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Southwestern Caesar with Chipotle-Parmesan Dressing

October 11, 2013 Rivka
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I had a day of nearly-harrowing travel yesterday, in which I faced not one but two 3-hour delays and ended up purchasing an extra ticket in the nick of time (as in: second-to-last seat on the flight) that got me home at a blessedly reasonable hour. Also, in case you're lucky enough to live in a city where October has decided to behave, let me tell you about the temper tantrum it's throwing back east: the rain is coming down, and it hasn't stopped for a second these past few days. Here's the lemonade from the lemons: it's just gross enough outside that I feel not a shred of guilt about spending this weekend inside.

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Fortunately, the ingredients for my new favorite salad are here and ready to go, as they tend to be quite often these days. I keep a jar of the dressing on the top shelf of the fridge and regularly replenish it when it runs low. Romaine is pretty much always in the house, and at least for the next few weeks, I still have a regular supply of corn. To say this Southwestern Caesar has become a staple? Understatement of the week. At least.

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I should have mentioned this earlier, but this here is a CWA, a Caesar Without Anchovies, which to some of us is a potentially horrifying concept but to others will be a thrill. (How many non-anchovy-eating readers do I have? Raise your hands, y'all, and prepare to be assaulted with anchovy odes until I change your mind.) The chipotle in adobo (a canned good available in any super market) and copious amounts of parmesan cheese add the umami that anchovies otherwise bring. And perhaps most of all, this salad celebrates the power of good croutons. They're the step that takes the longest, but the payoff is big, thick croutons with crunchy fried exteriors and a satisfying chew within. Don't skimp on the time it takes to make them good.

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I get that salad isn't the most intuitive food for a cold, rainy day. But before you know it, I'll be extolling the many virtues of minestrone soup and braised short ribs. Let's squeeze in a few more of those cold vegetables dishes while we can.

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Southwestern Caesar with Chipotle-Parmesan DressingAdapted from Gourmet

Since I never understood the urge to take something as inherently perfect as avocado and grill it, I left mine raw. I also finished the salad with some extra parmesan, because that's what you do with regular Caesar and when it comes to parm, it's never enough. Otherwise, this salad is pretty perfect. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

For the dressing: 1/4 cup finely grated parmesan 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1/4 cup fresh lime juice 1 teaspoon minced garlic 1 canned chipotle in adobo, finely chopped

For the salad: 1 head romaine lettuce, quartered lengthwise and chopped into 1-inch strips 2 ears of corn, shucked 2 ripe avocados 3 tablespoons olive oil 3 slices sourdough or other good bread, torn into small pieces 1/4 cup grated parmesan

Make the dressing: Put parmesan in a medium bowl and add olive oil in a slow stream, whisking. Whisk in lime juice, garlic, chipotles, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper.Prepare the salad: Set corn over a grill or open flame. Cook, turning occasionally, until golden-brown on all sides, 3 to 4 minutes.

Meanwhile, pour olive oil into a shallow pan and set over medium heat. When oil shimmers, add croutons. Fry for 2-3 minutes on the first side, until golden. Then turn and cook on the other side for an additional 2-3 minutes. It's worth taking the time to brown the croutons on all sides - they give the salad that essential chew and crunch.

Peel avocados and cut into chunks. Cut corn kernels from cobs.

Pile all the ingredients in a big salad bowl. Add dressing and toss gently to combine. Top with extra parmesan and serve.

In salad, vegetarian, weekday lunch, easy, healthy
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Zuni Pepper Relish

September 30, 2013 Rivka
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This past Sunday, thousands of DC residents who work for government frantically checked email to see whether they'd be considered essential staff in the event of a government shutdown. Politicians continued to refine the art of ignorant obstructionism. This town became even more this town-ish.

...and the rest of us? Well, we went outside.

Government shutdown notwithstanding September 2013 should go down in the history books as a glorious time in this town. The weather has been incredible: clear skies, cool breeze, not too much rain. It's practically screaming at you to stop being an idiot, get up off your butt, and get stuff done. The pols may not listen, but I will.

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We spent the morning at the National Arboretum, an outdoor oasis owned by the Department of Agriculture (government! Ahh!) right in the middle of Northeast. It's got big, green pastures, hundreds of varietals of plants, trees, and herbs, and even a separate garden with twenty kinds of chile peppers. The first time we went was for a birthday party that actually happened elsewhere -- oops! -- but we were so taken with the expanses of green in the middle of the city, we decided to go back.

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arboretum

We roamed the grounds for an hour, and then -- because what's a hike without a picnic?  -- we chose a speckled sunny spot in the middle of one of the gardens, put down a big blanket, and laid out a majorly awesome spread of food. We covered the blanket with fresh harissa, hummus, three kinds of bread, zaatar-roasted eggplant, cucs, sprouts, avocados, and plenty of feta cheese.

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picnic

Oh, and of course, some of this pepper spread.

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Put thoughts of saccharine, mushy relish out of your mind. Would the Zuni Cafe ever commit such a crime? Of course not. It's more of a salad, this pepper relish. It's meaty and rich, the perfect balance of tangy and sweet. At Zuni, they pair it with lamb, quail, and sea bass. I've yet to try any of these combinations, as I've been too busy spooning heaps of it onto sourdough toast.

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For our Sunday outing, I added about 1/2 a cup of the relish to a big bowl of simply cooked white kidney beans, and tossed the mixture with whole peppercorns and plenty of olive oil. The resulting bean-pepper salad was great on its own, but especially tasty piled on baguette with avocado and feta. One of these days, I'll get around to using it for its intended purpose. But between you and me, there's no rush.

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Zuni Pepper RelishAdapted from the Zuni Cafe Cookbook makes about 1 1/3 cups (I doubled it)

2 medium bell peppers (I like red or yellow) 1 1/2 tablespoons dried currants 2 teaspoons sherry or red wine vinegar 1/2 teaspoon warm water 3 tablespoons pine nuts 1 tablespoon freshly chopped basil 2 small garlic cloves, pounded into a paste 3 tablespoons good olive oil 1 to 2 tablespoons sweet sherry or marsala (or substitute 1 teaspoon sherry/wine vinegar and a pinch of sugar) salt

Combine the currants, vinegar, and warm water. Set aside to plump up while you roast the peppers.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Lay peppers on a shallow roasting pan and place on the top rack of the oven. Turn the peppers as their skins start to brown, and roast them for 25-30 minutes, until they are blistered all over and have nearly collapsed.

On a separate, smaller, roasting pan, roast the pine nuts just to warm through, about 4 minutes. Remove and set aside.

Transfer the roasted peppers to a bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Once the peppers are cool enough to handle (about 15 minutes), slip the skins off of the peppers. It's okay if bits of skin remain on the peppers; try to avoid running them under water, since you'll lose much of their flavor that way. Instead, peel the skins over a bowl to catch the juices; if the skins stubbornly stick to your hands, run your hands under water.

Remove the stems, membrane, and seeds from the peppers. Dice the peppers and combine in a bowl with their juices, holding back any seeds that may have fallen in with the pepper liquid.

Combine the peppers, pine nuts, currants, basil, garlic, oil, and sherry/marsala. Taste, and season as desired. Serve at room temperature.

Serving suggestions:

  • alongside lamb, quail, or chicken
  • as bruschetta on toast
  • stirred into a big bowl of cooked white beans for a great fall salad
  • on pizza, topped with smoked mozzarella
  • as a sauce for grilled white fish (tilapia, rockfish, snapper, etc)
In condiments, gluten-free, vegetarian, weekday lunch, easy, healthy
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Quinoa and Asparagus Salad with Yogurt Dressing

May 20, 2013 Rivka
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Lurking behind the shiny exterior of this homepage is a Drafts folder, containing every post I've ever started. And friends, I could make an entire second blog out of the posts stuck in draft-purgatory. There's a parsnip cake I made for my mom's birthday back in 2011; a winter citrus salad that I keep meaning to tell you about while it's still...well, winter; a tremendous zucchini gratin that I will tell you about in just a few short weeks, when summer decides to make an appearance for good; and about 15 quinoa recipes, none of which I deemed delicious enough to share.

Thing is, I am no big fan of quinoa. Try as I might, I can't love the stuff. I wish I did: it's nutritious, cooks up really quickly, and at least purports to be versatile. I'm just not the biggest fan.

But last week, fresh on a tear to use up all the little bits of things in the bottom of jars in my kitchen, I came upon some quinoa, leftover from Passover and languishing at the back of my grain shelf. I've been trying to cook more economically, and I've been having success tucking bits of boring-seeming leftovers into new dishes. I improved my last batch of mujaddara by adding bits of salsa verde-braised green beans. What's a little quinoa?

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And here's the best part of it all: I actually enjoyed this salad a lot. It's bits of asparagus, golden raisins, and toasted pepitas for crunch. I'm especially fond of the dressing, which came together unexpectedly well, considering it was yet another attempt to use over bits of things in jars in the fridge. Win-win.

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Quinoa and Asparagus Salad with Yogurt Dressing Serves 6

Notes: I made this recipe to use what I had in the fridge, and there's no reason you shouldn't do the same. Feel free to swap out the quinoa for wheatberries, pearl barley, or bulgur. If you don't have (or don't like) asparagus (though I'm not sure we can be friends if it's the latter...), you might finely chop some raw greens, scallions, green beans, radish, or a mixture of these. Consider this less of a prescriptive recipe and more of a starting point. That said, this combination does work really well. -R

For the salad: 1 cup quinoa 1 bunch asparagus (about 10 spears), rinsed, ends trimmed, and sliced on the bias 1/2 cup golden raisins 1/2 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

For the dressing: 1/2 cup yogurt 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided juice of half a lemon half a preserved lemon, diced (I like using the whole thing, but some folks use only the rind and discard the flesh) - or, if you don't have preserved lemon, check out this helpful post from the Food52 hotline 2 teaspoons honey salt and pepper to taste

Set a medium pot full of water over medium-high heat. When water reaches a boil, add quinoa, stir to combine, and cook for 15 minutes, until quinoa is cooked through but still keeps its shape. Strain and transfer to a large mixing bowl.

Meanwhile, heat a medium sauté pan over medium heat. Add pepitas, a pinch of salt, and the tiniest drop of oil; toss to combine, and cook until you hear one pepita pop. By then, pepitas should have started to turn golden. Remove from the heat and transfer pepitas to a bowl.

Place pan back on the heat, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and add the asparagus. Cook for about 3 minutes, just until asparagus glisten and start to turn golden in a couple spots. (If you like your asparagus fully soft, continue cooking for 4-5 minutes more.) Spoon asparagus into the bowl with the quinoa, and stir in raisins while asparagus and quinoa are still warm - it helps them plump up.

Make the dressing: Combine the yogurt, preserved lemon, honey, and remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a jar. Shake to combine. Taste, and add salt and pepper to taste (you must add the s&p after adding the preserved lemon, since it is quite salty).

Drizzle most of the yogurt dressing onto the quinoa, stir to combine, and taste. Add more of the dressing if desired. Top with the toasted pepitas just before serving.

In gluten-free, kosher for passover, salad, sides, vegetarian, weekday lunch, healthy
2 Comments

Beef Empanadas

April 17, 2013 Rivka
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It seems the Sequester has had dilatory effects not only on the budget here in DC, but on the weather as well. We've waited far too long for spring, and last Sunday, I started to get impatient. There are only so many months for grilling, and I count April as one of them. So, on a whim, we invited a couple friends over for burgers Sunday night. If the weather won't beckon me to the grill, I'll beckon the weather.

By the time I had 8 burgers all pattied up and ready to go, there was quite a bit of ground beef left over in the bowl. It was then that I remembered this beef empanada recipe, which languished at the bottom of my to-make list for years, seeming too fussy for a weeknight. But now it was Sunday, and I had an hour or so before I needed to fire up the grill. I figured if I got the empanadas in the oven by the time folks came over, we'd have lunch for the week.

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When Deb first made beef empanadas, she complained that the flavor fell flat. Fortunately, in my world, there never can be enough olives and raisins and spice. I amped up her quantities, which already were more than the original recipe called for. To my palate, the quantities below are perfect. The empanadas are super flavorful and even have a bit of a kick.

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I thought about calling them "Vaguely Panamanian Beef Empanadas," since I also drew inspiration from a Food and Wine recipe for Panamanian empanadas. However: I've never been to Panama (or anywhere in Central America, for that matter) and know nothing about Panamanian food. What makes these empanadas Panamanian? I couldn't really tell you. Food and Wine called for annatto, or achiote, a fragrant red seed used for coloring and seasoning Central American food. But I don't think annatto is Panamanian, per se. So these empanadas aren't so Panamanian, and they may not be particularly authentic; they are, however, particularly good. You can whip them up in a couple hours and have lunch all week - or a fantastic appetizer for a dinner party.

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Beef EmpanadasAdapted from this recipe and this one Makes 40 4-inch empanadas

Notes: I took Deb's advice to heart and upped the seasoning in my empanada filling, with great results. That said, feel free to adjust quantities up or down depending on your own preference. Don't like olives? Skip 'em. Feel like a sweeter filling? Double the raisins. No quantity here is make-or-break. I'm not a big hard-boiled egg fan, so I used only one, but most recipes I saw call for two, so feel free to add an extra if you wish.

Let's talk for a moment about the empanada dough. If you have or can find empanada dough ready-made, go for it. That makes this recipe even easier. If you can't find premade dough but don't want to make your own, I think that puff pastry would work reasonably well here, too. The final product won't be quite the same, but I can't imagine puff pastry filled with flavorful meat tasting bad, so from where I sit, it's a go. Let me know if you try that.

I used Deb's recipe, but I modified it to eliminate the dairy, swapping out the butter for olive oil. If that's a priority for you, the olive oil definitely works, but it's a fair bit more crumbly than a butter dough would be, and the dough requires 1.5 hours of refrigeration, compared to just 1 hour for the butter dough. It also NEEDS to be cold or else it's impossible to work with. Work quickly, and refrigerate what you aren't using. I imagine you'd have better results with an equal amount of margarine or shortening, but I just can't bring myself to do it. And, of course, if you want to be totally authentic, you'll use lard. Alternatively, if you're a vegetarian, you could always substitute Morningstar Farms crumbles or other meat substitute. Now then: Go forth!

1 tablespoon olive oil 3/4 lb. ground beef, preferably chuck 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1 teaspoon ground annatto/achiote seeds 1 teaspoon smoked paprika 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped 1 garlic clove, finely chopped 1 14-oz. can whole tomatoes, drained and chopped, plus 2 tablespoons juice; can substitute 2 large fresh tomatoes 3 tablespoons raisins 2 1/2 tablespoons chopped pimiento-stuffed olives (or regular green olives - we ran out of the pimiento ones) 1/2 a serrano chile, minced 1 large hard-boiled egg, chopped into bits

1 egg, for brushing

1 package frozen empanada pastry disks, thawed (or homemade, recipe follows)

If making empanada dough from scratch, start there (below these instructions) and make the beef filling while the dough rests in the fridge.

Make the filling: In a large shallow frying pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat, then add ground beef and spices and use a wooden spoon to break up any big chunks. Cook, stirring occasionally, until no pink bits remain, about 4 minutes.

Add onion and garlic, stir to combine, and cook until onion has softened slightly, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, stir to combine, turn the heat to high, and cook, stirring occasionally, until about half of the liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Spread meat mixture on a plate to cool it quickly.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line 2 baking pans with parchment or silpat.

Roll out the empanada dough (recipe below): Lightly flour a workbench and roll one disk of the empanada dough to between 1/4 and 1/8 inch thickness. Cut 4-inch disks out of the dough and set them onto a lined baking sheet.

Put 1 1/2 tablespoons of filling onto each disk. Wet two fingers and "brush" water around the edges of each disk, then fold them in half and either crimp edges closed with the tines of a fork, or fold them together in a pleated pattern like this. Leave 1/2 an inch of room between empanadas so they crisp up.

Bake the empanadas: Once all empanadas have been filled and folded, brush them with egg wash (1 egg mixed with 2 tablespoons of water) and then bake for 25 minutes, until very lightly browned on top. Let cool on pans for 5 minutes, then serve either warm or at room temperature. Alternatively, let cool completely on racks, then transfer to a sealed container and store in the fridge for up to 1 week; reheat in a 300-degree oven for 10 minutes before serving.

Empanada Dough

2 cups (9 oz.) whole wheat flour 2 1/2 cups (11.25 oz) all-purpose flour 3 teaspoons salt 2 sticks (1 cup or 8 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes - or substitute 1 cup olive oil 2 large eggs 2/3 cup ice water 2 tablespoons white vinegar

In the bowl of a food processor, blend the flour, salt, and butter/olive oil until fully combined. (If you use butter, you're looking for lima bean-sized bits of butter; if you use oil, the mixture will look far sludgier. Fret not.) Combine eggs, water, and vinegar, then add to the flour mixture and process until the mixture forms a uniform dough. If mixture looks too wet, add flour by the tablespoonful and pulse until the mixture looks drier.

Dump the dough onto a floured work surface and gather into a mass. Knead the dough a few times to bring it together, then divide it into 2 disks, cover each with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 6. (If you refrigerate it longer, you'll want to bring it back to just colder than room temperature before working with it.)

In main dishes, weekday lunch
2 Comments
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