Thursday, January 23, 2014

Spanish Rice



I call this 'Spanish rice' but I think the name is a misnomer from childhood.
This is not common in Australia so I make it more than I used too as a 'bring a plate'.
This dish keeps for a long time and transports easily.
It can also be made early in the day, and re-heated to serve, so I make it when we have people over for burritos, or something in the Mexican food vein.
I have also taken this camping twice, and it kept well for days in a cooler no problems.
 
Here is my recipe.
I make about 3/4 of a cup of rice and twice that water and add it to our rice cooker. I let the rice finish before I do anything else.
I boil about a 1/2 cup of water and add some vegeta or any time of vegetarian dry soup making mixture- but vegeta is my first choice. I set this aside.
I then take a tablespoon of olive oil, and about just one clove of chopped garlic and heat that.
Then I add in about 3 chopped tomatoes (no seeds or core)
As many peas as I can get my hands on
 (I used all ripe peas from our garden)
I put in about as much carrot, and again I just use what is on hand, here we have the small variety of carrots, so I just cut them and it was as if they were already diced, you want the pieces to be about pea size
I saute the carrots just for about 3-minutes, then I add the tomatoes and the peas for just about another 3 minutes
Then I add in the cooked rice
After I mix it all through
I start adding in the vegeta mixture slowly- and I keep stirring until the consistency seems pleasing.
 
So easy, even I can make it.

Vegetarian Soup Stock



Stashing away processed jars of food, or freezing supplies to save time and waste is not really Zok's thing, but it is mine.

I tend to make stock when I realize I have the supplies that will go to waste.
Stocks are improvisational and hard to get wrong.
I usually have more fresh herbs (except in the dead of winter) than I can use, so I use a lot of them in my stocks.  I always seem to end up with some onion, celery, and carrot in the crisper that seem left behind, or worse starting to lose all crispness. This is exactly when I would make some soup stock either to freeze or I would jar it up and boil the jars to seal them this way I could store it for a longer period of time.

Here is the basic recipe that I follow.

I will clean and roughly chop my vegetables.  Because you will be straining out the cooked veg, feel free to add parts you might not normally, like the leafy part of the celery or all the carrot.  If this seems too strange - you don't have too, but it won't hurt.
Mostly I use a large stock pot or soup pot to make this, I like it all to have a lot of room to simmer around in.

I use maybe 1 tbl. spoon of olive oil
This is first in the pot.
Roughly chop my veg into 1 in. chunks.
(the below amount should give you about 5-6 cups)
1 large onion
2 large carrots (or many small)
1 bunch scallions
8 garlic cloves (peeled and smashed is best)
8 parsley branches
6 thyme spriges (you could use dried 1/2 tsp.)
3 bay leaves
Handful of fresh, chopped rosemary
Salt 

(Again, you can add in stuff, mushrooms are good, oregano, lettuce leaves, leeks, nutritional yeast, miso, and so on)

Heat your oil, and add in your garlic, herbs and cook for about 5 - 10 minutes
Stir this frequently
Add in all your chopped vegetables
and then add your salt and 2 quarts of cold water (for the amount of veg above)
Bring to a boil
Lower and simmer for about 30 minutes- uncovered
Strain (we compost so veg mush is excellent for compost)
Now you can take your strained stock and either fill jars and reprocess them by boiling for 20 minutes to seal the lids
Or you could let it all cool, and then freeze.
If you really think your mixture was bland you could add more miso, soy sauce, or just add a veg. cube or some vegeta.  But you won't need too.

Zok also uses this same recipe to make his chicken stock for his spicy, shredded chicken

 


Spicy Soba Noodle Soup


Spicy Soba Soup
 
There are easy ways to vary this soup.  Some recipes call for snow peas, and/or bean sprouts. Sometimes we use lemon grass instead of ginger, or we get wild and use both.
 
I love this soup, but Zok is unimpressed, and I only get it when I make it (!) or as a special request.
 
This soup always takes under .5 of an hour.
It also re-heats nicely.
 Which is why we always make it for 4, even though we are only 2.
 
250 g or 9 oz soba noodles
2-4 shiitake mushrooms (you can use dried, we usually use fresh)
2 litres (8 cups) vegetable stock- this soup is fine with one of those cubes you can get, or if you have soup stock on hand*
2 small carrots, cut into thin matchsticks
(in the photo they are short because we used small carrots from our neighbors generous garden)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 spring onions (scallions) cut in short lengths and sliced again a bit like the carrots
3 cm or 1 1/4 piece ginger cut into matchsticks (its a theme)
80 ml or 1/3 cup soy sauce
60 ml or 1/4 cup mirin or sake (cooking sake is fine)
Small diced dried pepper (seeds or no seeds depending on how hot you want it to be)
 
Your soba noodles are likely dry, so just cook them as directed on the package, and set them aside in a strainer.
If your mushrooms are dried, you need to soak them in some boiling water until soft (about 3/4 a cup for 4)
Drain them so you can slice them put keep the liquid aside.
Combine your vegetable stock in a pan (we use a large sauce pan) with the mushrooms, the extra mushroom liquid, carrots, garlic, spring onion and ginger. (This is when you'd also put in other options like snow peas)
Bring to a soft boil, then reduce to a simmer
Usually about 5 minutes softens your vegetables.
Now add your bean spouts (if you are inclined) more importantly add your mirin and soy sauce, (and pepper if desired)
Get your bowls, put in the wanted amount of noodles in each, and then ladle the soup mixture over the top.
Easy!
 
*I have a vegetarian soup stock recipe up if you want to search for that.
 
 

 


 
 

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Rigatoni Pasta with Pumpkin and Pine Nuts





1 kg (2 lbs) pumpkin
2 medium leeks
40 g (1 1/2 oz) butter
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) rigatoni pasta 
300 ml. (1 1/4 cups) cream
40 g (1/4 cup) toasted pine nuts

Peel your pumpkin, discarding the seeds (or saving and roasted them!) and then dice your pumpkin pieces into small cubes

Discard the outer most leek leaves, clean them, and slice finely.

Heat butter in large pan over low heat.  Add the sliced leek and cover the pan to cook about 5 minutes.  You might need to stir it a couple of times.

Add your nutmeg and pumpkin, and cover again for about 8 minutes.

This is a good time to cook your pasta, I always put a bit of salt and olive oil in my water.
Cook until tender- drain it, you might want to put the pasta in a covered bowl to keep it warm.

Roast your pine nuts in a small hot pan- this only takes a minute or two. Alternately you could roast them in the over on a sheet and roast your pumpkin seeds at the same time.
Add your cream after the 8 minutes is up, and also a bit more water about 1/4 cup.  Bring the mixture to boil.
Let it condense down a bit and make sure your pumpkin is tender.
Divide your pasta into servings and top with your sauce and lastly sprinkle your pine nuts on top.  The pine nuts taste really nice with the pumpkin so don't skimp on them.

You could of course adjust this sauce with the type of pumpkin you use, some like butternut squash are a bit sweet.  I like nutmeg so I added a bit more to my serving.
 

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Discussions about Bread



Zok tried a bread making class here in Hobart.
He was pretty happy with the experience, but all his breads were a bit on the low side, as in low rise, such as foccacia.

The class did a 'small loaf' but all of them came out pretty dense.
Zok and I both prefer our bread fluffy.

So the idea of making our own bread got sorted to the back of our minds, except that we only like bread from one or two bakeries in Hobart, and neither is especially convenient.  Where we live in Stockholm, we tend to settle for inferior bread and the best bread can be around $10 Australian for a loaf.

Then we stayed in a lovely place on the Isle of Skye.


Well, if you read my blog, you'll know that we had to book our Scottish Highlands adventure sort of day by day as accommodation was scarce. Vegetarian food isn't especially popular- and sadly my vegetarian request got a bit lost in the mix, so the hand made bread was a delight.  Zok and Clare (the bread maker) got to chatting and Zok had ordered these books by the time we got upstairs to our room.

The books are titled: Bread and Crust by Richard Bertinet
The book comes with a dvd.  I am trying to talk Zok into going to one of his workshops in Bath, England.  I have always wanted to go to Bath because my favorite Jane Austen book is 'Persuasion', which has pivotal moments set in Bath.
Here is his website.

I can't really express just what a difference this has made.
Zok has made very easily, wonderful bread.
Also the harder (harder as in more work) bread is well worth the effort.
Such as the Sommerset Cider Bread, which has to basically 'rise' twice, and a first ferment.  Zok did a cider bread after his success with the Epi and the Fougasse.
But seriously people, the bread is amazing, like heaven, like cake.
So far Zok has done really well with the two 'pretty' breads, one is called 
Epi and one is called Fougasse, both 'white' breads.
But there are so many more tasty recipes to try.

Zok is happier with flour called 'Bakers Flour' and also the local stone milled Oatlands flour.   The bakers flour takes less slapping to get the bread to where it is ready to put aside to rise.  The bread can still come out dense if you let the bread rise so long that it collapses back in on itself.  This happened the one time Zok didn't put a timer on.  The bread was fine but it was more dense, making it a 'fine' bread not a fabulous bread.

The largest difference is that the bread is not kneading but basically slapped upon marble. (Warning: this is annoying and loud and after the first time, all audience members might want to sit on the porch or take a shower for this portion).
Zok went to a store that sold marble for buildings, like counter tops, and he bought a sample cut fairly cheap.

I can not wait for Olive Bread, Sourdough, Bread bowls for both soup and for salad.  I really, really want Brioche which is also featured on the dvd even though I now know how hard it is to make, and how much butter is involved.
Soon!


Spanish Tortilla

Spanish Tortilla- Zok style




Ingrediants:
Eggs (amount variable)
Herbs/Salt/Pepper to taste
Potatoes (in proportion to the amount of eggs you use)
Vegetable oil

This dish is possibly an excuse to use pottery that we bought in Barcelona where this dish is available at almost every breakfast counter.
This dish is so easy you don't really need a recipe, but it is good to know how your oven and dishes work together.

Zok peels and slices about one small potato per person.
He likes to slice thin ovals and he fries them slightly more for the crispy texture than for a need of cooking them through.
Next he caramelizes an onion, chopped in the same oil after the potatoes come out.  He drains a bit of oil off by setting out the potatoes on paper towels.
He beats the eggs lightly with a whisk, adds in some mixed herbs, depending on what is around, oregano, rosemary, a bit of salt and pepper.  He adds in the onions and potatoes at this time to mix it all up and then pours it into his terracotta dish.  In a bit he has cooked this in a ceramic torte dish, but he likes to have a lid.

He cooks this dish on 175c.
First he cooks it for about 15-20 minutes just open, then another 15-20 with the lid on (you can used tin foil), then take off the lid and give it the once over, if you want it a bit crispier/browner on top then cook a bit more with the lid off, or if the color is fine, but needs a bit more cooking time then cook with the lid on.
Zok says it takes about another 10 minutes, but this all depends on how big your dish is, or by this I mean how many eggs you used.
This is a real easy dish to adjust for last minute, addirtional people as it is easy to add in more eggs and potatoes.
Also this dish is good at all temperatures, which means you can cook it early, or have it around for late night/early morning after snacks.
You see this a lot in Spain, where this dish is out for eating both in the morning and in the afternoon.