North Dakota.

Visiting Ithaca and eating at least one meal at Moosewood Restaurant has been on my “Must Do” list ever since those cooking classes in Andrea’s kitchen. In the meantime, I’ve been collecting the cookbooks that keep coming from the Moosewood collective.

One of the Moosewood books I’ve used most is “Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home: Fast and Easy Recipes for Any Day.” That book holds the recipe for the first Pad Thai I ever prepared in my own kitchen. It’s the only one I will ever make. It is that delicious.

Earlier this summer, a young friend of mine prepared a meatless meal that I was so lucky to be invited to eat. She used a recipe from a cookbook she’d gotten as a gift from a friend, “Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers: fresh ideas for the weeknight table.”

I enjoyed every flavorful bite of Scrambled Tofu with Greens & Raspberry Chipotle Sauce. I came home with the a copy of the recipe. Last week, with a 3-pound bag of beet greens from the farmers market in my refrigerator, I knew it was time to pull out the recipe from “Simple Suppers.”

This meal takes little time to prepare. The recipe suggests using kale, chard or collards. I’ve discovered beet greens work spectacularly well. Beet greens are thin, allowing them to wilt quickly. Tofu takes on the flavors of whatever it cooks with. In the original recipe, the greens, onions and garlic offer their deep flavors to the tofu. I added half of a hot yellow banana pepper and some minced garlic chives from my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) basket. A smoky sauce of jam and chipotle is served along side. I used some homemade strawberry-blueberry-Grand Marnier jam a friend shared with me. I like the dish spooned over cooked brown rice.

A friend of mine ate at Moosewood Restaurant last week. She sent me an email to tell me she had enjoyed a meal of quinoa and marinated vegetables with a cup of gazpacho. Sounds so healthful, doesn’t it? Not to mention hippie and alluring :) One of these days I’ll get to that restaurant myself.

My husband and I gobbled the scrambled tofu and beet greens right up. It completely vanished before I even thought to take a picture. My bag of beet greens is gone, but I’ll be making the dish again tomorrow with spinach or chard.

Scrambled Tofu with Greens & Berry Chipotle Sauce

(adapted from “Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers: fresh ideas for the weeknight table,” by the Moosewood Collective.)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • 1/2 of a hot banana pepper, seeds removed, chopped
  • 1/4 cup minced garlic chives
  • 3 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 3 cups chopped beet greens
  • 1 (14-ounce) cake extra firm tofu, drained and mashed with a fork
  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce

For sauce:

  • 1/3 cup berry jam
  • 2 teaspoons adobo sauce from canned chipotles
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons water
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Pour olive oil into a large skillet over medium heat. When oil is hot, add chopped onions, banana pepper and chives. Saute until onions and pepper are tender. Add beet greens and stir to coat with mixture in pan. Cover with tight-fitting lid and steam until greens wilt.

Remove lid from skillet. Increase heat to high and cook off any remaining water in the pan. Add mashed tofu and stir. Cook for 3 or 4 minutes. Use a spatula to turn over the tofu mixture. Cook for another 3 or 4 minutes, until tofu begins to brown.

While the tofu cooks, make sauce by mixing jam, adobo and water together in a small saucepan. Simmer on low heat until hot and slightly thickened. Add lemon juice.

Serve tofu and greens with warm sauce. Brown rice is a nice accompaniment. Makes 3 or 4 servings.

See and/or purchase the book “Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers” at BetterWorldBooks.

Learn more about Moosewood Restaurant and see some of their recipes at their website:

http://www.moosewoodrestaurant.com/index.html

If you are intrigued with this recipe, you will find my recipe for Brunchschetta, an anytime meal� using beet greens with bacon and a poached egg on toast in my column this week. Click here to get to the recipe.

 

 

This Cherry Cake brings music to my ears

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I love the fresh, dark sweet cherries of summer. This time of year, when the ruby-hued fruit from Washington is toppled into huge bins in grocery stores, long slender stems going this-away, that-away, I just can’t resist them — no matter the price. And, the price is high when you choose organic cherries. So, I buy them in small quantities, bring them home and savor each luscious orb of succulence.

This morning, though, I have gained even stronger appreciation for each cherry I slip into my mouth.  I was tuned into NPR in the car as Gracie and I were heading home from the kennel this morning, where she spent her Saturday while I was cooking at the Lakes Area Farmers Market in Detroit Lakes. As I listened, Anna King did a short piece about migrant workers from Mexico who have discovered that picking cherries is one of the best-paying agriculture jobs in the northwest. As the men and women perch themselves on ladders raised high up into trees heavily laden with cherries, they learn to become adept at quickly and carefully picking and dropping as many cherries as they can into their buckets. They are not paid an hourly wage. They are paid by the amount of cherries they pick. As the listener is hearing the sound of melodious voices of migrant workers singing in Spanish, a slight cry breaks in as a young woman falls from her ladder. It’s alarming.

When the NPR piece ends, I begin to wonder what it’s like to live the life of a migrant cherry-picker. Little things come to mind. Must they worry about getting stung by bees as they climb their ladders and disappear into a lush mass of leaves and ripe cherries? Do they itch with sweat, but don’t dare take time to wipe their brow, that moment or two keeping a few cherries from the bucket? How many have had to overcome a fear of heights in order to take this good-paying job? And, is this “best-paying” agriculture job actually paying these hard-working migrants a fair wage? If so, I won’t mind as much having to pay a high price for this summer fruit that I love. And, I will appreciate the laborious work of the migrants who have made it possible for me to enjoy Washington cherries in my Minnesota kitchen.

After a morning walk with Gracie, constantly swatting away pesky deer flies buzzing around my head, I was ready for a piece of moist and spicy Cherry Cake with a good cup of coffee. I could hear those melodious voices singing songs in Spanish each time a cherry half burst with juice on my tongue.

And, I wonder, do the migrant cherry pickers have to deal with deer flies? Oh, I certainly hope not.

Cherry Cake

  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 3/4 cup butter, room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cup sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 cup pitted sweet cherries, halved

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 13- x 9-inch baking pan. Set aside.

Stir baking soda into buttermilk. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add buttermilk mixture. Beat well.

Sift flour with allspice and cloves. Stir into creamed mixture, blending well. Stir in cherries. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until cake tests done. Makes 12 to 15 servings.

 

Cucumbers and Yogurt are Saucy and Versatile

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While in Minneapolis last weekend, after a light Sunday breakfast at Sunstreet Breads, (Heavy Table recently had a nice write-up about Sun Street with photos) my husband and I stopped at the nearby Kingfield Farmers Market. We had discovered this lively market last summer. Last summer, Sun Street owner, Sovlveig Tofte, was selling her delicious bakery at the market. My husband bought one of her rhubarb turnovers that day and was talking about it for a week. He was so happy to find them at her Sun Street Breads when we were there for breakfast. He even shared it with me. Yes, those turnovers are just the right balance of sweet, tart and flaky and they make you sigh with indulgent satisfaction.

I was delighted to find Foxy Falafel at the market again this summer. I remembered watching people pedal for a smoothie at her booth.

On this summer’s visit to the Kingfield Farmers Market, I was ready to try a Foxy Falafel fresh pita stuffed with shreds of pickled cabbage, tomatoes and cucumbers with hummus and bite-sized chunks of falafel, of course. I did a pita of half beet falafel and half traditional (chickpea). It was just the kind of sandwich I was looking for — it’s a hold-with-two-hands hefty and wholesome meal . I felt so good and healthy after that lunch. I didn’t take pictures, but you’ll enjoy this piece about Erica Strait, the chef behind Foxy Falafel, written by Sarah Rykal over at Simple, Good and Tasty. My friend Crystal, over at Cafe Cyan, wrote about Foxy Falafel’s debut on the market scene last summer and has a few pictures, too.

After that Foxy Falafel sandwich at the market, I was ready to make my own when I got home. Jenny Breen’s cookbook, “Cooking Up The Good Life,” was my guide as I ventured into the land of falafel-making. I followed Breen’s recipe precisely and wound up with amazingly wonderful falafel. Along with her Tahini Sauce, I added my own yogurt-based cucumber sauce.

I often use this sauce as a dressing for a salad of fresh greens. It’s wonderful stirred into tuna salad. Spoon it alongside grilled meat or roasted vegetables for a real taste-treat. And, don’t forget, it’s a must with homemade falafel, whether it’s stuffed into pita or served as an appetizer. You’ll find the Falafel recipe I used from Cooking Up The Good Life in my column this week. Click here.

Yogurt-Cucumber Sauce

  • 1 cup whole milk yogurt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon mint leaves, chopped
  • 1/2 cup peeled and finely chopped seedless cucumber
  • 1 chubby clove garlic, minced
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in a 4-cup glass measure or mixing bowl. Cover and allow to sit in refrigerator for at least a couple of hours for flavors to develop. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Tips from the cook

  • Fresh dill weed is a nice substitute for mint when you can pick it from your garden or buy it at the farmers market.
  • Look for seedless cucumbers later in the summer at your local farmers market. In the supermarket, you’ll find the long, slender, seedless cucumbers wrapped in plastic in the produce department.
  • Watch as I share tips and prepare Yogurt-Cucumber Sauce on Lakeland Public Television. Click here.
  • See more about last year’s visit to Kingfield Farmers Market and other interesting places when I vacationed in Minneapolis last summer by clicking right here.

Weekend Baking: Orange you glad it’s thyme for rhubarb scones?

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There’s a new kid in my garden. Can you see that dainty little sprig of green right on top of that pretty scone? Well, that’s it. That’s the new kid. His name is Orange Thyme of the Thymus family. I’ve known his cousin, Lemon Thyme, for many years. For several summers, Lemon Thyme has been a favorite visitor in my kitchen, adding shindig to my sugar cookies, cha-cha to chicken, liveliness to my lemon bread and sassy flair to my salads. I love Lemon Thyme. When she’s not in my kitchen, she’s just outside the door basking in the sunshine.

And then, last weekend I spotted tiny Orange Thyme at the Kingfield Farmers Market in Minneapolis. I snapped up the potted herb and found a spot for it very near to Lemon Thyme. If all goes well, Orange Thyme should be making a perennial appearance in my garden.

I could not wait to snip a few stems of Orange Thyme and start baking. With a few stalks of rhubarb still in my refrigerator, I chose to make Rhubarb Scones with Orange Thyme, using my favorite base recipe for scones. I added a bit more sugar to balance the tartness of the bits of rhubarb that I stirred into the batter. Since I didn’t want to take too much from my newly planted Orange Thyme, I only added a tightly-packed 1/4 teaspoon. Next time I might use a full teaspoon in order to get more of its light citrus tang. Bright and zesty Lemon Thyme would also work well in this recipe. But, if you don’t have either one, just use a 1/2 teaspoon of grated orange zest and these scones will still be wonderful, because the star is tart rhubarb.

These scones will make you so happy. Warm from the oven, they are so moist with almost a creamy texture. Each bit of soft, tart rhubarb will send bubbles of joy from your taste-buds to your tummy. Break through the crunchy sweet sugar sprinkled over the top of the scone and your lips will become a smile. You’ll just want to keep eating more. Really. That’s how good they are. Even the next day after baking, these scones bring sighs of joy.

I couldn’t help shooting a few pictures of some sweet flowers in my garden as I was out taking a picture of Orange Thyme. These flowers make me smile, too.

Blooming flax, the color of beautiful blue sky on a perfect summer day:

I think this one is called a Pincushion flower, a perennial I bought a few years ago.

Yesterday Gracie was outside with me and she pulled one of those flowers out by its root. The bud hadn’t opened yet. I brought it in and put the stem in some water. Today the bud is open.

Gracie is forgiven. Just look at that face. I’m sure she thought that flower was a weed and she was just helping me get the job done…

The forget-me-not plants my neighbor dug from her garden to share with me are still blooming and just as cute as can be.

There you have it. Summer flowers and rhubarb scones. I’m smiling. How about you?

Rhubarb Cream Scones with Orange Thyme

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup sugar plus more for sprinkling
  • 1/4 teaspoon, packed, orange thyme leaves
  • 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into small (1/2-inch) chunks
  • 2 cups finely chopped fresh rhubarb
  • 1 cup pecans or walnuts, broken
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1/2 cup plain whole milk yogurt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Sift flour, baking powder, salt and 1/2 cup sugar into a large mixing bowl. Add butter and orange thyme leaves. Use a pastry blender (or two table knives) to cut butter into dry ingredients until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in rhubarb and nuts. Add whipping cream and yogurt. Stir just until combined.

Drop 1/2-cup mounds of batter onto prepared baking sheets. You should have 4 or 5 mounds on each sheet. Sprinkle each mound with 1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar. Bake 20 minutes, until puffed and dark golden. Transfer to a rack and cool to warm, about 10 minutes (if you can wait that long), before serving. Makes 8 to 10 scones.

Deconstructed Fried Rice seasoned with homemade Ponzu

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Who would think that a beaten egg could be cooked in a metal ladle? Not me.

I picked up Issue 53 of Donna Hay magazine the other day. There, on page 161 was a stack of small shallow egg nests looking as light and thin as French crepes. A mixture of sauteed mushrooms, bean sprouts and green onions were nestled beautifully in a shallow bowl of cooked egg the shape of the scoop of a ladle.

I had to try it. With some cooked brown rice in the refrigerator, I decided to make a deconstructed version of fried rice. Rather than whipping some eggs, frying them and slicing them up to stir into the rice as normal, the rice would rest inside of egg nests.

I may have had Asian food on my mind, as I had just listened to Linda Carucci via teleforum talk about what’s new in the culinary field. Carucci  is Chef Director at The Art Institute of California-San Francisco, a cookbook author, and International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Cooking Teacher of the Year in 2002.

One of the food items she mentioned is Ponzu, a Japanese seasoning, which is now available in bottles on grocery store shelves. Ponzu is basically soy sauce with citrus added to give bright flavor. I found Kikkoman brand ponzu in a local grocery store. A few years ago I taught a fondue cooking class. We made our own Ponzu sauce to use for dipping chicken and shrimp.

I made a small amount of ponzu to season the fried rice. Toasted sesame oil gets whisked into my ponzu along with some fresh ginger and garlic.

I just can’t tell you how delicious this deconstructed fried rice is. It’s deconstructed in the sense that rather than mixing all the ingredients together, some are held out of the rice and layered. I can only guarantee the rich, satisfying flavor when it is seasoned with the made-with-my-recipe ponzu sauce.

First, an egg nest rests on the plate. One egg will yield three or four shallow cooked egg nests. Fill with frozen organic peas and sauteed celery slices that have been stirred into cooked brown rice seasoned with ponzu. Sprinkle with bits of crispy bacon and slices of green onion. Deconstructed fried rice. Quick, easy, healthful.

I ate this for supper, but I would easily serve it for breakfast or lunch or brunch. A sweet, juicy clementine is just the right dessert for this meal.

I have a gas range, so it was easy to hold the  oiled ladle over the flame to heat it up before adding a tablespoon of beaten egg. I gave the cooked egg a little nudge around the edge with a table knife and it slid right out of the ladle. If you don’t have an open flame, you can cook the egg in a lightly greased, small, non-stick frying pan over low heat. The result will be flat, rather than bowl-shaped.

Such a fun way to serve fried rice or sauteed mushrooms. What would you serve in these egg nests?

Ponzu Sauce

  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1/4 teaspoon minced gingerroot
  • 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
  • 1/3 cup soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

Combine all ingredients..  Whisk together.  Store in sealed jar in refrigerator.

Deconstructed Fried Rice with Ponzu

  • 1 egg
  • sea salt flakes
  • cooked brown rice, about 2 cups
  • 2 slices bacon
  • 1 rib of celery, sliced thin
  • 1 cup organic frozen peas
  • 1 or 2 teaspoons Ponzu sauce (see recipe above)
  • 4 green onions, sliced

Slice bacon into thin pieces. Cook over medium heat in saute pan until crispy. Remove with slotted spoon to plate. Set aside. Pour all but 1 tablespoon bacon fat from the pan. Add celery and saute until crisp tender. Stir in peas and continue to saute until peas are heated through. Season with ponzu.

Beat egg in a small bowl. Add sea salt. Brush inside of metal ladle with canola oil. Hold over open flame on gas range until bowl of ladle is hot. Add 1 tablespoon of beaten egg and swirl to coat the bowl of the ladle. Once the egg is cooked (it won’t take long), slide a table knife around the edge of the cooked egg and slide out onto a plate.

Spoon rice mixture into each egg nest. Sprinkle with bacon bits and green onion slices. Makes 4 egg nests filled with fried rice.

Guest House Cinnamon Rolls

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Outside, the roosters crow. I look at the time display on my cell phone within reach. 4:30. A.M.

As hard as I try, I cannot fall back to sleep. The continuous crying sounds of the roosters are foreign to me and grate on my nerves.

Finally, I pull myself out of bed, throw on some workout clothes and softly pad down the stairs outside my room.

I sit in the dark, the only light coming from the screen of my laptop computer. As my fingers move quickly across the keys, the light of day appears, surprising me with its sudden takeover of the night.

The sound of cars in the street join the constant noise of roosters calling to one another.

My nose picks up the familiar aroma of yeast dough wafting from the kitchen.

Early each morning, an employee of the Angelina Guesthouse, where I’m staying in Key West, Florida, opens the kitchen in the early morning hours of darkness, while most of the guests are still deep in their slumber. On this morning, Nodira, a beautiful woman originally from Uzbekictan, pulls two batches of plump unbaked cinnamon rolls from the refrigerator and slides them into the oven.

While the comforting fragrance of baking bread begins to surround us, Nodira and I visit beside the pool outside in the new light of day. A teacher in her home country, the young woman with black hair and brown eyes the size of whole walnuts, explains that she has been in America for six years. Her first stop was Ohio. With a huge appetite for learning and an urgent desire to master the English language, she attended class after class.

For the past three years she has lived in Key West. Two years ago, she began working at the Angelina Guesthouse and is most often the keeper of the famous cinnamon rolls served hot and fresh to guests each morning.

For Angelina Guesthouse owner, Kevin, cinnamon rolls were a weekend breakfast tradition when he was growing up. His mother was a home economics teacher and taught Kevin to make cinnamon rolls when he was 10 years old. He’s been making them ever since.

When Kevin and his wife moved to Key West from Kentucky and opened the Angelina Guesthouse, Kevin continued the weekend cinnamon roll tradition. Guests, with an insatiable appetite for the homemade sweet breakfast treat, asked for more. Just on weekends wasn’t enough. Kevin relented, and now the voluptuous spirals of cinnamon and sweet yeast dough, still prepared following his mother’s recipe, are served each morning, often by Nodira.

As I visited with Nodira, the piercing crow of free-roaming street roosters vanished. The graceful sway of palm trees fanned our conversation, turning small glowing embers of casual words into a burst of warm conversation.

Soon the cinnamon rolls were ready to come from the oven and guests began to gather, following their nose to the famous breakfast treat.

Nodira went back to work. As my teeth sunk into a soft and very plump, warm cinnamon and sugar-spiked roll, I wondered what tomorrow’s dawn would bring.

Angelina Guesthouse Cinnamon Rolls

Prepare in bread machine.

Stir together in bottom of bread machine:

  • 1 cup warm milk
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 teaspoons yeast

Let rest for 15 minutes, then add:

  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil
  • 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 eggs

Roll out dough into a rectangle approximately 18 inches x 12 inches.

Cover with:

  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
  • Cinnamon and sugar mixture made of 2 cups sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon. You won’t need the full amount of this mixture.

Roll up dough and cut into 15 slices.

Place in greased 9×13-inch cake pan. Allow to rise or refrigerate and allow to rise in morning. Bake in preheated 425-degree oven for 20 minutes, until golden brown and baked through.

Remove from oven and ice with glaze made of:

  • 2 tablespoons melted butter
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Mix ingredients and add milk to thin. Makes 15 cinnamon rolls.

The dough can be mixed the traditional way without the use of a bread machine.


Shape and Bake Soft Pretzels

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Soft and chewy on the inside, an outside crust with some crunch and a top speckled with bits of salt — now that’s a pretzel — and it’s homemade.

During the cold, snowy months of winter, I enjoy warming up the kitchen with homemade bread baking in the oven.  The familiar fragrance of yeast bubbling and the aroma of soft dough rising in a bowl on the counter (or on the top of the clothes dryer when it’s tumbling a load of clothes) brings me comfort. And, there is nothing like kneading dough to relieve stress.

I’m hoping to get my grandchildren just as hooked on making bread as I am. When a few of my grandchildren were visiting recently I suggested we make some soft pretzels, a food they love.

They all thought a snack of soft pretzels sounded great, but it was ten-year-old Emily who took action.

She whisked the yeast with a bit of sugar into water and watched as the mixture bubbled, foamed and grew. She stirred in some flour. She kneaded the dough.

She shaped pretzels.

And, into the oven they went. These pretzels, unlike most soft pretzels, skip the step that involves being dropped into a pot of boiling water before baking in the oven.

While we waited for the dough to double in size, Emily made some hot cocoa.

Tanner moved flour around with a bulldozer fork.

Madison was reading books and playing school.

And, before we knew it, the pretzels were ready to eat. Created by Emily and enjoyed by all, the pretzels received a thumbs-up.

This dough is the one I normally use for making a pan of focaccia. It’s a nice recipe for those who have felt intimidated by yeast dough. This is a good one to use for a first yeast experience. Hopefully, it will get you hooked on baking with yeast.

Shape and Bake Soft Pretzels

  • 1¼ cups warm water (105 degrees F. to 115 degrees F.)
  • 1½ teaspoons sugar
  • 1½ teaspoons active dry yeast
  • 1½ teaspoons salt
  • 3½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • ½ teaspoon coarse salt

Pour warm water into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle sugar and yeast over the water. Gently whisk to mix. Let the mixture stand for about 5 minutes. If the yeast is alive, the mixture will bubble and swell and foam. If this doesn’t happen, you’ll need to start over with fresh yeast.

Measure flour into another bowl. Stir some of the flour and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt into the yeast mixture. Gradually add more flour until dough forms. You may not need to use all of the flour you’ve measured out. When the dough leaves the sides of the bowl and follows your spoon, place the dough onto a lightly floured (using premeasured flour from bowl) work surface. Turn the mixing bowl upside down over the dough and let it rest.

Use shortening on your clean fingers, grease a large cookie sheet and the inside of another large glass bowl. Set aside. Rub the shortening remaining on your fingers onto the inside of your hands. This will help prevent the dough from sticking to your hands when you begin kneading.

Knead dough 10 to 12 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Place dough in greased bowl. Turn the ball of dough over so that greased side is facing up. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a towel. Let dough rise in warm place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes to an hour.

Meanwhile, place oven rack in lowest rack position. Heave oven to 450 degrees.

Gently punch dough to deflate. Place dough work surface. Cut dough into 8 equal-sized pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a rope about 18 inches long. Make a U shape with the rope of dough. Bring the ends of the U down toward you, give the ends a twist and tuck them under the bottom of the U. Place on cookie sheet. Let the pretzels rise about 20 minutes or until risen by half. Brush pretzels with 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt.

Bake in preheated 450-degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and transfer to cooling rack. Cut and serve warm. Makes 8 pretzels.

French Bread Times Two

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Snow days keeping me tucked inside my warm, cozy house with my favorite guy, a sweet puppy, a fire in the fireplace, hot soup, homemade bread and a bottle of red wine — winter life in northern Minnesota really doesn’t get much better than that.

Making your own bread does not have to be difficult. French Bread Times Two proves it.

I learned of this recipe that makes two loaves of French bread from an energetic friend of my mom’s years ago. This friend loved to cook and bake and entertain. She excitedly shared the recipe with my mom, explaining how she loved being able to conveniently pull the chilled loaves from her refrigerator and bake them just before her dinner guests arrived, bringing her all kinds of raving compliments and incredulous ooohs and aaaahs.

Well, my mom was duly impressed. Unfortunately, she was never very interested in making bread from scratch. After all, those frozen loaves of dough from the freezer case at the grocery store were awfully good and demanded no effort at all.

My mom passed the recipe over to me.

French Bread Times Two does not take long to mix up, knead and shape into two long, slender loaves. I often bake one loaf soon after shaping, allowing it to chill for just a few hours first. The second loaf gets pulled from its rest in the refrigerator and baked the next day.

These loaves allow me the satisfaction of kneading the smooth, soft dough. It’s my favorite part of making homemade bread. And then, the eating of the warm slices. If ever there happens to be some bread leftover, I turn it into French toast the next day.

Mix once, knead once, shape two loaves and refrigerate. Heat oven. Bake. Eat.

If you’re willing to share the bread, you can sit back and enjoy all the compliments.

By the way, this French bread is just what you need with a bowl of steaming Bean Soup. My Bean Soup recipe is in my column this week.

French Bread

  • 2 1/4 cups warm water (105 degrees F. to 115 degrees F.)
  • 2 (1/4-ounce) packages active dry yeast
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 5 1/2 to 6 cups all-purpose flour

Pour warm water into a large mixing bowl. Add yeast and sugar and mix with a whisk. Let sit for a few minutes until mixture bubbles, foams and grows. Stir down with a wooden spoon. Add salt and olive oil. Gradually add flour, beating mixture with a wooden spoon after each addition. When dough begins to leave sides of bowl and follow the spoon, transfer to work surface sprinkled with flour. Turn mixing bowl upside down over dough and allow to relax for a few minutes. While dough is relaxing, grease a large glass bowl and set aside. Grease a large baking sheet and set aside.

Remove bowl covering dough. Knead dough for 5 to 10 minutes, adding flour to work surface as needed to prevent sticking. You may not need the total amount of flour called for in the recipe. Form dough into a round. Place in reserved greased bowl. Turn dough over so greased side is facing up. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a towel and allow dough to rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes.

Punch dough down and divide in half. Roll each half of dough to a rectangle approximately 11 inches x 17 inches. Roll up, beginning at a long side, fold ends under and place on greased baking sheet. Both loaves of dough should fit on one baking sheet. Brush each loaf with olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap to seal and then a large towel. Refrigerate up to 24 hours.

To bake, preheat oven to 400 degrees. While oven is heating, remove loaves of dough from refrigerator. Brush each loaf with cold water and slash the tops with a sharp knife. Bake 30 to 40 minutes until loaves are golden and sound hollow when tapped with finger on the bottom. Immediately transfer to cooling racks. Makes 2 loaves.

Wicked Chili

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There must be as many ways to make chili as there are shades of Sherwin-Williams paints. There’s no right or wrong way to make chili. It’s all about what pleases your taste buds. And, I’m always willing to give a new twist to a pot of chili.

Dennis Weimann, News Director/Anchor of Lakeland News at Lakeland Public Television sent me an email the other day and shared a chili recipe he had developed. He was planning to make a pot that day. Maybe he’s getting ready for the next United Way Chili Cook-off in Bemidji.

I examined the list of ingredients. First, I noticed it had beans and meat. That’s important to me. I can eat a chili with beans and meat or with beans only. I don’t mean to make any of my Texas friends shudder, but I just can’t call it chili if there is only meat with no beans in the pot.

As my eyes moved further down the list of ingredients, I began to see a side of Dennis Weimann that amazed me. I had no idea he was a spice guy. A chili head. A lover of heat. His chili was loaded with all things hot and spicy — three kinds of hot peppers, astounding amounts of chili powder and ground cumin, 2 tablespoons of cayenne pepper and 1 tablespoon of hot pepper sauce and 1 tablespoon of ground black pepper. I was just beginning to think Weimann was playing a joke on me when another message from him popped into my email box. He was thinking about cutting back on the tomato sauce in the recipe.

It was the 2 tablespoons of Cajun seasoning that really hooked me, though. Well, the 2 tablespoons of paprika didn’t hurt, either. My Hungarian genes make me toss paprika into just about everything. I had just used Tony Chachere’s Creole seasoning in Chex Mix Cha Cha (in my previous post you’ll discover where the Cha Cha comes from). I had a container of Cajun seasoning sitting on the shelf right next to the Creole seasoning. I would make this wicked Weimann chili with a few heat adjustments.

The original recipe calls for 2 pounds of spicy pork sausage, but with meat from a quarter of an organic grass-fed cow in my freezer, I opted to use 2 pounds of ground beef.

I followed the news anchor’s recipe pretty closely. But, I had to draw the line at 2 tablespoons of ground cayenne and 2 tablespoons of hot pepper sauce. It turned out the chili didn’t need that extra heat at all.

Wicked Chili is not for the faint of heart. It is not for anyone who can’t take some heat. This chili is right at the brink of being too hot for me. With shredded Cheddar and sour cream, this chili’s sweat-power gets turned down a notch.

Wicked Chili will get us through the blizzard (as my Dad would say, “Chili today, hot tamale!”) and all the football games this New Year’s weekend. It might become the meal served during all the television football games in January.

It’s wicked good.

Happy New Year, dear readers. Make each new day wicked good.

Wicked Chili

(adapted from Dennis Weimann’s original recipe)
  • 2 pounds ground beef
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 Serrano peppers, minced
  • 2 Jalapeno peppers, seeds removed, minced
  • 1 Anaheim pepper, seeds removed, minced
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons chili powder
  • 2 tablespoons cumin
  • 1 tablespoon oregano
  • 2 tablespoons paprika
  • 2 tablespoons Tony Chachere’s Cajun seasoning (this gives the chili the Cha Cha)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
  • 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 (15-ounce) can hot chili beans
  • 2 (28-ounce) cans of diced tomatoes with juice

Heat olive oil in large pot over medium heat. When oil is hot, add onion and green pepper. Saute until almost tender. Add garlic, serrano peppers, jalapeno peppers and Anaheim peppers and saute for 2 minutes. Add ground beef. Cook and stir mixture until meat is cooked through. Drain any fat from the pot.

Add brown sugar, chili powder, ground cumin, oregano, paprika, Cajun seasoning and black pepper. Mix well. Add beans and tomatoes with juice. Stir and heat through. Serve piping hot with shredded cheese, sour cream and corn tortilla chips. Makes 8 servings.

Tips from the cook

  • I didn’t feel the need to add any tomato sauce, but Weimann’s recipe uses at least 1 (28-ounce) can of sauce.
  • I left the seeds in one of the Serrano peppers, but removed them from all the other peppers. The seeds add a lot of heat.

“Old Country” Hungarian for Christmas

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My Hungarian grandma came to the United States when she was just a teenager. Her husband came before her to find a place for them to settle. She left her family behind to travel to a land of opportunity where she and her young husband believed they could create a better life for their family. Young Rose arrived with their first-born, a son, who was still a baby.

I’ve often wondered what it was like for my grandma to be in a strange country, a place where she could barely communicate with the people around her and where she had no family or friends, just her Hungarian husband.

Over the years, Rose’s family grew as she and her husband ran their own boarding house and restaurant in Chicago. One day, when their four sons and one daughter were still very young, Rose’s husband decided to leave. He wanted to go back to “the old country.” Eventually, the strong and very hard-working single mother married again. She and her second husband, Paul, had one more son and one more daughter. They moved to a farm in Indiana to raise their seven children. Their daughter, Rosemary, the baby of the family, became my mom.

The five sons and two daughters grew into adults and moved away from their Indiana home, but I do not remember even one Christmas when they were not all together at the farm to celebrate together, coming back each year with spouses and children of their own.

When I was growing up, our Christmas tradition began with a long ride in the car from our home in a northern suburb of St. Paul to the farm in San Pierre, Indiana. Our car would be packed with presents my mom had beautifully wrapped. (Her secret desire was to work as a gift-wrapper at Dayton’s during the holiday season.) My dad became an expert at packing up the trunk of a car. Every year he intricately pieced every package, each suitcase and all the tins filled with my mom’s homemade Christmas cookies into the large trunk of the car, as if putting a puzzle together.

Christmases celebrated at my grandparent’s Indiana farm were full of laughter, my aunts and uncles speaking to each other in Hungarian (their poor spouses had no idea what they were talking about and the children didn’t really care), and lots of Hungarian food prepared just as my grandma had learned in “the old country,” the land of her birth and the place where her birth family had stayed.

We would wake up in the mornings to the sound of my grandpa putting logs in the stove in the kitchen. And before long, from my cozy cocoon under the down quilt my grandma had made, I would begin to smell the sweet and thin Hungarian pancakes that she was lovingly preparing on that old wood-burning stove.

A large holiday meal was not complete without a huge pan of my grandma’s Hungarian noodles, turos teszta. Homemade egg noodles tossed with creamy cottage cheese and a generous amount of crunchy bits of bacon were prepared in the largest cast iron skillet she owned. This dish wasn’t reserved for holidays, though. We enjoyed this easy-to-make meal all year long. When I was growing up, while my friends would be eating weeknight meals of macaroni and cheese, at my house we would be eating turos teszta. I have a feeling my grandma and grandpa often ate turos teszta when they were growing up in their “old country.”

Today, feeling a bit melancholy as I thought about Christmases of the past and missing all those people I loved so much who are no longer with me, I made a big pan of turos tezsta for lunch. With each bite, I could almost hear my grandparents and my mom and her siblings visiting with one another in Hungarian. I could almost see my uncles fighting over the last bits of crunchy bacon in the large cast iron pan. And, when I realized the extra saltiness I was tasting was coming from a couple of tears that had landed on my lip, I smiled.

Merry Christmas to you. May the season be filled with happy memories of traditions from Christmases remembered and the fun of making new ones.

My Grandma’s “Old Country” Turos Teszta

  • 2 pounds sliced bacon
  • 1 (16-ounce) bag medium egg noodles
  • 1 (22-ounce) container small curd cottage cheese, room temperature (maybe a little bit more, if you like)
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • Sour cream, room temperature, for serving

Slice bacon crosswise into about 1/2-inch wide strips. Fry the sliced bacon pieces in a large skillet over medium heat. When the bacon is very crisp, use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon from the pan to a paper towel-lined plate. Pour all but 1 or 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat from the pan.

Boil egg noodles until done, following directions on package.

Drain noodles and put into the skillet with bacon fat. Stir to coat noodles. Add bacon pieces and cottage cheese. Stir to mix. Turn heat to medium and stir just until heated through. Sprinkle generously with freshly ground black pepper. Serve immediately. Have sour cream on the table. Each person can put a dollop of sour cream on their serving of turos teszta. Serves 6 as a main dish, more if served as a side dish.

Tips from the cook

  • Be sure to use full-fat cottage cheese. Reduced-fat and no-fat cottage cheese will make the dish a watery mess. Use full-fat sour cream, too. It’s the only way I will guarantee the success of this dish:)