Baked Polenta

Polenta can be a time-consuming dish. Like risotto, it requires a lot of stirring. Or does it? No, it does not! You can bake it in the oven and it comes out perfect every time. It’s so super-easy, I don’t think I’ll ever make it on the stove top again.

You can use all water or use ½ water and ½ milk. The polenta will be richer and creamier if you use whole milk.

Baked Polenta
(serves 4-5 as a side dish)

2 cups cold milk or water
1 cup yellow corn grits or dry polenta (I like Bob’s Red Mill)
½ to 1 teaspoon salt (use the lesser amount if you are going to mix in cheese)
2 cups boiling water

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 10″ x 8″ baking dish with butter or non-stick cooking spray. For ease of entry/exit from the oven, place on a cookie sheet.

When oven reaches temperature, combine cold milk or water with corn grits in a large bowl. Combine salt with boiling water and whisk to dissolve salt. Add salted water to grits and stir. Gently pour into the greased baking dish. Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Stir before serving.

You can also embellish your polenta with cheese. Stir in ½ cup (or more if you like cheesy) at 45 minutes, then bake for another 5 minutes to melt the cheese. Stir again before serving.

Note: The original recipe said use a 9″x5″ pan, which may work but I have never tried it that way!

Food Photos: The Bane of My Existence

Why do I use photos that clearly aren’t a photo of the dish I’m writing about? Because I hate having to take photos of my food! Sometimes, it’s my dinner. If I need to style the dish, I’m eating a cold dinner. No thank you! Sometimes, my dinner isn’t particularly photogenic. As a blog reader, I’m annoyed by articles that have endless photos of the food from every angle along with many photos of the production. Overkill, I say. I also have no patience for scrolling over a bunch of photos to get to the recipe I am looking for.

But, a photo is important for catching a reader’s eye in the overwhelming noise that is the internet. That’s why I include interesting photos of food that I have found in Wikipedia Commons in my posts, when I don’t like/can’t be bothered to snap a gauzy, perfectly lit photo of my dinner (oh, wait, I never do that). Live with it. I cook and I write about food which is my passion. Photography definitely isn’t my passion. I leave that to people who are way better at it than I am!

The photo above is mine. It’s not all that pretty but that cauliflower sure tastes good! It’s seasoned with tahini, lemon juice, and Aleppo pepper. Aleppo red pepper is slightly spicy – not nearly as hot as crushed Italian red pepper – and has a lovely fruity flavor. I think it’s far more useful in the kitchen than crushed red pepper because it’s more subtle. Find some. You won’t be sorry. It’s great on eggs, hummus, chicken, and right here in this cauliflower recipe.

Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini and Lemon
(serves 4-6)

non-stick cooking spray
1 large head of cauliflower
salt
¼ cup tahini
juice of 1 lemon
¼ to 1 teaspoon Aleppo red pepper

Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a large rimmed cookie sheet generously with non-stick cooking spray.

Trim off leaves and cut off the tough bottom of the stem on the head of cauliflower. Most of the stalk is edible so don’t try to cut out all of it. It will cook up tender. Slice the cauliflower about ½” thick. The slices won’t hold together; doesn’t matter. Put the cauliflower, in a single layer, on the greased cookie sheet. Spray with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt. Roast the cauliflower in the hot oven for 30 minutes or until tender.

While the cauliflower is roasting, combine the tahini, lemon juice, and Aleppo pepper in a small bowl. Set aside.

When the cauliflower is done, remove from the oven and increase the heat to broil. Spread the tahini sauce evenly over the cauliflower. Return the cauliflower to the oven and broil until the sauce browns up. Serve hot.

Eggplant with Mushroom-Yogurt Stuffing

This is a delicious meatless entreé for 4 or a side dish for 8. The mushrooms give it a meaty texture and flavor. It’s very hearty for a vegetarian dish, especially one that doesn’t include any cheese.

I like to spray the bread crumb topping with non-stick cooking spray. It helps the crumbs brown up nicely while adding very little fat. If you want a richer, crispier topping, you can combine the crumbs with 2 Tablespoons melted butter before spreading them onto the eggplant.

You can stuff the eggplants ahead of time and bake them later. You’ll need to bake them a bit longer to make sure the center is piping hot, however.

Eggplant with Mushroom-Yogurt Stuffing
(serves 4 as an entreé or 8 as a side dish)

2 large eggplants, 1 to 1¼ pound each, cut in half lengthwise
4 scallions, white and green tops, chopped
½ pound coarsely chopped mushrooms
1 medium carrot, grated
½ teaspoon dried thyme
4 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons flour
¾ to 1 cup Greek low-fat or full-fat unflavored yogurt
1½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ cup panko bread crumbs
non-stick cooking spray

Spray a 9″x5″ baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

Bring a couple of inches of water to a boil in a large pot with a steamer basket. Place the eggplant halves in the steamer and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from the steamer and allow to cool until you can handle them. Remove the pulp, being careful not to tear the skin. Chop the pulp coarsely, season with ¼ teaspoon salt and set aside. Place the eggplant shells in the baking dish and season them with ¼ teaspoon salt.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the scallions, mushrooms, and carrots. Sauté for 5 minutes until carrots are limp and the mushrooms have started to lose their liquid. Lower heat to low. Sprinkle with the flour and cook for another minute. Stir in the yogurt and chopped eggplant. Season with the rest of the salt and pepper. Taste for seasonings and add more salt if needed.

Fill each eggplant half with ¼ of the filling. Sprinkle 2 Tablespoons panko crumbs on each eggplant half. Moisten with a generous dose of non-stick cooking spray. Bake for 25-30 minutes until crumbs are browned and filling is very hot.

Adapted from The Good Cook: Vegetables, Time-Life Books, 1979.

Stir-fried Mustard Cabbage

Cabbage is going to be very cheap soon. Every year for St. Patrick’s Day, cabbage drops in price. Cabbage isn’t exactly expensive to begin with, but around March 17, you can often find it for 19 cents a pound! Who says you need to use it for corned beef?

Here’s an Indian take. It can be served hot or warm.

Stir-fried Mustard Cabbage
(serves 8)

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
1 clove garlic, minced
a pinch to ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
¾ teaspoon salt
1 ½ pounds green cabbage (about ½ a medium head), thinly sliced
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
⅓ cup minced fresh or frozen cilantro
⅓ cup shredded unsweetened coconut

Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add the mustard seeds and immediately cover the plan. When they get hot enough, the seeds will start to pop and they will go shooting all over your kitchen. The cover keeps them contained.

As soon as they start to pop, add the turmeric, garlic, crushed red pepper, and salt. Stir for 10 seconds. Add the cabbage and toss with spices and oil to coat. Reduce heat to medium and cover. Cook cabbage until it starts to wilt, about 5 minutes. Add lemon juice, cilantro, and coconut. Toss to combine and serve.

Adapted from Moghul Microwave: Cooking Indian Food the Modern Way by Julie Sahni, William Morrow and Company, 1990.

Broccoli Crumble

I love broccoli, so I am always hunting for another interesting way to prepare it. Broccoli in cheese sauce is a classic. I wanted to lighten it up a bit but not in those kludgey 1980’s ways, by using things like evaporated skim milk and low-fat cheese (really, low fat cheese?). I removed nearly all of the fat in the topping. Usually, there’s a lot of butter, which coats the crumbs so they crisp as this bakes. You can crisp up the crumbs by spraying them with non-stick cooking spray. It’s made of oil but the spray allows for even distribution and you end up using much less.

Here’s a baked dish for your broccoli. Or your cauliflower. It would be wonderful with cauliflower.

Broccoli Crumble
(serves 6)

non-stick cooking spray

2 Tablespoons butter or vegetable oil
2 medium shallots, minced
2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
⅔ cup 2% or whole milk
½ cup water
1 pound broccoli florets
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ cup grated cheddar cheese

Topping:
½ teaspoon dried basil
2 slices fresh white or whole wheat bread, torn into pieces
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a medium baking dish (such as 8″ x 8″ x 3″) with non-stick cooking spray.

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots and sauté for 3 minutes. Add flour and stir to coat shallots. Whisk in the milk and water. Bring to a boil, then add broccoli, salt, and pepper. Stir, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 5 minutes. Add cheese and stir. Pour into the prepared baking dish.

To prepare the topping, add the basil, bread pieces, salt, and pepper to the bowl of a food processor until bread is reduced to crumbs. Spread the topping over the broccoli. Spray the top generously with non-stick cooking spray. Bake for 20 minutes until topping is browned. Serve hot.

Red Cabbage plus more Red Stuff

Red cabbage makes me think of fall, and with falling temperatures here in Colorado, my mind is coming around to approaching nippy weather. Red cabbage has an affinity for apples, one of the best fall crops around. So, why not combine a bunch of red things: red cabbage, red apples, and red onion? This sweet and sour cabbage recipe isn’t anything particularly new, but I have toned down both the sweet and the sour. Too many sweet and sour recipes are far too sweet for me. If you take down the sweet, you need to tone down the sour too, or the flavors get out of balance.

The long cooking is necessary for 2 reasons:

1. It takes quite a while for the cabbage to cook to tender. Traditionally, this type of cabbage is cooked under very tender.
2. The allspice is an aggressive spice and the long cooking mellows it. 

Red X 3 – Red Cabbage with Red Apples and Red Onion
(serves 6-8)

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil (I like sunflower oil)
1 medium red onion, peeled and sliced
½ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground mace
½ medium head of red cabbage, cored and thinly shredded
1 red apple such as Fuji or Gala, cored and medium diced
2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons maple syrup or brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Heat the oil in a large covered skillet or sauté pan over medium heat. Add onions until onions are very tender. If you have the time, keep cooking until they start to brown and caramelize because they taste even better with long cooking. Stir them often so they brown evenly. Add the allspice and mace, and stir to combine.

Add the remaining ingredients. Stir to combine. Reduce heat the medium-low, cover, and cook for 30-45 minutes until cabbage is very tender. Check to see that there is still some moisture in the bottom of the pan about ½ through cooking. Add a couple of tablespoons of water if it is dry.

Photo: By Thamizhpparithi Maari (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Masa Cornbread Stuffing

Another successful Thanksgiving dinner! This cornbread stuffing was a big hit. The cornbread has a twist: it’s made with masa flour (corn tortilla mix) as well as cornmeal. Masa is also used for making tamales. It has a distinctive flavor that I just love. This recipe came from Epicurious and I’ve made some modifications. It makes a lot, which is fine for a big Thanksgiving dinner but not for a regular dinner or small party. I’ve cut the recipe in half for the stuffing but not for the cornbread. Use half the pan of cornbread and freeze the rest. Cornbread freezes really well; cut it into serving-size pieces and freeze them so you can pull out just what you need.

Masa Cornbread
(makes enough for stuffing + plenty for eating)

1 cup masa (corn tortilla mix)
½ cup vegetable oil plus 2 teaspoons for greasing the pan
1 ⅔ cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 ⅓ cup yellow cornmeal
⅓ cup all purpose flour
⅓ cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 ¼ teaspoon salt

Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 400°F. Spread masa on large rimmed baking sheet. Bake until golden, stirring frequently, about 8-10 minutes. Transfer masa to medium bowl and cool. Maintain oven temperature.

Coat 13 x 9 x 2-inch metal pan with 2 teaspoons oil. Whisk ½ cup oil, buttermilk, and eggs in medium bowl. Whisk cooled masa, cornmeal, and next 4 ingredients in large bowl. Stir buttermilk mixture into cornmeal mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake cornbread until edges are lightly browned and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Turn out onto rack; cool completely. DO AHEAD: If using bread in stuffing, wrap in foil and store at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Altitude adjustment: At 5000 ft, reduce baking powder to 3 ½ teaspoons.

Masa Cornbread Stuffing with Chiles
(serves 6)

1 stick butter + a bit more for greasing the pan and foil
1 large white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
9 ounces poblano chiles, seeded and chopped (2-3 chiles)
9 ounces Anaheim chiles, seeded and chopped (3-4 chiles)
1 large jalapeno chile, seeded and minced
¾ teaspoon pure ground mild New Mexico chiles
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ Tablespoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon dried oregano, Mexican if you can find it
½ cup chopped parsley
½ recipe Masa Cornbread, cut into 1″ cubes
3 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, grated (optional)
2 eggs
½ cup low sodium chicken or turkey stock

Melt butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic; sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. Add all chiles; sauté until beginning to soften, 12 to 14 minutes. Stir in ground chiles, cumin, salt, pepper, and dried oregano. Transfer vegetable mixture to bowl. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cool, then cover and chill.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter 8 x 8 x 2- inch glass baking dish. Stir parsley into vegetable mixture. Place cornbread cubes in large bowl; add vegetable mixture and toss gently. Toss in cheese, if using. Whisk eggs and broth in medium bowl, then pour over stuffing and toss gently to moisten. Transfer stuffing to prepared dish. Cover dish with buttered foil, buttered side down.

Bake stuffing until heated through, about 30 minutes. Remove foil; bake until top is golden, about 30 minutes longer.

Finally, the end of Zucchini is in Sight!

Not exactly. I still have a bunch of it in the freezer. But, it does make a good tagline.

Because of that cache of zucchini in the freezer, I’m always looking for good zucchini recipes. Here’s one I conjured up on my own. I had orange juice hanging around so I reduced that until it was a syrup. Since zucchini has so much moisture in it, I knew that the syrup would be diluted quite a bit after it was mixed with the shredded zucchini. The result was a little sweet, with a nice hint of orange.

The zucchini doesn’t take a good picture, but it’s still tasty.

Zucchini Kissed with Orange
(serves 4)

½ cup orange juice
4 small zucchini, shredded
1 ½ Tablespoons butter
1 clove of garlic, minced
salt and black pepper

Bring orange juice to a boil in a small saucepan and reduce to a thick syrup. You should have about 2 Tablespoons of syrup. Place the zucchini in a colander and squeeze out some of the moisture.  Heat butter in a medium skillet until it starts to foam. Add the garlic, and saute for a minute. Add zucchini. Saute for a couple of minutes, stirring to cover the zucchini in the garlic butter. Add orange syrup and stir. Season with salt and pepper.

Broccoli with Tomatoes & Coconut

Here’s a quick pseudo-Indian broccoli dish – a dish where I look around the kitchen and see what’s there to throw together. I had broccoli and cherry tomatoes that need to get used up before I head to France for 3 weeks. I was inspired by similar dishes made with cauliflower and green beans, but it doesn’t replicate either one exactly. That’s how cooking is supposed to work – get comfortable with the flavors of a cuisine, have a quiver full of basic techniques, and you can create something really tasty without a recipe.

Broccoli with Tomatoes and Coconut
(serves 4)

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil (coconut oil is delicious here)
1 medium onion, sliced
1 handful shredded unsweetened coconut
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1 bunch of broccoli, cut into florets and stems peeled and chopped
3 Tablespoons water
1 handful of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
½ teaspoon kosher salt

Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute until the onions start to brown. Add the coconut and cumin seeds. Cook for another couple of minutes. Add cumin seeds and broccoli. Stir, and add water. Cover pan, reduce the heat, and cook for about 5 minutes. The broccoli will be just about done. Remove the cover, turn heat back up to medium-high, and add tomatoes and salt. Cook for 1 more minute. The broccoli should be tender with a slight crunch and the tomatoes should be heated through but not mushy.

Fun with Eggplant

Eggplant was on sale this week. I wanted to make some baba ghanoush but I bought enough to make more than that. So, here are 2 recipes that use eggplant. In fact, they both start with eggplant broiled whole but after that, they go in totally different directions. There are no pictures of the dishes because neither of them looks all that interesting. But, they taste so good, each in their own way.

Baba ghanoush is a Middle Eastern eggplant dip enhanced with tahini and lemon juice. It retains the delicious smokiness that comes from getting the eggplant skin well-charred.

The other recipe is Indian, using a plethora of fragrant spices to transform the eggplant into something special. It’s called Creamed Eggplant but the cream isn’t that key to the dish. You could leave it out and it would still be awesome. The original recipe called for vegetable oil. I used butter instead and I do think it adds a depth of flavor. Use vegetable oil if you prefer. There is enough flavor here even if you use a neutral oil.

Both recipes came from Madhur Jaffrey’s World of the East Vegetarian Cooking. I have added additional instructions on broiling the eggplants. She says to rinse them after peeling but I feel that is not necessary. Just be careful about removing all the skin because it would add a lot of bitterness, seeing as it’s burned totally by the time it’s done. It does take a while to cook the eggplant but it’s worth it. The long broiling develops the smoky flavor that enhances both recipes.

To Roast Eggplants:
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. This makes clean-up easier.

Poke eggplants with a fork, 2-3 pokes front, back and sides.

Place eggplants on baking sheet and put under the broiler. The eggplants should be about 4-6″ from the heating element. Too close and it will burn before the eggplant is fully cooked. Too far and you’ll be waiting all day for it to cook.

Broil eggplant 10-15 minutes per side, for a total of 40-60 minutes. The skin with be well-charred and the flesh will be very soft when it’s done.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Scoop out the flesh, scraping it off the charred skin.

Use in any recipe calling for broiled or roasted eggplant.

Baba Ghanoush
(makes about 1 ½ cups)

1 firm Italian eggplant, about 1 pound
1 – 2  cloves garlic, crushed
3 tbl tahini
3 tbl fresh lemon juice
½ tsp kosher salt
1 tbl chopped fresh parsley, for garnish (optional)

Roast eggplant according to instructions above.

Place eggplant flesh into a food processor. Add garlic, tahini, lemon juice, and salt. Process until eggplant becomes a smooth paste.

Taste for salt and stir in chopped parsley, if desired.

Serve with crudites or pita triangles.

Creamed Eggplant
(serves 4)

1 large firm Italian eggplant, about 1 ½ pounds
2 – 3 tbl butter
¼ tsp whole fennel seeds
¼ tsp ground fenugreek seeds (see Note)
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbl tomato sauce
1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
½ tsp kosher salt
1 pinch of cayenne
⅛ tsp ground black pepper
¼ tsp ground cumin
1 – 2 tbl heavy cream (optional)
1 tbl minced cilantro or Italian parsley

Roast eggplant according to instructions above. Chop eggplant flesh and set aside.

Melt butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add fennel seeds and ground fenugreek. Add onions and garlic after a few seconds. Cook until onions are golden, about 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce, a tablespoon at a time. Stir well after each addition, allowing tomato sauce to fry in the oil and most of the liquid to evaporate, about 30 seconds.

Add reserved eggplant, ginger, and salt. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 10 – 12 minutes. Add cayenne, black pepper, cumin, and cream. Cook another minute to heat cream. Garnish with cilantro/parsley and serve.

Note: Ground fenugreek seeds are available at Indian markets, good grocers like Whole Foods. Make sure to get ground fenugreek seeds. The leaves are also used and don’t taste the same.