Blog Appetit

Tamale-Stuffed Pumpkin for the Holidays

2009-11-18T17:24:00.000-08:00

I can't say the idea to use tamales as a stuffing is unique to me. I first saw the concept as a stuffing for Cornish hens and after I created the recipe I saw it as a stuffing for a boneless turkey roll in the local newspaper. Neither was exactly like mine, but I just wanted to be sure everyone understood I wasn't taking credit for being the first one to think of it!

My tamale stuffing goes inside a pumpkin. It makes a lovely vegetarian holiday main course or a great vegetable side dish this time of year. We enjoyed it with some vegetarian bulgur chili (watch for that post.) I used some of Primavera's wonderful gourmet tamales, but you could use any kind of cheese or, better yet, cheese and chile, tamale. Just add in some chopped vegetables of your choice to the initial saute. Truly a great way to celebrate a harvest festival!

Here's a quick recap of how to make the recipe

Tamale-Stuffed Pumpkin
Serves 4-5

One good size kabocha (Japanese green) pumpkin, top removed, strings and seeds removed
1/2 cup of milk
4 cheese tamales (I used Primavera's white corn and zucchini tamales in roasted tomato chipotle salsa with jack cheese)
2 Tbs. olive or other oil
1/2 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
If needed (depending on tamales) -- salsa, chopped chiles, 1/4 cup corn kernels, 1/4 chopped zucchini or other ingredients to taste.
Salt and Pepper to taste
Regular or Smoked Paprika

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place pumpkin in roasting pan. Put milk inside pumpkin. Cook for about 20 minutes until pumpkin flesh is just starting to get soft. Steam tamales, unwrap from husks, set aside. Saute onion and garlic in oil until onion is browned. If using additional ingredients, add them to the onions and garlic and saute until softened. Crumble tamales into saute, breaking up and combining with other ingredients. Add salt and pepper as desired. Pack into pumpkin, stirring any milk remaining on the bottom into the mixture. Sprinkle paprika on top. Return to oven and bake another 45-60 minutes until the pumpkin flesh is soft and the stuffing heated through. When serving be sure to scoop out some of the pumpkin with the filling.

Eastern European Stuffed Cabbage in Sweet and Sour Tomato Sauce for National Vegan Month

2009-11-18T09:30:00.000-08:00

This is the second vegan cabbage roll recipe I developed for National Vegan Month. (For the Asian-inspired recipe and more on November being National Vegan Month, click here.) Since I was writing this for a Jewish audience (the Temple Beth Abraham Omer), I thought I would tweak a traditional Ashkenazi style stuffed cabbage taste profile. It is still filling, still hearty, and still a great main course or perhaps an accompaniment to some Chanukah potato latkes.

The kasha (buckwheat groats) in the filling gives these cabbage rolls their hearty taste; a bit of ginger and a sweet and sour tomato sauce give them a lively, bright taste. I always found prepping the cabbage leaves for stuffing a bit intimidating. Some recipes have you whacking out the cabbage core and/or submerging and boiling a whole cabbage. I’ve developed a fairly fuss free way to prep the cabbage leaves that makes it relatively easy to prepare them for the stuffing (see recipe directions below). Give it a try.

East European Style Cabbage Rolls in Sweet and Sour Tomato Sauce
Serves 4

Large Savoy or green cabbage
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
½ cup finely chopped onions
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp. minced fresh ginger root
½ tsp. ground black pepper, divided
¼ tsp. red pepper flakes
1 carrot, chopped
½ cup of sliced mushrooms
½ tsp. salt, divided
1 cup uncooked kasha (buckwheat groats)
3 cups vegetable stock
¼ cup chopped parsley, plus additional for garnish
1 cup chopped tomatoes, divided
16 ounces plain tomato sauce
¼ tsp. ground dried ginger
1 Tbs. sugar
¼ cup apple cider vinegar

First prep the cabbage leaves. Score the bottom of the cabbage all the way around stem with a knife to detach the leaves from the stem. Pull off 10 of the outer leaves, making additional cuts at the stem if needed. Place the leaves in boiling water in a large pot. (You may want to prepare a few additional leaves in case of rips and tears or if you have some leftover stuffing.) Make sure the leaves are submerged. Cover and simmer for four to five minutes or until tender and pliable. Drain and let cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large frying or sauté pan, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add onion and sauté 1 minute, add garlic, ginger, ¼ tsp. of black pepper and red pepper flakes. Sauté for a minute. Add carrots, sauté for 3 minutes, then add the mushrooms. Sauté for 1 minute and add the kasha, stirring well. Add the stock, bring to a low simmer. Cover and lower heat, simmering until the stock is absorbed and the kasha is cooked through (about 8 to 10 minutes), stirring occasionally. Taste and add more black pepper if needed and ¼ tsp. of salt or as needed. Mix in ½ cup of chopped tomato and ¼ cup parsley.

In a small sauce pan over medium low heat, mix the tomato sauce, ground ginger, ¼ tsp. salt and ¼ tsp. of ground pepper, sugar and remaining tomatoes. Cook, stirring frequently, until the tomatoes have begun to soften. Take off the heat. Add the vinegar. Stir well and taste. Adjust by adding more sugar or vinegar as needed and more salt and pepper as desired. Ladle a thin layer of the sauce on the bottom of a 9x12-inch baking pan.

Spread a cabbage leaf on a cutting board. Cut off hard end of stem. Place ¼ cup of filling in the middle of the leaf. Fold over the two shorter sides of the leaf. Fold over one of the longer sides, then the other. Place folded side down in the baking pan. Repeat with other leaves. Spread sauce evenly over top of cabbage rolls. Bake until the sauce is bubbling and the rolls are cooked through, approximately 45-50 minutes. Garnish with parsley before serving.

Laotian Food in Oakland

2009-11-16T22:29:00.001-08:00

I've been remiss about writing about my experiences with the Laotian food resources and restaurants here in Oakland, but Andrew Simmons of Bay Area Bites hasn't. He's written a wonderful article about the food and the people who create it here.

He mentions the classes at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center taught by Sokham Senthavilay. (That a photo of her to the left teaching a cooking class at the OACC.) I've taken two classes with her and was very impressed with the flavors, textures and tastes of Laotian food. You can read what I've written about the OACC classes and Sokham here. (True confession, I have several other posts with photos planned from the classes and haven't written them yet.)

See what the OACC has posted about the workshops here (including links to recipes).

The OACC may be planning more Asian culinary workshops in the near future. I'll be sure to post about them when more info becomes available.

A special thank you goes out to the Alliance for California Traditional Arts which has funded the OACC workshops.

National Vegan Month and an Asian-Inspired Stuffed Cabbage

2009-11-10T23:20:00.001-08:00

The back story to this recipe is that I met an editor of VegNews at the BlogHer Food conference. We got to talking and she told me November was National Vegan Month. I was inspired to develop several vegan recipes to celebrate the month and to help me reduce the animal fats in my own diet. This Asian-inspired stuffed cabbage is stuffed with a veggie-packed stir-fried rice and features a zippy sesame soy sauce. (Use a wheat free soy or tamari sauce to make it gluten free.) The recipe was developed for my twice-a-month food column at the j. You can see the complete article here.

What is this Asian-ish dish doing in a Jewish newsweekly? Well, my wonderful editors really give me free reign on what I choose to write, but stuffed cabbages of all sorts are traditional Eastern European dishes. (Plus other Jewish communities stuff cabbage and grape leaves as well as vegetables with all kinds of rice pilafs and mixtures.) And there are Jewish communities throughout Central Asia and the East, where traditional dishes have been adapted to local ingredients, so just think of it as a Far East Eastern European speciality!

Asian-Style Cabbage Rolls with Sesame-Soy Sauce
Serves 3 to 4

Large Savoy or green cabbage
4 Tbs. vegetable oil, divided, plus oil for baking pan
¼ cup chopped onions
3 garlic cloves minced
1 tsp. minced fresh ginger
½ tsp. red pepper flakes
½ cup chopped, peeled jicama
½ cup chopped red bell pepper
¼ cup chopped carrot
1 cup chopped fresh shitake mushrooms
½ cup chopped cabbage
2 green onions (white and green parts), sliced into thin rounds
½ tsp. salt
2 Tbs. of Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
2 cups of cold, cooked long grain rice
¼ cup chopped cilantro, plus additional for garnish
3 Tbs. soy or tamari sauce
2 tsp. of chili paste (such as sambal oelek)
2 Tbs. apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. sugar
2 Tbs. Japanese or Chinese-style sesame oil

First prep the cabbage leaves. Score the bottom of the cabbage all the way around stem with a knife to detach the leaves from the stem. Pull off 10 of the outer leaves, making additional cuts at the stem if needed. Place the leaves in boiling water in a large pot. (You may want to prepare a few additional leaves in case of rips and tears or if you have some leftover stuffing.) Cover and simmer for four to five minutes or until tender and pliable. Drain and let cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9x12-inch baking pan with oil.
In a wok or large frying pan, heat 2 Tbs. oil over high heat. Add onions, stir fry 1 minute. Add in garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes, stir fry for a minute. Add jicama, red bell pepper and carrots. Stir fry 3 minutes. Add mushrooms, stir fry 2 minutes. Add the cabbage. Stir fry 1 minute. Add the green onions, salt and wine and mix well. Add cold rice, mix well and stir fry for 2 minutes, breaking up any clumps. Take off the heat. Stir in ¼ cup cilantro.

Spread a cabbage leaf on a cutting board. Cut off hard end of stem. Place ¼ cup of filling in the middle of the leaf. Fold over the two shorter sides of the leaf over the filling. Fold over one of the longer sides, then the other. Place folded side down in the prepared baking pan. Repeat with other leaves until you have 10 stuffed rolls. Bake, covered with foil, for about 30 minutes or until the rolls are heated through.

While the rolls heat, mix 2 Tbs. vegetable oil with the soy sauce, chili paste, vinegar, sugar and sesame oil in a bowl. Mix well. Stir again and drizzle half over the cabbage rolls and garnish with cilantro before serving. Pass remaining sauce on the side.

Update: I've posted a second vegan cabbage roll recipe -- Eastern European style with a sweet and sour tomato sauce. You can check it out here.

Taste 10, Looks 2 -- Balkan Lemon-Egg Sauce Moussaka with Lamb

2009-11-07T16:21:00.000-08:00

Over at the j weekly, I've had an article on the wonderful photo exhibit at the BJE Community Library in San Francisco on Balkan Sephardic Jews. Called "Images of a Lost World" it documents the lives of a population killed during WWII or dispersed afterwards. The photos and accompanying interviews document these communities in Bulgaria, Greece, Bosnia, Turkey and more. You can read my article here. The exhibit continues on display through the end of January.

Many of the folks who were interviewed mentioned the food their mothers and grandmothers had cooked, but without naming any specific dishes. I started to think about the Greek and Turkish influences on the cuisine in that part of the world and developed this recipe in response to the exhibit. Lemon-Egg Sauce Moussaka with Lamb is lovely to eat, with rich, bright flavors, but only so-so to look at. So make this in your prettiest casserole dish and garnish with some chopped parsley and maybe a handful of fresh diced tomatoes on top to doll it up. Once you taste it, I think you'll agree, looks aren't everything. (Plus the leftovers were great, even cold.) There is no milk or cream in this moussaka, so it might work well for lactose-intolerant guests.

Lemon-Egg Sauce Moussaka with Lamb
Serves 4

The finished casserole may look a bit homey, but the taste is decadent and complex. The dish’s citrusy zing works well with the richness of the sauce and lamb, both of which help mellow the assertiveness of the eggplant. Use the full cup of juice for a stronger lemon flavor. Try serving with rice or potatoes to soak up the creamy (but definitely not dairy) sauce.

Olive oil
1 large globe eggplant, peeled and sliced into ¼” rounds
½ small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground lamb
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 Tbs. tomato paste
¼ tsp. salt or to taste
¼ tsp. ground black pepper or to taste
½ tsp. dried ground oregano
1 tsp. lemon zest
3 Tbs. flour
2 cups chicken stock, divided
¾ to 1 cup lemon juice
2 eggs, beaten
½ tsp. paprika
¼ cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Prepare the Eggplant

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a large baking tray and place eggplant slices in single layer (use two trays if necessary). Brush tops of slices with a light coating of olive oil. Bake for about 30-40 minutes, turning and brushing tops with additional oil occasionally until the eggplant slices are soft throughout and golden brown. Set aside.

Cook the Lamb Filling

Over medium high heat, heat 2 Tbs. of oil and sauté onion until beginning to turn golden. Add garlic, sauté until the onions are beginning to brown. Add lamb, stirring to break up meat. Sauté until the outside of the lamb is just browned. (Drain if desired, discarding fat). Add tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, pepper and oregano. Sauté until lamb is cooked through and tomatoes have begun to soften. Taste and correct seasoning. Add lemon zest, mix well. Set aside.

Make the Lemon-Egg Sauce

Have all ingredients for the sauce ready. In a large saucepan over medium high heat, heat 2 Tbs. oil. Quickly stir in the flour until it is just incorporated. Be careful not to scorch the flour-oil paste. Add in half of the chicken broth. Stir or whisk constantly until the flour mixture and the stock are smooth. Add remainder of the chicken stock and the lemon juice. Reduce heat to medium. Bring to a low boil, stirring occasionally. Remove a half cup of the hot chicken stock mixture and stir into the beaten eggs until well combined. Now slowly drizzle the egg and stock mixture back into the pot stirring the sauce in the pot the whole time until the egg mixture is fully incorporated. Stirring occasionally, bring the sauce back to a low boil. Cook, stirring often, until the mixture has reduced to about half. Taste and add salt if necessary. (Makes about 1 ½ cups of sauce.)

Assemble and Bake the Moussaka

Preheat (or turn oven down to) 350 degrees. Grease an 8 to 9” round casserole. Cover the bottom with half of the baked eggplant slices. Layer with half of the lamb filling. Pour half of the egg-lemon sauce over the lamb. Repeat. Sprinkle top with paprika.
Bake uncovered for 50 to 55 minutes or until top is browned and the sauce is set (it will still be a bit loose when served). Let sit for 10 to 20 minutes before garnishing with chopped parsley and serving.

The Day After Halloween -- The Day of the Dead

2009-10-31T23:50:00.000-07:00

Hope you had a happy Halloween.

November 1st is traditionally the Day of the Dead in Mexican and other cultures.

Here in Oakland it is celebrated with a street fair full of color, music and spectacle on International Blvd. It's also celebrated with lots of food. The area is filled with delicious Mexican and other Hispanic foods anyway, but there's also lots of street vendors out especially for the fair.

For information on this year's Day of the Dead celebration Sunday, November 1, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on International Blvd. between Fruitvale and 35th Ave. , click here. (One tip, take BART to the Fruitvale station and you are there).

One of my favorite parts of the Day of the Dead fair in Oakland are the altars set up to honor deceased family members or mentors. They are always emotionally involving, touching and quite beautiful. I also like all the handicrafts and artwork. The skeletons above are oversized versions of traditional Day of the Dead figurines.

Apple Battle -- Which Do You Prefer -- Caramel or Candied? The Halloween Countdown Continues

2009-10-29T16:48:00.000-07:00

Vote for your favorite -- candied (jellied) apple vs. caramel apple. For a recipe for cinnamon candied apples, click here.

The caramel apple on the right was made from Kraft brand caramels with the recipe on the package. Here's the directions from the Kraft website (although I'd skip the Ritz cracker crumbs the on-line recipe recommends).

Take the poll (poll closes on 11/5/09) and leave a comment below about your favorite caramel and/or candied apple experiences, add ons, recipes or posts.

UPDATE -- Poll is closed -- 42 readers voted (thank you!), the winner at 78 percent was caramel apples. My favorite, candied apples, scored just 9 percent. Four percent liked both equally and 3 percent are not fans of either.

Halloween Countdown -- H Minus 4 -- Low Fat Pumpkin Pie

2009-10-27T21:21:00.000-07:00

There are so many scrumptious things going on in a pumpkin pie that if you can trim the fat a bit no one will notice.

Last year I did just that, adapting my mini-pumpkin tart recipe to make a larger pie. One recipe of the pie filling here should fill one pie crust. Use your own unbaked crust or buy a store bought one for convenience. (Or do what I sometimes do, buy a premade crust from your local bakery.)

Fill the unbaked crust with the pumpkin mixture and put into a preheated 425 degree oven for about 15 minutes and then lower the heat to 350 degrees . Bake for about 40-50 minutes until a knife inserted in the filling comes out clean.

Another variation is to make a graham cracker crust, perhaps subbing out ginger snaps for the graham crackers. To make a cookie crust, please check the directions here. (Do not bake.) Only follow the directions for the crust otherwise you might surprise your guests with a S'More Pie instead of pumpkin.

If you really want to keep calories down, try making the pie without a crust as a custard. Directions for individual pumpkin pie custards are here.

To see what other pumpkin tricks and treats Blog Appetit has to offer, please go here.
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About the photo: One of last year's pies all wrapped up for the freezer. The pies freeze well, so I often make a double batch and freeze one for later.

Halloween Countdown Continues

2009-10-26T14:10:00.000-07:00

Life intervened, so I wasn't able to post countdown goodies H-7 (Halloween minus 7) and H-6 so I'll do a three for one post today, H-5.

1. I like to celebrate Halloween with pumpkin-based main courses and/or desserts. Since I posted a dessert the other day (pumpkin date tart), I'll encourage you to check out this recipe for Moroccan Chicken Couscous with Chickpeas and Pumpkin.

2. Try this sweet and sour cabbage soup with winter squash. The recipe is written for butternut squash, but pumpkin works just as well.

3. Here's a guide on how to select and cook with pumpkins. Think of it as a pumpkin boot camp. It has links to other pumpkin based posts and recipes on Blog Appetit as well.

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About the photo: A u-pick pumpkin patch in Bolinas, CA, in October 2008. Each pumpkin on the back of the trailer is representative of a size and is marked with the price.

Halloween Countdown -- Pumpkin and Date Filo Tart

2009-10-23T10:26:00.000-07:00

Since pumpkin is one of my favorite ingredients and Halloween was a great Blog Appetit family favorite when the BA boys were growing up, I have lots of tricks and treats to share for the holiday. I thought I would try to put up a daily post with recipes and information to help celebrate what has become a frightfully good time for all (despite it's original underpinnings in religion and more.)

Today's the kick off at H (for Halloween) minus 8

Pumpkin and Date Filo Tart
Serves 8

Not your typical pumpkin pie (and probably a lot fewer calories, too).

The tart reflects its Middle Eastern inspiration with its spicing and use of dates and nuts. It is rich and full tasting with a true pumpkin flavor.

2 cups cooked pumpkin puree
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup orange juice
½ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground ginger
1/3 cup pitted, roughly chopped Medjool dates (about 8 large chopped into about a ¼” dice)
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
7 sheets of filo dough
¼ cup or more of vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

First make the pumpkin filling. In a large bowl combine the pumpkin puree, the eggs, juice, sugars, cinnamon and ginger. Mix well. Add the dates and walnuts and stir until evenly dispersed through filling. Set aside.

Make the filo crust. Have ready a package of defrosted filo leaves. Set seven aside covered with a damp paper towel. Repackage and refreeze remainder of package. Brush the bottom and sides of a 9” round cake pan with vegetable oil. Take out one filo sheet (leaving others covered). Center in the cake pan and brush surface with oil. Take out another sheet, rotate it so the overhanging edges are offset with the first sheet. Brush with the oil. Repeat with four of the remaining sheets. Shred the seventh sheet and scatter across the bottom of the crust.
Fill the crust with the pumpkin mixture. Fold the overhanging edges of the filo back over themselves and tuck into the tart. They should cover the edge of the cake pan and create a bit of an edge. Brush exposed filo with oil.

Place in center rack in center of oven. Bake for 5 to 10 minutes or until exposed filo crust has turned golden brown. Cover exposed crust with strips of aluminum foil. Bake tart for about 50 minutes more or until center is set and a knife inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Remove foil strips and let cool to room temperature before serving.

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Want to make a pumpkin pie like your mom probably made, check out Cooking for Engineers post here for step-by-step instructions.

For something more adventurous, try this pumpkin pie with hazelnuts, freshly ground spices and coconut milk from 101 Cookbooks. Heidi also gives an easy "pat in the pan" graham crust option.

Buffalo Grill Won’t You Come Out Tonight -- Gunfight at the OK Corral and a Buffalo Burger Recipe

2009-10-20T20:50:00.000-07:00

BANG. The sudden, loud boom of a shotgun and resulting acrid smell of gunpowder startled the crowd. We looked up and a man, dressed all in black with a long black coat and wide-brimmed black hat commanded our attention. He looked smug even without twirling the waxed ends of his handlebar mustache. He lowered his gun. He knew he had our attention. As the smoke cleared, Sheriff Virgil Earp informed the fanny-pack and flip-flop wearing tourists packed into rows of bleachers that for their own safety they were not to step beyond the paved walkway once the shootout at the OK Corral commenced.

Earlier, as I had walked the wooden sidewalks of Tombstone Arizona, gawking at the costumed shopkeepers and stagecoach drivers, the smell of grilling buffalo burgers focused my attention almost as suddenly and sharply as the sound of Earp’s weapon would later that day. I resisted their fast food allure at places such as Helldorado (home of a comedy gunfight and a silver-miner themed miniature golf course) and pretty much every other café this side of Toughnut Street. The smell of the grilled meat seemed to find me wherever I was in the town (which was equal parts private history museum and tourist trap). The scent was rich and inviting and reminiscent of campfires and cookouts. I was hungry and finally gave into temptation and ordered a grilled buffalo burger from a little outdoor vendor tucked between two of Tombstone’s innumerable former brothels and saloons.

As I waited the wafting smell conjured thoughts of cattle drives and chuck wagons as well as images of buffaloes home on the range (not to mention the thought of my patty grilling a few feet away from where I was sitting) and just made my burger lust stronger.

Six minutes after I ordered I had a perfectly cooked, medium rare buffalo burger on a nondescript bun on a thin paper plate. The burger was so perfectly formed it looked suspiciously like the frozen beef patties that come stacked in plastic bags at the warehouse stores. The bun was airy and tasteless. I took a nibble of just a bit of the unadorned burger before I ladled the condiments on. The buffalo burger itself was juicy without being fatty. It tasted like beef but not like beef at the same time. A rich, meaty taste but different. Buffalo meat has been described as a little sweeter than beef and while I don’t know if that’s how I’d describe the difference, there is one. The taste and texture reminded me very much of grass-feed beef. I liked it very much. Soon I had piled on onions, tomatoes, jalapeños, ketchup and barbecue sauce. Less than six minutes later, my buffalo burger was extinct.

On the drive back to our hotel in Tucson that day I already began to plan how I would make buffalo burgers when we got back to Oakland. Fresh meat, hand formed with maybe a secret ingredient or two on either a really good bun or on some thick sliced sourdough bread. I’d serve the burgers with sliced tomatoes and some avocado wedges. One the side I’d have some of my oven-roasted potato fries. Once I got home and corralled myself some ground buffalo (which I found in packages at my supermarket's meat counter) that's just what I did.

Buffalo Burgers with Chipolte Adobo Sauce
3-4 servings

The Chipolte Adobo Sauce has a warm, smoky flavor that works well with the meat. I ended up drizzling it on my oven-roasted fries as well. Use it wherever you need a creamy, spicy sauce.

Be sure to warn dinners they are not biting into a beef burger. The buffalo meat does taste different and expecting beef and getting buffalo could be an issue for some. Buffalo meat does well in the medium rare to medium range. I don't recommend grilling the burgers any rarer or more well done. Watch your timing, buffalo meat is said to cook quicker than beef. Also, you may want to experiment with different brands. Whether your buffalo meat was grass or grain fed will make a difference to the flavor and texture. Grass fed is generally leaner.

2 tsps of adobo sauce from a can of chipolte peppers packed in adobo sauce (reserve rest of sauce and the peppers for another use)
1 tsp lime juice
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 pound ground buffalo meat
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp chili powder
Sourdough rolls or other sturdy rolls or buns
Tomato slices, avocado wedges and other garnishes for serving

First make the sauce. In a small bowl mix the adobo sauce, lime juice and mayonnaise. Stir well and set aside.
Using your hands and being careful not to over handle, mix the meat with the salt, pepper and chili powder. Gently shape into three or four patties. Grill or broil until medium rare to medium throughout, turning occassionally. Let rest a few minutes and then put on buns slathered with the Chipolte Adobo Sauce and add garnishes of your choice.

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About the photo: That's Wyatt Earp after the shootout at the OK Corral in Tombstone, AZ. Doc Holiday, Morgan Earp and Virgil Earp had been wounded and exited stage left. The stage area is actually a few hundred feet away from the actual site of the corral, where life-size mechanical figures re-enact the shootout every few minutes.

Welcome to a New Follower and a Pumpkin Photo (Plus How to Feed Your Feeder)

2009-10-16T08:45:00.000-07:00

"No Submission," author of the new blog Adventures of a Tree-Hugging Vegan, is Blog Appetit's latest follower.
Welcome.

It is a coincidence that this morning when I logged on I saw No Submission had elected to follow me since just last night I worked out some vegan variations on traditional Jewish foods for my j. weekly (local Jewish newsweekly) columns. Also, after the Hunger Challenge my husband and I decided to eat more meals "lower down the food chain." I'm not sure how that will translate to more vegan or even vegetarian recipes here, but I'm sure it will be reflected since generally what I cook you eventually see here on the blog.

I also met some wonderful people at VegNews, a vegan-oriented publication, at the BlogHer Food conference and hope to work with them on getting more educated on this healthful eating option.

Anyway, welcome No Submission. If you want to become a follower of Blog Appetit, too, you can do so through your Blogger dashboard and adding Blog Appetit (http://www.clickblogappetit.blogspot.com/) to your Blogger Reader, by using Google Friend Connect or by looking to the sidebar to the right to do the same. (Essentially that means you get the latest posts right into your feed reader on the Blogger dashboard or Goggle Friend Connect page.) Check the sidebar for other feed options. New to the concept of what a feed or RSS (which some say stands for Really Symple Syndication and others say means Rich Site Summary) is? Click here for an overview. Here at Blog Appetit we want to make sure your reader options are fed right! (A little RSS humor.)
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About the photo: Last October at Star Route Farms outside Bolinas Bay in Marin, California. (Get it? It's a tractor pulling a cart, which is following it. Plus the pumpkins fit the season.)

Blogging Her Food Since 2005

2009-10-14T13:16:00.000-07:00

To show you how MY mind works, I totally missed yesterday's fifth anniversary of the debut of Blog Appetit since I was so focused on my cat's "estimated" birthday tomorrow. (Not that we were going to have presents or parties or anything, maybe just a bit more kibble in the old dish.)

That means the cat is turning nine and Blog Appetit is closing in on its 135,000 page view.

To celebrate, I'm posting my family's favorite homemade ice cream birthday cake.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing these five years of words, images, recipes and opinions with me.

Ice Cream Birthday Cake
Serves 8-10

This is more of a process and one that the kids can participate in as well.
This recipe is adapted from one my mother-in-law, Joan Kramer, first made as a banana split cake. See the variation at the end.

Each birthday child (or grown up) gets to pick their favorite flavors for the ice cream. Noah’s last cake was chocolate and coffee fudge. Seth usually sticks to cookie dough and cookies and creams. Gary likes Rocky Road and Vanilla. I like them all, but I’m especially fond of the ones with my homemade fruit sorbet, homemade angel food cake and homemade dark chocolate sauce. But usually we just use store bought ingredients. Just make sure your ice cream flavors are compatible or complimentary. I like to buy the ice cream in half gallon sizes so I know I'll have plenty to pack into the cake. Leftover cake, if you have any, freezes well and make a nice dessert or treat. You can use a tube pan if you don't have a spring form, but you will get the metal tube in the middle of your cake and the sides will not be as neat.

About 1 quart of ice cream or frozen yogurt flavor of your choice, softened for scooping
About 1 quart of a second ice cream or frozen yogurt flavor of your choice, softened for scooping
One 9-10” angel food cake, torn into 1 to 2 inch chunks
Chocolate syrup
Caramel syrup
Whipped cream (for decoration, optional)

Wrap a 9 to 10 inch spring form pan bottom and up the sides with aluminum foil. Scatter a handful or two of the cake chunks inside the pan. Alternate scoops of the two flavor ice creams around them. Drizzle the chocolate and caramel syrup in ribbons around the cake and ice cream. Press down with the back of the ice cream scoop until the cake and ice creams form a fairly level layer without air spaces. Repeat until you run out of ice cream and/or cake or reach within a ¼” of the top of the pan. Smooth out the top layer with the back of the scoop. (If desired you can write birthday messages in chocolate syrup on the top. Wrap well with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for at least two hours or preferably fours hours or overnight. (Can be made well ahead). Bring out about 20 minutes before serving. Just before serving remove foil and wrap, release the catch on the side of the spring form pan and remove cake (leaving the cake on the bottom section of the pan). Decorate with whipped cream, add candles, turn off the lights and sing “Happy Birthday.” Serve to admiring crowds, but don’t let them know how easy it all was.

Banana Split Variation: Leave out the caramel syrup, scatter in small bits of banana and chopped nuts and chopped maraschino cherries (optional).

Other Variations: Use any of your favorite sundaes for inspiration and add in pretty much any dessert topping or ice cream mix-in. From malt powder to marshmallow topping they’ll all work. Just be careful of items that could freeze hard enough to chip a tooth. I’d be careful with M&Ms, for example.
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About the photo, Seth's cake from last year had to be made in a tube pan because the spring form was missing in action. A spring form cake pan's sides come off much easier, making for a much neater cake.

Candy Apples with a Kick and Dates with a Twist Offer Sweet Tastes for All this Fall

2009-10-09T08:56:00.000-07:00

My latest column in the j. has published and it is full of fall treats.

Try the Cinnamon Candied Apples for Simchat Torah or even Halloween or just for fun. The Dates with Marscarpone are stuffed with an orange-flower water and marscarpone cheese mixture, drizzed with caramel (or date) syrup and accented with pistachios and pomegranate seeds. They make a wonderful accompaniment to tea or a nice dessert to a rich meal.

See my column and the recipes here.

Check back to see if I update this with stories of candied apples past (which we called jellied apples growing up.)

Looking for other fall treats -- check out all my recipes including pumpkin (chili, couscous, mini-tarts) plus lots of advice on how to select and cook the hobgoblin of winter squashes here.

Want to make caramel apples instead of candied? Follow the recipe on the back of the Kraft caramel's package, or check 101 Cookbooks' all-natural version here.
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About the photos: Top candied apples with cinammon decors. Side, the dates on a marble plate from Vietnam. Click on the photo to make it bigger. I really liked it full size but it's hard to tell the dish from the dish in the small photo.

Potluck Wonders with a Little Cheesecake (and a Tamale Pie Recipe)

2009-10-08T16:24:00.000-07:00

First a confession. Well, two. The first is that I love potlucks. Nothing strengthens my sense of belonging than the joyful eating of each other’s food, plus there is the satisfaction of feeding others and the delight of discovering how others make a similar dish or one unfamiliar to me. (Be sure to scroll past the recipe at the bottom of the post to see my digression about the meaning of potluck and more.)

The second confession is that I really don't have a photo of the recipe this post is featuring, a bean and vegetable tamale pie. While that really shouldn't matter, I've made a vow to try and avoid posts without photos. What could I do but do what newspapers and tabloids have done for years to get your attention -- throw in a little cheesecake. Or in this case little cheesecakes, since one of my favorite dessert offerings for potlucks, communal dinners, block parties, etc., are these cheesecake cups. These little beauties have lemon flavoring and are topped with mascarpone cream and fresh blueberries. You can find instructions and variations for them here.

The recipe below was featured in my column in the October issue of the Omer, the newsletter for Oakland's Temple Beth Abraham. It is a vegetarian tamale pie recipe that has evolved over the years and was inspired by a recipe in Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites by the Moosewood Collective (Random House, 1996).

I first made the tamale casserole in 1999 for one of my sons’ religious school events. I have made it innumerable times over the years. My version makes a large “potluck” size, which means lots of leftovers if you are making it for a family dinner, or you can just cut quantities in half and bake in a smaller pan. Feel free to change out the vegetables, use pinto or kidney beans instead of black or leave out the cheese and/or avocado. Any way I’ve made it it’s always been delicious.

Potluck Tamale Pie
Makes 12 “full-size” portions

Bean and Vegetable Mixture
2 Tbs. olive oil, plus additional for baking dish
2 cups chopped onions
4 Tbs. minced garlic
3 Tbs. chili powder (or more to taste)
1 tsp. dried oregano
2 cups finely chopped carrots
2 cups finely chopped bell pepper
2 cups finely chopped zucchini
1 pound of chard, kale or other greens, chopped
2 cups of corn kernels, fresh or frozen
1 fresh jalapeno, minced (remove seeds for less heat)
2-15 ounce cans of crushed tomatoes with juice
2-15 ounce cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
¼ tsp. salt (or to taste)
½ tsp. ground black pepper (or to taste)

Cornmeal Topping
2 ¼ cups yellow cornmeal
3 Tbs. flour
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 Tbs. baking powder
¾ tsp. of baking soda
6 egg whites, beaten
1 ½ cups of non-fat milk
2 Tbs. vegetable oil

To Assemble
2 avocados, peeled, pitted and diced
8 ounces grated cheddar or Monterey jack cheese (low fat okay)

Serving Options
Chopped green onions
Chopped fresh cilantro
Sour cream or plain yogurt
Salsa
Guacamole

First make the vegetable and bean mixture. Add the oil to a large, deep sauté pan or a wide saucepan. Over medium heat, add the onions sauté until beginning to turn brown and soften. Add garlic and sauté until lightly golden. Add chili powder and oregano and the carrots, stir well. Add a tablespoon or two of water or vegetable stock if the pan is dry and the carrots are sticking. Cover and let cook for five minutes or until the carrots have begun to soften. Remove cover. Add the bell peppers, zucchini, greens, corn and jalapeno. Sauté until greens and vegetables are almost cooked through. Mix in the tomatoes (with liquid), beans and cilantro. Stir well. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Taste. Add salt and pepper and more chili powder if needed. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a large baking or lasagna pan or casserole dish. Evenly spread the vegetable mixture in the pan. Scatter avocado pieces on top and then layer the grated cheese. Set aside.

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix together cornmeal, flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. In a second bowl mix the egg whites, milk and oil. Slowly pour the egg mixture into the cornmeal mixture, gently stirring together until just mixed. Pour on top of the contents in the prepared pan. Use a spatula to spread and even out the batter. Bake 35 minutes or until top is golden. To test if done, insert a knife into the cornbread topping. If it comes out clean, the tamale pie is done. Serve with the green onions, cilantro, sour cream, salsa and guacamole on the side

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My digression .... A bit on potluck -- the word is thought to derive from the English (first reference in 1592) concept of sharing food from the cooking pot with guests, although there are other etymologists who trace the word back to the Chinook word potlach, which was a Native American festival in the Pacific Northwest where hosts would redistribute their wealth, a practice that was later banned by the U.S. government at least until they began bailing out banks.

In usage today potluck refers to a meal where all participants bring something to share. There are four separate categories of potluck contributors to my mind.

The first is those who cook as if their life and reputation depend on it. They are the ones who bring platters of home-made, mahogany-brown fried chicken, elaborate lasagnas, or maybe paellas (block party 2008, parents meeting 2006) or oddities such as Cincinnati Chili (friend's birthday, May 2009). I usually find myself in this category -- competitive cooking

Usually, but not exclusively, the second category is made up of single men who are told to bring such esoterica as chips, napkins or bread. This group includes bachelors as well as married men who are attending events without their wives. I've also seen some women end up in this category, so I'm trying not to be sexist. I'm not sure what happens if a men-only group organizes a potluck, but a women's only group tends to end up with a lot of salads, which brings us to the next category whose members are famous for the phrase "I thought I would bring something healthy."

These potluck reformers can be counted on for the green salads, fruit salads, baby carrots and dips and similar offerings. (Of course, if they are presented with dressing, the healthy aspect does decline a bit.) Many potluck devotees (myself included) appreciate something starch-free and fiber-packed, others spurn these offerings for something with more cheese.

The remaining category of participant is the cooking and/or time challenged who might bring in a pizza to the delight of any children in attendance. Category One types have been known to not so silently fume over the popularity of the purchased contribution. Others accept them without prejudice and with great equanimity. As long as the food tastes good, anyway.

Around the blogosphere: Here's a recipe that would work well for a potluck -- Chinese Chicken Salad from Jaden of Steamy Kitchen. This is a fabulous salad that would qualify for both category one and three potluck participants. Elise of Simply Recipes has lots of recipes that work well for potluck. Try pretty much anything in her casserole category.

The Jewish Deli -- It Wasn't Just for the Food and That Ain't Just Chopped Liver (Although the Recipe Is)

2009-10-06T19:59:00.000-07:00

The professor had come to talk about the history of the American Jewish delicatessen as a cultural gathering place for second and third generation Jews. The crowd had come to talk corned beef, pastrami and maybe a little smoked whitefish. It was an uneasy mix, kind of like pastrami with mayo.

Ted Merwin, who teaches religion and Judaic studies at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, spoke about the research behind his upcoming book Homeland of the Jewish Soul: A History of the Jewish Deli last week at San Francisco's BJE Jewish Community Library. (Merwin is also the author of In Their Own Image: New York Jews in Jazz Age Popular Culture.)

Merwin served up the history of delis from their German antecedents through the modern survivors from gourmet shop to famed restaurants. He talked of the meaning behind the overstuffed sandwiches while the audience was clearly fondly remembering sandwiches past and wishing they could find a deli worthy of the word that could equal the delights of their New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Florida, Toronto and even Argentinean youth.

According to Merwin, and echoed by the deli devotees who came to hear him, deli food "really nurtured Jewish people in America. Something about the deli meats was at the heart of the Jewish experience."

Merwin says that our remembrances of delis past has less to do about the food than they do about what the place and experience meant for us. He says we are nostalgic for delis because they are part of the American Jewish identity (you could practically hear the crowd say "amen"). He quoted a patron of the (recently resurrected -- on Third Avenue) Second Avenue Deli in New York as saying as walking in, taking a whiff of the pungent mix of dill pickles and smoked meat and saying " 'Ah, I smell Judaism.' "

Jewish delis have become "almost sacred" as a "substitute" for not just religious identity but "on par with the synagogue as a communal experience."

The foods we associate with the Jewish delis -- lavish, meat-filled sandwiches, mountains of chopped liver, giant bowls of boiled chickens glistening in broth and all the rest are uniquely American, not Eastern European. Our Jewish forefathers and mothers could simply not afford to eat like this in their old countries.

The first Jewish delis in America probably started about 1880s in the Lower East Side and were basically purveyors of German-Jewish brined and smoked foods. They were strictly take out. A census of the 10th ward of the Lower East Side with a population of 75,000 Jews revealed that the residents of the district could select from only 10 delicatessens, but had 131 kosher butcher shops to select from. Jews who could afford to eat out ate in cafes, saloons and, probably most often, at very inexpensive lunch counters in candy stores.

The delis gain importance, according to Merwin, in the next generation, about the same time they began to gain tables and chairs and eating in at a deli became part of the Jewish landscape. This was in the 1920s and 1930s, which also accounts for the Art Deco style frequently associated with delis. Delis also spread and thrived away from the inner cities were the local Jews first arrived to the outer boroughs and other areas where the next generation moved.

As delis became part of the Jewish-American scene, they became a favored "third place" to many Jews, the place outside of home and work where you could feed your hunger for casual community. It is Merwin's thesis that the assimilated sons and daughters (and grandsons and granddaughters) of immigrants felt more at home with these culturally Jewish institutions than they did in synagogue sanctuaries or social halls.

"The food is less important to them then the context of community," Merwin says while his listeners' stomachs began to growl after all this talk of deli food. One could sense that they disagreed. The food seemed to be just as important to them. Merwin admitted the food was important, but it was the association of the food with the experience that created the nostalgia and longing they felt. To hear the gossip, to be insulted by the waiter (who may have been a veteran Yiddish theater or vaudeville actor), to have a sense of mastery and sense of place gave Jewish deli customers a sense of acceptance and belonging.

Merwin makes a distinction between kosher delis (following the kasruth laws of food preparation including the separation of meat and milk) and those that were kosher-style (where you could have pastrami AND cheesecake). Kosher-style delis were for the most part the glitzy stars of the deli scene with sandwiches named after famous patrons and public figures (think Stage and Carnegie delis in New York). Truly kosher delis were found less frequently and played an important role in the life of the observant but did not function as frequently as this "third place" since religious observance and synagogue life retained its importance among many of their patrons.

The importance of delis began to decline in many communities by the 1950s and 1960s as the food was seen as "too ethnic" and as Jewish food (such as deli meats, kosher hot dogs and rye bread) began to be mass marketed through supermarkets.

As Merwin wrapped up his talk about the cultural context of delis and opened up the discussion for questions, the crowd could no longer hold back their longing for the deli meats and other treats he had discussed for the previous hour. Animated listeners demanded time to discuss their favorite delis, foods and what, to them, made the perfect Jewish deli. A disagreement broke out among several in the audience if smoked fish (whitefish and sturgeon) and lox (cured salmon) were proper deli foods. I'm glad we didn't have a show of hands of pastrami versus corned beef fans. It could have gotten ugly.

See the notes below for more resources about Jewish delis. Once there is a website for Merwin's book, I'll update this post with it.

All this talk of Jewish deli food made me hungry, too. I went out and bought some good bread, pastrami and the makings for chopped liver like my grandma used to make. Serve the chopped liver as an appetizer on Tam-Tams, pieces of matzoh or cocktail rye slices. Or use it to make my favorite deli sandwich, pastrami on rye with a thick shmear of chopped liver and a few ribbons of sharp deli-style mustard. Need a pickle to go with it? Try making your own. Directions are here.

Grandma's Chopped Chicken Liver
Serves 6-12 depending on diners'cholesterol levels and if there are witnesses

Grandma was kosher and therefore had to cook the livers under the broiler in order to obey the religious restrictions to remove the blood. (Other cuts of meat could be salted to accomplish the same thing.) Broiling the chicken livers gives the dish that authentic taste.

This recipe makes a lot, but the chopped liver will last a few days well covered in the fridge. Feel free to halve the recipe if you'd like. A note about chicken schmaltz. It is rendered chicken fat and is available in some supermarkets, butcher stores and Jewish markets. Look in the freezer section. You can also render your own or substitute vegetable oil or shortening.

2 pounds of chicken livers
4 tablespoons chicken schmaltz (see note above) or vegetable oil or shortening
2 onions, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
4 hardboiled eggs, peeled
2 or more tablespoons of kosher concord grape wine (such as Kedem or Manischewitz)
1/2 tsp. salt, or more to taste
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper, or more to taste

Preheat the broiler and line a large baking pan with aluminium foil. Place the chicken livers in a single layer and broil (do in batches if necessary), turning once until the livers are cooked through and are a rosy brown inside. Sprinkle the cooked livers with a bit of salt. Remove the livers from the pan and put into a large bowl. Set aside.

Heat schmaltz (or substitute) in a large fry pan over medium heat. Scatter the onion slices and saute until beginning to color. Add garlic. Reduce heat to medium-low and slowly cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are caramelized. They should have a deep, rich bronze color, be very soft and have a slightly sweet taste. Set aside.

Place the eggs in the bowl with the livers. Use a potato masher or fork and break them into large chunks or pieces. Add in the onions and garlic and all the schmaltz they were cooked with as well as the remaining salt and the pepper and 2 tablespoons of the wine. Mix well. Chop in batches by hand using a wooden bowl and a half-moon shaped mezzaluna chopping knife or in a food processor. Be careful not to over chop, the mixture should have a rough, slightly crumbly texture, it should not be pureed. Return chopped liver mixture to bowl and combine the batches. Taste and add more salt and pepper as necessary (I probably use quite a bit more, I like it just a bit too salty so it compensates for the blander cracker or matzo.) If the mixture is too dry, you could add a bit more of the wine. Then, essen min kinder (Yiddish for dig in).

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More background on the history and future of the Jewish deli can be found here on Serious Eats.
Author David Sax is trying to save delis one sandwich at a time. You can find out more about his efforts and book on Save the Deli.
For a list of commendable Jewish delis worth the calories in NY (and in the comments section elsewhere), click here.
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About the photos: Top, freshly chopped chicken liver like Grandma used to make. The other photo is of Ted Merwin during his lecture at the Bureau of Jewish Education on 9/30/09 in San Francisco.

Update: More on delis from around the web: Bitten blog and Joan Nathan in the New York Times.

Welcome! Bienvenidos! Chào mung! Isten hozta! (and a Cioppino Recipe)

2009-10-01T21:32:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited that the Foodie Blog Roll made Blog Appetit one of the random blogs on it's daily list. Since there are something like 5,400 blogs that belong, it is a nice surprise. (Don't know what foodie blog roll is? Check out the widget in my right hand column or click here.)

If you are here to check us out, welcome. Blog Appetit features local San Francisco Bay area foods and resources, a wide array of international and American regional recipes and more. Plus lots of stories, photos and recipes from my visits to Argentina, China, Portugal, Spain, Eastern Europe, France, Vietnam and more. Because of my freelance writing, I also have a lot of recipes for Jewish food from around the world.

I hope you will take a stroll through the categories and see all the recipes and stories Blog Appetit has to offer.

Please take a minute and leave a comment below with the name and link of your blog and perhaps a link to a favorite post of yours.

Watch for my upcoming event: Eating on a Jet Plane -- recipes, tips and tricks for bringing your own meals when you travel. If you would like to be notified when the event is scheduled, leave a comment or send me an email through my profile.

Thanks for stopping by. By the way, can you guess what languages my welcome is written in in the post title? (answer in comments)

Here's the latest adaption of my recipe for cioppino -- the real San Francisco treat. This recipe was supposedly developed by immigrant Italian fishermen early in the 20th century using what they had caught that day. It remains a popular offering at Fisherman's Wharf restaurants and food stalls.

Not-Just-for-Tourists Cioppino

Serves 6-8

2 Tbsp. olive oil
Small onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 stalks of celery, trimmed and chopped
2 large carrots, sliced into 1/8" thick rounds
1/2 small fennel, bulb only, chopped
3 quarts fish stock homemade from white fish bones OR homemade light vegetable stock OR water (or more as needed)
2 cups white wine
1-28-to-32 ounce can of whole, peeled tomatoes with juices
2 Tbs. tomato paste
12 small yellow finn or creamer potatoes, scrubbed and cut into halves or quarters depending on size
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp. oregano, dried
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 pounds clams in their shells, cleaned
1 and 1/2 pounds halibut OR cod filet, cut into 1 and 1/2" chunks
2 pounds Dungeness crab, cooked, cleaned, cracked and rinsed
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 Tbs. fresh basil, finely chopped
1 tsp. fennel fronds, finely chopped

Heat oil in a large soup pot, add onions, saute until beginning to wilt. Add garlic, saute until slightly golden, add celery, carrots and fennel. Saute until beginning to soften. Stir well. Roughly chop tomatoes and add into the pot with their juices and the tomato paste. Stir well to combine and then add wine, stock and potatoes. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally. When potatoes are almost soft, taste and add salt, black pepper, oregano and red pepper flakes. About 10 minutes before serving, add clams to pot, adding more fish broth if needed. Cover. Three minutes later add the halibut chunks. Cover. Two minutes later add the crab and shrimp, mixing well. Add some fish broth if the mixture needs thinning. Cover. Raise the heat if needed to keep at a simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes or until the clams open and the shrimp and fish cook. Taste to correct seasoning if needed. Serve immediately in bowls with chopped basil and fennel fronds to garnish.

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About the photos: A collage of my photos of San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf (the second most popular tourist destination in the state of California) and a bowl of my cioppino.

BlogHer Food Inspirations

2009-09-29T10:51:00.001-07:00

Wow, so much to say, so little time to blog about it right now.

Please watch Blog Appetit for some changes. Some will be minor, others pretty big. A few will happen quickly -- the rest will take awhile.

The biggest change is I will be embracing my whole "cooking local. eating global" theme and make that front and center of Blog Appetit. The positive, excited response of my fellow bloggers when they heard my "elevator" speech including that phrase about the blog was overwhelming and I want to give more reign to local food resources/artisans and the international flavor of my cooking and include more on my travels. Look for more narrative and story telling posts as I work to find a voice and blog post format that reflects that. I also hope to refine and define my photographs visual style to help tell that story. I hope to move away from photos that can be described as glop in a pot shot from on top whenever I can.

Also, I will be making some graphic changes. I plan on a new header photo and probably blog color changes to highlight the focus of the blog. Eventually there could be a complete redesign.
I want to go from (adapted) blogger generic to Blog Appetit specific.

I'm not sure what will happen when, but I'm very, very excited. I don't think I would have received the push and inspiration to go to the next level without having attended BlogHer Food.
More on my experiences when I'm not so rushed. But here's a link where you can find the live blogging reporting on all the conference sessions so if you can experience some of what I did for yourself.

As always, your comments, opinions and suggestions are welcome. Please let me know your thoughts and requests for Blog Appetit 2.0 (or is it 3.0 since I redesigned everything once before?)

PS -- When I finish the reboot, I am thinking of hosting a blogging event around the theme of "Eating on a Jet Plane" food stories and recipes around food to eat on airplanes. Watch for more info on that as well.

Now Appearing on the Borscht (Soup) Belt -- Black-Eyed Peas (the Salad)

2009-09-25T08:28:00.000-07:00

My latest is up on the j.

Click here for Black-Eyed Pea Salad and Balsamic Borscht.

I plan on writing more later today, I'm just running out the door and wanted to share!

Hunger Challenge Cassoulet -- Beans Get All Dressed Up for Dinner

2009-09-24T23:08:00.000-07:00

I’ll probably be adding some back story to this post later, but for now enjoy this recipe which is suitable for festive occasions as well as every day dinners. It is in no way or form an “authentic” cassoulet, but don’t let that worry you, just enjoy. Despite its full-bodied taste, the dish only cost about $5.75, or about $1 to $1.44 a portion.

This recipe has been designed to made on a stove top, but if you want to cook yours in the oven or brown the bread crumbs at the end and have the means to do so, please do.

While it will taste amazing freshly made it will taste even better if you give everything a chance to meld together, so it’s great for making a day or two in advance and reheating. Don’t add the bread crumb topping until right before serving, however. Leftovers are delectable. For another variation of my not-quite cassoulets, please check out this post.

Hunger Challenge Cassoulet
Makes 4 to 6 generous portions

Slightly smoky, earthy and very satisfying, this savory bean dish is not quite a stew, not quite a casserole.

Notes:

My bargain tomatoes came in a large size can, so I divided them up between two recipes. (This and the Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup.) Your could substitute one smaller can.

I cooked my navy beans from dried (99 cents a pound) and the cost of this dish reflects that. A one pound package of beans will cook up to about 6-7 cups, so you can add leftovers to your soup, throw together a bean salad, create a bean puree for use as a sandwich filling, make a white bean chili or freeze for another use.

2 Tbs. oil
7 ounces, turkey kielbasa or other smoked sausage (about half of a sausage), cut into ¼” slices
1 pound of boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1” cubes
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 carrots, chopped
1 large celery stalk, chopped
½ large green bell pepper, chopped
¼ tsp. red pepper flakes
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground black pepper
1 ¼ tsp. Italian seasoning, divided
½ tsp. prepared yellow or Dijon mustard
½ of the whole, peeled tomatoes from a 28 ounce can of tomatoes in juice, drained and chopped (juice and remaining tomatoes reserved for Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup or other recipe) OR 1 14-16 ounce can of whole, peeled tomatoes, drained and chopped and juice reserved for another use.
2 ½ cups of cooked white navy beans
2 slices of bread

Heat oil in a large heavy pot (such as a Dutch oven) or deep skillet over medium high heat. Brown the sausage slices remove to a plate. Brown the chicken (working in batches if necessary). Remove to plate with sausage and set aside. Sauté onion and garlic until golden. Add carrots and sauté, being sure to stir up the browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add a bit of water needed. When the carrots have begun to soften add the celery and green pepper. Sauté for a few minutes and add the salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, 1 tsp. of the Italian seasoning and the mustard. Stir well to combine. Reduce heat to medium. Add the tomatoes, chicken, sausage and any liquid from the plate the meats were resting on. Stir well. Add the beans, stir well. Cover, reduce heat to low and let simmer, stirring occassionally, until the chicken is cooked through and the tastes have melded (about 20 to 30 minutes.)

While the cassoulet is cooking, toast the bread until it is golden brown. Wait until it cools and then finely chop into very rough bread crumbs. (Or whir in a blender, just be sure you don't puliverize your crumbs!) Crumble the remaining Italian seasoning with your fingers and mix with the crumbs. Right before serving, scatter bread crumbs atop cassoulet. If desired (and if you have used an oven proof pot), you can brown the crumbs slightly under the broiler.

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Want to make a more authentic cassoulet -- try the Amateur Gourmet's version with step-by-step photos? If you check out his photos you will see that, yes, it is true, you are not allowed to be a food blogger if you don't own a red-enameled dutch oven. (FYI - I got mine used at an estate sale, which is a good place to try to find these beauties at a price you can afford. The other place is discount stores such as TJ Maxx and Marshalls. They sometimes have seconds (usually finish issues) for half price or less. I got my blue oval one there.

Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup is Filling, Inexpensive

2009-09-24T22:39:00.000-07:00

I've created lots of variations on cabbage soup. Here's my opus on how to make cabbage soup in case you'd like to see how to vary this or use other ingredients you may have in the house..

This recipe cost me with all my bargain food shopping approximately $3.60 or about 45 to 60 cents a serving.

Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup

Makes about 10-11 cups, about 6-8 servings

2 Tbs. oil

1 small onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 carrots, thinly sliced

1 celery stalk, chopped

1/2 large cabbage (my cabbage weighed about 3 lbs so I used about 1 and a half pounds), chopped

1/2 large zucchini (or 1 small), into 1/2" chunks

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp Italian seasoning, crumbled

Remaining chopped tomatoes and juice from Hunger Challenge Cassoulet recipe (see post here) OR one 14-16 ounce can of chopped tomatoes with juice

32 ounce vegetable or other stock

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 Tbs. sugar

Put oil in large soup pot. Heat over medium high heat. Saute onions and garlic until light brown. Add carrots saute for a few minutes, add celery and cabbage, saute until cabbage is wilted. Add zucchini and saute a few more minutes. Add salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and Italian seasoning. Mix well and saute a few minutes. Add tomatoes, their juice and the stock. Bring soup to a simmer, lower heat and cover. Simmer until all the vegetables are tender. Taste and correct seasoning. Add vinegar and sugar. Simmer a few minutes for flavors to meld. Taste again. Add more sugar or vinegar to make sure you have the sweet and sour balance as you would like it.

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Here's a delicious-looking red cabbage variation from Simply Recipes.

Tortilla Lasagna for Hunger Challenge 2009

2009-09-24T22:05:00.000-07:00

This is a go-to recipe that comes together very quickly. It is an adaption of a article and recipe I wrote based on a Vegetarian Times tortilla lasagna casserole on Wellfed.net a few years back.
Here's the original from the February 2007 Vegetarian Times. You can read more about how I adapted the original recipe here.

My adaption of my adaptation is below for an inexpensive, tasty, vegetarian and gluten-free dish for the Hunger Challenge. My version is made in the microwave. I estimate the cost is about $6 or $1 a serving depending on where you shop and if you use the optional garnish. I got an amazing deal on the cottage cheese ($1.29 for a pound), the grated cheese (two pounds for $4.99), the tortillas ($1.70 for 30), the sauce (99 cents for a 28 ounce can) and the frozen corn (79 cents for a pound) at the Grocery Outlet. Even if you can't meet those prices it is still a very economical dish.

Tortilla Lasagna with Spinach and Vegetables
Serves 6

2 tsp. olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, minced (seeding will make it milder)
1 zucchini chopped (1 small or 1/2 large)
1 lb. frozen spinach, defrosted, chopped
8 ounces frozen corn, defrosted
salt and pepper to taste
1 28-32 ounce jar of prepared spaghetti sauce
9 6-inch white or yellow corn tortillas
2 cups cottage cheese
1/2 cup grated cheddar, jack or colby cheese
cilantro, chopped, for garnish (optional)

Heat oil in large skillet or pot over high heat. Add the onion, garlic and jalapeno and saute until soft. Add carrot and saute for a few minutes. Add zucchini and saute for a minute then add spinach and corn. Cook until vegetables are tender. .Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Spread 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce over the bottom of a 9-10″ round casserole dish suitable for the microwave. Arrange 3 tortillas in a single layer (overlapping as needed) over the sauce.

Mix the cottage cheese with salt and pepper to taste. Whip with a fork until the cottage cheese is a bit smoother. Spread 1 cup of the cottage cheese over the tortilla layer, top with another 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce, 1/2 of the vegetable mixture, a third of the cheese. Repeat laying with 3 more tortillas, 1 cup cottage cheese, 1/2 cup tomato sauce, another third of the cheese. Place remaining tortillas on top and spread remaining tomato sauce over top. Sprinkle with rest of the cheese. Place in microwave and heat on high for about 15-20 minutes until the cheeses on top have melted and the lasagna is heated through. Garnish with chopped cilantro if desired.

Hunger Challenge Chicken In the Oven (Regular, Toaster or Microwave)

2009-09-24T21:40:00.000-07:00

This is a variant of a dish I make often (but never the same way twice). This easy version can be made in a regular or toaster oven for those with limited cooking options. (You could even make it in a microwave, just substitute plastic wrap for the foil and cut the liquids in half.)

I thought it would be good for the Hunger Challenge since this version costs about $4 depending on where you shop, or about $1 a serving.

If you have some around the house, paprika would be a nice add on. Sprinkle about a half teaspoon or so on the chicken thighs before putting them in the oven.

The recipe is easily doubled (just use a larger pan in the regular oven) and leftovers taste even better. One note: I don't give cooking times since toaster oven and regular oven cooking times vary so much. Cut into a thigh when pressing on it offers some resistance to check if it is cooked through.

One Dish Baked Chicken
Serves 4

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 Tbs. oil, divided
½ tsp salt, divided
1 tsp ground black pepper, divided
1 ½ tsp. Italian seasoning, divided
¼ tsp red bell pepper flakes
2 cloves of garlic, minced, divided
4 small russet or Idaho baking potatoes, thinly sliced (peeling optional)
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2 large tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 cup of chicken stock or broth or more as needed

Place chicken, 1 Tbs. oil, ¼ tsp. salt, ½ tsp. pepper, ½ tsp. Italian seasoning, the red pepper flakes and half of the garlic in a sturdy zipper lock plastic storage bag. Let chicken marinate for about an hour or so.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use the remaining oil to grease a baking pan that will fit inside your toaster oven (approximately 8” x 10”) if using or up to a 9” x 12” pan if using the regular oven. Layer the potato slices then the onions then the tomatoes. Add the cup of stock. Scatter the remaining salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and garlic evenly over the vegetable layers. Cover with aluminum foil and bake until the potatoes are beginning to soften. Remove from oven, remove foil but do not discard. Place the marinated chicken thighs on top of the vegetable mixture. Pour marinade mixture evenly over chicken pieces. Return to oven and bake until the chicken and vegetables are cooked through. Add more stock if needed if dish begins to dry out or cover with foil if needed.

Hunger Challenge 2009 - An Update and Prompted Thoughts on the Experience

2009-09-24T09:49:00.000-07:00

Below is an email from the San Francisco Food Bank to Hunger Challenge participants with my responses. I'm copying and pasting it below since I think it sums up the experiences of many of the bloggers who are participating. My responses are in red. You can read all my Hunger Challenge posts (including all the tips, tricks and recipes from last year) here. Watch Blog Appetit for the menus and recipes I used this year.

Hello Hunger Challengers,

You're on the home stretch - congratulations!

Thanks to you, we've hit our Tyson goal! In fact, according to Google, there are more than 6,000 tweets with the Hunger Challenge hashtag (#HChal). And more than 2,500 people have clicked on Tyson's hunger facts page. (That means Bay area food banks will be receiving 100,000 pounds of frozen poultry and other foods from Tyson.)

So...the first truck arrives this Friday at 10 am!

SOME FOOD FOR THOUGHT & BLOGGING

--Last year Hunger Challengers could only spend $3 per day. How would that have affected what you were able to eat this week? How do you feel about that extra $1 per day food stamp benefit expiring next year? it has made an amazing difference especially in being able to work in more fruits and veggies

--Is it difficult to be around people who are eating food that you can’t have? What would that be like long-term? I felt resentful even knowing that was illogical. (fyi -- this is my third straight day of following the challenge. I can't even imagine what it would be like to have a long-term lifestyle like this)

--What if you could have visited a San Francisco Food Bank grocery pantry this week? Some items you might have gotten would be: a watermelon, two cans of beans, whole wheat bread, 5 nectarines, rice cereal, 12 small tomatoes, 8 pears, 2 bell peppers, 5 cabbages, 4 eggplants, 5 cucumbers, a bowlful of small potatoes, 6 chicken sausages. Some photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41729107@N06/?saved=1Those foods would make a huge difference. I paid $1.49 for my one cabbage, 2 bell peppers were $1 (I didn't get them), the eggplants were 99 cents each (I passed). If I had the sausages I would have probably not bought the ground beef ($1.99)

--I've had a chance to check out some of your online recipes, which sound great! Some things to consider and blog about:

*If you used a number of herbs or spices, what would the initial cash outlay have been for someone to buy all those jars or bunches, even if a recipe only calls for a small amount? What would you have given up this week if you had to buy a jar of herbs or spices? What would it be like for someone on limited income trying to add the “punch” that a bountiful spice cabinet can bring to a dish? i've made suggestions last yr and refer back to them -- plan meals around just a few spice combos and change them up over time to create a spice collection -- buy sm amts at bulk when possible, some for spices in ethnic aisles and markets, look for them at 99 cent stores and grocery outlet, etc. Share spices with friends. Look for work horse spices (say Ital. seasoning) rather than special one-ofs

*What appliances do you have that make your recipes possible? Would a low-income person be able to buy the pots and pans or that food processor? (I think about this a lot as I whirr away on my Robot Coupe.) Last year all my recipes needed: 2 burners, microwave, lg fry pan, sauce pot, soup pot. You could make everything with that. This year I'm adding a toaster oven.

*Could you sustain this amount of prep and cooking time long-term (maybe you could, but I definitely can’t!)? What if you were working two jobs or were a single parent? No. That's why I made this year's menu simpler. In fact, I've been working so much that I had 2 unplanned deviations from my menu yesterday-- a quick peanut butter and jelly sandwich and 1/2 can of chili and some cheese. I stayed under budget, but it wasn't a "quality" or satisfying food day.

In addition to hunger pangs, I hope the Hunger Challenge has also brought you insights! I know it causes me to be grateful about the things I take for granted during the rest of the year.

Good luck with the next few days!

All best,
Gayle
+++++++++++++++

Gayle Keck

San Francisco Food Bank

About the photo: Unloading Tyson's food donation last year at the San Francisco Food Bank

Hunger Pains and Shopping for the Hunger Challenge 2009

2009-09-22T23:23:00.000-07:00

First a confession -- while I'm developing recipes and menus for the week-long Hunger Challenge, I'm not really following it for a consecutive week. Business, personal, professional and travel commitments made that unwieldy. What I am doing is following the food "budget" of $4 a day whenever I can, including today. Under the guidelines from the San Francisco Food Bank, the Hunger Challenge's sponsor, that is allowed.

In the morning I was out running an errand and I was dreadfully thirsty. I forgot to fill my reusable water bottle. I couldn't spare a dollar for a bottle of water, that literally would have taken food out of my mouth. After work, I decided to run out and price ingredients for my menu and shop for some of them at the Grocery Outlet. I shopped until after 8 p.m. and I was starving. There were tempting taco trucks and a southern bbq wagon right by the store but after I priced what I could eat on the remaining budget for the day, I took a pass. I barely said hi to my husband after I returned home before I wolfed down my dinner portion. I was so hungry that it really affected my ability to make decisions in the store and drive home. For me it was a very dramatic and unfamiliar example of what it is to be hungry and try to function at a job or educational environment.

A word about the Grocery Outlet. If you are unfamiliar with this chain, I urge you to check it out. There are real values among popular national brands as well as unfamiliar store brands, near-expiration date refrigerated products and failed-to-sell frozen foods. The chain also carries fresh dairy, fruits, meats and vegetables. You do have to know your prices a bit on some stuff, but most foods are good deals. The store I shopped had everything from organic canned tomatoes and other canned and packaged "health" foods to 10 pound bags of poatoes for $2.54, Be careful though there were also such things as "jumbo" bowls of ramen noodles with almost half of a day's sodium in a single serving. Check out the store's website for "bargainista" tips and locations.

One caveat: You need to be flexible. The only vinegar I saw this trip was balsamic and while it was a deal it wasn't part of my food planning or budget. I wanted to buy one head of garlic, the store only had larger packages. I was revising my menu on the spot or making decisions to make another stop and shop elsewhere to stay with the plan. I was particularly impressed with some of the fresh fruit and vegetable prices. I can work much more of that into this year's challenge than last. (Of course have $1 more a day per person makes a big difference, too.) Bargain food shopping is work, you can't just pick what's appealing or easy. Keeping in mind nutrition and developing recipes that don't take all day to cook have to be considered, too.

Watch for future shopping installments about ethnic markets, 99 cent and dollar stores, and farmer's markets.

Dinner tonight was baked chicken thighs on a bed of tomatoes and potatoes. Recipe to come.

To read more about my participation in this year's Hunger Challenge, click here, including links to the participants and more. For links to last year's recipes, shopping lists, etc., click here.