Food

Dressing
* 3/4 cup toasted sesame seeds (I toast these in the oven in cast iron frying pan, without anything else in the pan but the seeds, by holding the pan under the broiler and gently tossing the seeds around until they are a few shades darker, and then set to cool)
* 2 tablespoons good quality extra virgin olive oil
* 1/4 cup good quality dark toasted sesame oil (Not plain sesame oil)
* 1/2 of Meyer lemon *or* 1 whole Bearss or other big juicy sweet lime - juiced
* 2 tablespoons red wine or sherry vinegar
* 1/4 cup water
* 5 small green scallion onions (white and green parts chopped into small sections)
* 3 tablespoons shoyu (soy sauce)
* 2 garlic cloves, peeled and cut into thirds
* 6 to 7 grounds of black/mixed pepper
* Salt to taste, after the mix is checked for salt levels

Grind the cooled seeds in a blender (or food processor, but I find this works better in a blender). Once the seeds are in a fine grind, then add oils, lemon juice and blend again. Add water and vinegar and blend into a smooth paste. Add chopped onion, soy sauce and pepper. Mix again, and taste. Add salt to taste.

This batch will make two of these Couscous salads, so you can use the other half of the dressing for something else, or freeze it for later use, or just refrigerate it covered for up to three weeks.

Couscous Salad
* 1 1/2 c whole wheat couscous (Trader Joe's brand of plane whole wheat couscous does really well for this recipe. Make it by the box directions, where they suggest adding a little salt and butter, but use 2c of broth instead of the 1.5 cups on the directions, and it's fluffy and works really well.)
* 2 c broth of choice (i use the broth made from a Moroccan chicken dish but you can also use veggie or chicken broth from a store bought box and the flavor will be great)
* 1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed in a small strainer under water and drained
* 3 green scallion onions chopped into 1/4 inch sections (use all the whites and green parts but remove the ends)
* 1/2 c kalamata olives (or I used 1 cup of green castelvaltrano olives -- the latter are less salty and have a fresh bright taste - and whole foods sells them in their olive bar pre-pitted and chopped)
* 4 oz of crumbled lightly salted feta
* Half of the goddess dressing mix above

Cook the couscous to the directions on box (see my notes above about using the box from Trader Joes), or if using raw couscous, soak the couscous in water and drain. Rest for 20 minutes and then fluff with a fork or rake with your fingers. Heat broth in a pan, let come to a boil and turn off. Mix in the soaked and fluffed couscous for 20 minutes, covered. Fluff it again with a fork. Remove lid and when cooled, add all the ingredients to the bowl except the dressing, toss, and then gently fold in the fluffed couscous. Then fold in the dressing carefully, so that it's well blended and not caked into the couscous.

Serves 6. I've served this with a Moroccan Chicken dish plus a veggie and a salad or at all vegetarian meals. And it's terrific left over. Just refrigerate it for later.

Posted by Mary Hodder at 07:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Note: we served this with a nice Parrano cheese melted onto a slice of baguette.

2 T EV olive oil
3 leeks, sliced, soaked to remove grit and drained
3 stalks celery, cleaned and chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh marjoram
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley chopped
2 medium kabocha squash, cut into quarters, roasted in oven on cookie sheet, cooled, peeled and chopped into chunks
1.5 quarts chicken or veggie broth
1/2 t pepper (white is better, but can use black)

Saute olive oil with leeks and celery until green color has turned. Add marjoram, parsley and bay leaves and stir a bit. Add squash chunks, broth and pepper. Simmer for 35 - 40 min. Cool and puree and return to the pot

1/2 cup dry sherry
1 1/4 t turmeric
3/4 cup heavy creme
1 T salt
2-3 pinches of saffron

Stir in the remaining ingredients and adjust salt and pepper to taste. When ready to serve, bring back to a simmer on the stove. You can garnish with creme fraiche or greek yoghurt, crisped leeks, chopped pecans, toasted seeds (squash or pumpkin), etc.

Posted by Mary Hodder at 03:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This pasta recipe was inspired and altered from this La Cucina Italiana recipe.

When I go to the farmer's market in the fall I look for zucchini blossoms and often they are 3 to 10 for a dollar. But at the end of the day, sellers are often still very stocked with them, and you can ask to make a deal. I made this dish with 100+ blossoms (which are pretty mild and the receipe was great with that number of them) because a seller sold me all her remaining stock for $3.

Ingredients

* Coarse sea salt
* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus more for drizzling
* 5 large shallots, thinly sliced
* 1 pound zucchini, thinly sliced crosswise
* sweet corn cut from 4 cobs
* nutmeg ground fresh to taste, about 1/2 a large pod or 3/4 tablespoon of preground nutmeg
* 10 tablespoons finely chopped fresh marjoram (it's mild when fresh and you can use a lot in this recipe)
* 50 - 100 large zucchini blossoms, stems and pistils removed
* 1 pound fresh pasta like an angel hair
* 16 ounces fresh ricotta cheese (2 cups)
* Freshly ground black pepper
* Asiago or hard cheese for grating

Instructions

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add shallot, reduce heat to medium and cook for 2 minutes. Add zucchini, marjoram, corn and nutmeg; cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened, about 7 minutes more. Stir in 1/2 the zucchini blossoms and cook 1 minute more. Remove from heat and season with salt.

Add pasta to boiling water and cook until al dente. Reserving 1/2 cup pasta cooking liquid, drain pasta. Transfer pasta to a large serving bowl. Add zucchini mixture and ricotta; stir to combine. Moisten with pasta cooking liquid, if desired.

Serve drizzled with oil and sprinkled generously with pepper. Gently fold in the rest of the blossoms so that they are visible on top.. and sprinkle with asagio cheese as desired.

Posted by Mary Hodder at 09:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I made this last night for dinner. Sukiyaki is usually made with beef or just vegetables, but we had coho salmon, wanted some of Japanese flavor, and had four colors of cauliflower.

So.. I modified a recipe I found here for a Beef Sukiyaki. It's kind of bastardized by Japanese cooking standards but it tasted great, was low in fat and took about 20 minutes to make once i chopped up the veggies and sliced the salmon. I also substituted vermouth for the Mirin, which we ran out of and haven't replaced.

Salmon, Garnet Yam, multi-colored cauliflower and Mushroom Sukiyaki

* 1 1/2 cups low salt soy sauce
* 3 tablespoons sugar
* 3 cups soup stock
* 3/4 cup mirin (rice wine) or dry vermouth
* 1 pound salmon fillet, skin and bones removed and thinly sliced
* 1 medium onion, sliced
* 3 green garlic stalks, sliced
* 10 crimini (brown) mushrooms sliced thinly
* 1 garnet yam , peeled and thinly sliced
* 1 cup sliced bamboo shoots
* 2 stalks celery, sliced
* 1 cup soaked, rinsed and sliced shiitakes
* 1 lb fresh thin Asian-style egg noodles
* 2 tablespoons oil
* 1/4 quarter each of four colors of cauliflower (orange, green, white and purple), or 1 whole small cauliflower cut into very small pieces

Directions

Mix soy sauce, sugar, stock, and mirin or vermouth together in a bowl. Arrange meat and vegetables on a large platter, in piles.

Add oil to the skillet and heat. Brown salmon in the oil. Move the meat to a plate, put half of the broth mixture in the skillet and add sliced yam. Cook until tender but still al dente, and with slotted spoon, remove to plate, keeping each ingredient in their own separate piles but placing large lid over the plate to keep it warm. Add green garlic, onion and mushrooms, cook until soft, and remove to plate. Add cauliflower, simmer until al dente. In the meantime, cook noodles in 2-3 quarts of water, without any salt, for just a minute, until al dente. Drain and put back into pan. Add the other half of soy mixture and cover. Prepare bowls, placing a serving of noodles into bowl, then little piles of each of the other types of ingredients, followed by a ladle of the hot broth from the cooking pan.

Serves 4.

Posted by Mary Hodder at 08:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last night I needed to make dinner for someone who'd just had their wisdom teeth out. They were doing fine, and were hungry, but needed very soft food (no chewing) for a couple of days. This is what I made. I didn't want to make traditional Cannelloni because that usually comes with a Béchamel sauce which is very fattening (lots of cream and butter). This dish is very low in fat, and still full of vegetables and good flavor.

Additionally everything in the dish below was made with organic ingredients (except the salt). I can do this at a reasonable cost because I shop at farmer's markets and the Berkeley Bowl, and Whole Foods. Whole Foods, surprisingly, has things in season from local farms at great prices. So I don't buy that much there, but what I can't buy at the Bowl, I will sometimes buy there.

One reason I like organic is because I want to support sustainable agriculture. And because the ingredients taste so much better. But more recently, studies are showing how much better organic foods are for you, because they have dramatically more vitamins and minerals, and dramatically less carbs.

Spinach Mushroom Cannelloni

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Have a 9x13 oven safe dish on hand.

.5 lb brown crimini mushrooms
1 med purple onion
2 garlic cloves
3 T EV olive oil
1/2 cup dry cooking sherry
salt and pepper to taste

Finely chop mushrooms, onion and mince the garlic. Saute onion and garlic in olive oil for about 3 minutes or until starts to be clear. Add mushrooms. saute until all mushrooms turn color and begin to have a bit of liquid. Add sherry, saute the mixture, stirring occasionally until all liquid is gone and then salt and pepper to taste.

Filling:
In a large bowl add the mushroom mixture to:
16 oz. ricotta (prefer low fat, but you can use whole or non as desired)
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg - that's about half a small nutmeg pod grated (or pregrated from jar if you don't have fresh)
3/4 cup fresh flat leaf Italian parsley finely chopped
1/2 cup fresh basil finely chopped
1 lb baby spinach (steamed, well drained and pressed of spinach water -- reserve that water for the sauce, and then finely chop)

Mix well, add a bit more pepper to taste, and check salt. Ricotta has salt already and I don't usually need to add any to this mixture.

Shells:
You can use dry cannelloni shells, by preparing by package directions: boil them, drain and separate or use non-precook types. You'll probably need about 18
OR use:
3 sheets of 9x13" fresh pasta, cut in half at 9" side, and equal thirds at 13" side to make 4.5 x 4.5 squares (approximately) - these sheets can be purchased at places like the Berkeley Bowl, Whole Foods, or other specialty or pasta shops

Sauce:
2 - 15 oz cans of fire roasted chopped tomatoes (Muir Glen sells these)
10 large basil leaves, washed and torn in half
Any leftover spinach water from the chopped spinach above.
Salt and pepper to taste

Blend in blender until pureed, add salt and pepper to taste, blend again. It will look frothy and pink red. This is good.

-------------

Assembly:

Fresh pasta method:
Take 18 pasta squares of fresh pasta, lay out on clean counter, and divide filling equally in a straight line down the center of each square. Then pour 1/3 of tomato sauce into the bottom of dish, and gently shake dish sideways to evenly spread over the entire bottom of pan. Take the first square of pasta, with filling evenly through center, and wrap the shell around the pasta with a little overlap. Place it seam down into the sauce on the bottom of the pan, starting on one side. Follow by placing 9 in one row, and 9 in the other row across the pan (so that you have 9 on the top row length wise, and 9 on the bottom row). Pour the remaining 2/3 sauce evenly over the top so all pasta tubes are covered in sauce.

If desired sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan loosely over the top. Bake for 45 minutes or until there is a little bubbling at the edges and between the tubes.

Dry pasta method:
Scoop all the filling into a large ziplock bag or similar bag. Press all the filling to one corner, and then cut the corner making about a 3/4" hole out of your new piping device, and fill tubes. Put 1/3 the sauce on the bottom of the dish, spreading evenly. Place the filled tubes evenly across the bottom of the pan. Then pour the other 2/3 sauce across the top.

If desired sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan loosely over the top. Bake for 45 minutes or until there is a little bubbling at the edges and between the tubes.

Makes 6 entree servings or about 3 tubes per serving.

Note: I would suggest serving this with a salad, but for the person who couldn't chew, we just served these. There's certainly lots of spinach in them.

Posted by Mary Hodder at 08:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was asked to do a recipe for a garlic contest at KTEH. Here is the recipe passed on to me when I was in the 6th Grade, by a very dear friend, Karen Bryant. She was one of the mom's in the neighborhood. She died when I was just out of college, but when I make this I think of her.

The sage noodles came later, when I was experimenting with some fresh pasta, wanting to jazz it up. The cool think about it is you don't really have to make the pasta, though it's great if you do. You just need a pasta roller, fresh pasta, and cleaned fresh herbs, rolled between two sheets of the pasta. It turns out like Japanese paper and is gorgeous with a delicate flavor to put behind the chicken and garlic mixture.

Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic with Sage Noodles

Ingrediants:
4 small or 3 large whole heads garlic, about 40+ cloves, broken into cloves
2 chicken breasts, 2 legs, 2 thighs, about 2.5 pounds -- preferably air chilled for better flavor, with bones and skin but trimmed of fat
(recommend you get a whole organic air chilled chicken, have it cut up by the butcher, and then take the neck and back to make broth for another use)
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 tablespoons good olive oil
3 tablespoons Cognac
1 1/2 to 2 cups dry white wine
4-5 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
1/2 cup fresh sage well chopped
4-5 bay leaves (dried or fresh)

1 lb Fresh pasta if you have it, or 12 oz dry pasta if you don't

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat the butter and oil in a large pot (with a lid that can go in the oven) or Dutch oven over medium-high heat.

Boil water in a 3-4 quart pot. Separate cloves of garlic and once the water is boiling, drop them into water for 60 seconds. Drain and cool the garlic. Then peel. Set aside.

Dry the chicken with paper towels if wet (air chilled doesn't require this). Pat each piece on both sides with salt and pepper. This is the only time you'll add Salt and Pepper, so its okay to add a fair amount.

In batches, saute the chicken in the butter and oil until nicely browned, about 5 minutes on each side. Turn with tongs or a spatula so as not to pierce with a fork. If the oil/butter is burning, reduce heat to medium. When a batch is done, transfer it to a plate. Once pan is empty except for the oil/butter, add the garlic cloves to the pan. Lower the heat and saute for 5 to 10 minutes, turning often, until evenly browned but not at all dark (which will cause the garlic to get bitter). Add the Cognac and the wine. Scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan and bring the liquid to a simmer. Return the chicken to the pot with the juices and sprinkle with the thyme, sage and add the bay leaves leaves. Cover and put into a 350 degree F oven. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes to about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Chicken should be slightly loose from the skin.

In the meantime, boil either fresh pasta for 1.5 minutes or dry pasta according to directions. Drain and arrange on a platter. Place the finished piece of chicken on top, and spoon liquid and garlic cloves, herbs and bay leaves. Serves 4-6 depending on appetite.

Pasta method:
If you wish to make it fresh, make according to your favorite recipe. Then roll out two thin sheets (#5 on pasta machine hand roller). Place the first sheet down on flat surface, place sage with stems removed on layer, and then place the top layer. Stems will tear it, so you should cut these out. You can also use any other herbs. Then, using a hand crank pasta machine, carefully roll out the two layers, starting back at #3, and moving to #6 setting. The herbs will spread out through the pasta a bit like Japanese paper. Then, take a pizza wheel and cut sideways into 1.5 inch strips. Dust with flour and reserve until ready to cook.

Posted by Mary Hodder at 08:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)