RED THAI CURRY SOUP

It is my pleasure to be a contributor for Now It's Dark Magazine, where I will be sharing recipes and reviewing restaurant experiences. This versatile recipe embodies delectable flavor combinations, spiciness, and nutritional benefits.  For your cooking pleasure, click on the link below.

http://nowitsdark.net/2014/10/red-thai-curry-soup-answer-last-nights-lingering-headache/

Mini Carrot Ginger Chocolate Chip Cakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Carrot bread and carrot cupcakes are two of my favorite, easy go to recipes with carrots.  The recipe is the same for both, except that the cooking time is reduced by about half for the cupcakes, and  I have adapted  mine from classic carrot bread recipes, with the following variations:

Given that I am not a fan of  adding cinnamon to anything and everything, I do not  include it in many of my recipes, as I believe it masks the flavors that we want to highlight.  On the other hand, ginger confers a fresh element of spiciness, while the candied ginger provide  additional textural complexity. The orange zest is almost a must in this recipe, as it complements the carrots and ginger. Going full circle,  both ginger and orange pair well with chocolate, so I have included some mini chocolate chips. As a trade off, I add some oats and milled flax seeds, which provide whole grain and omega-3. These mini cakes are delicious and nutritious, but you can choose to omit or substitute some of the optional ingredients, as you prefer.

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• ½  cup canola oil
• ¼ cup of  butter (or vegan butter) at room temperature plus extra for the cupcake pans, unless silicone
• 1 ½  cup of peeled freshly grated carrots
• 2 tablespoons minced candied or crystallized ginger
• 2 teaspoons of freshly grated ginger
• zest of 1 organic orange
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp of milled flax seeds
• ¼ cup of rolled oats
• 1 cup organic sugar
• ¼ cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tsp of vanilla essence
• 1 pinch of salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Grease an 8-cup muffin pan (or 12-cup for mini cakes) by brushing inside every slot with some melted butter. If using silicone cups, there is no need to grease them.In a medium bowl, combine the butter, oil,  sugar  and eggs, and with an electric mixer (either hand-held or standing mixer) cream the mixture until smooth. Mix the vanilla essence and grated fresh ginger into  the creamed batter.Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda into a separate bowl, and mix in the oats and milled flax seeds. Add the salt.With a spatula, mix the  flour mixture into the batter, in two additions, until well incorporated and smooth. Fold in the carrots, crystallized ginger, orange zest and chocolate chips, a bit at a time until evenly incorporated into the batter.Spoon batter into greased muffin cups, filling each 3/4 full.Bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Turn cupcakes out onto racks and cool completely.

Even though these cakes carry enough flavor on their own, you can further jazz them up with cream cheese frosting, and drizzle with honey and sprinkle with chopped pistachios.

For the cream cheese frosting:

• 4 ounces unsalted butter, softened
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp honey for the drizzle
• 2 tbsp chopped (roasted if preferred) pistachios

Directions:

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer. With the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until smooth and creamy. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Note that I use ½ of the sugar of most frosting recipes because I drizzle with honey. Also, the saltiness of the pistachios balances the sweetness nicely.

Roasted Tofu in Zimino

“In zimino”  is a  type of sauce preparation that uses tomatoes and Swiss chard or spinach. It is typically found in Tuscany, but I have also seen it in neighboring Liguria.  Different types of fish, like baccala’, or cephalopods like cuttlefish, and squid, can be made “in zimino”. In fact, I recently prepared baby squid "in zimino" for a dinner party which was so incredibly delicious, that before I had a chance to take a picture for my blog, it was all gone. So I thought I had to make this dish again and share this tasty recipe. Unfortunately, the availability of tender baby squid at the Japanese supermarket where I typically shop was short-lived. So I had to come up with a plan B. I had some tofu in the fridge, and thought, why not try a vegan alternative? And voila’, I came up with this equally tantalizing nutritious and delicious option.

Also, differently from the original version, my sauce has a hint of ginger, which confers an additional layer of flavor. Ginger can be optional, but I highly recommend it.

Ingredients:

A bag of power greens from either Trader Joe’s or Simple Truth Brand (A mix of baby chard,      baby kales, baby spinach) or Trader Joe’s Kaleidoscope Chard

1 carrot

1 onion

1/2 celery stalk

a few sprigs of parsley

about 1 cup of of grape tomatoes (finely chopped), or a ladle-full of pureed tomatoes

1-2 cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon of freshly grated ginger (can also be finely chopped or pressed through a garlic press)-for grating, a long cheese grater works great.

½ red chili pepper (peperoncino)-fresh or dry- or a whole chile pepper, for extra pungency

olive oil- enough to coat the bottom of a medium size pan, plus about 1 tablespoon to drizzle the tofu

good quality tofu (½ block)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Remove the tofu from the package and pat dry with paper towels. Line a plate with a paper towel and place the tofu on top. Then set  a plate on top of the tofu and weigh it down with something heavy, like a can of vegetables that you may have in your cupboard.  Allow the liquid to train into the paper towel for about 15-30 minutes. Remove the weight,  and drain off the excess liquid. Slice the pressed tofu into cubes or thin slices.

Drizzle the olive oil on a baking sheet,  add the cut tofu and gently toss it around the  baking sheet so that all sides are coated.  Bake tofu until the outside of the tofu is golden and the pieces look slightly puffed, about 30 minutes, depending on the size and shape of the tofu. If baking slices, the baking time should be reduced.  Toss  occasionally so the pieces bake evenly.

While the tofu is baking, finely chop the carrot, onion, celery and parsley  on a cutting board, or pulse  in a food processor until fine. This is what we refer to in Italian as “battuto di odori”

Blanch the greens for a couple of  minutes in salted boiling water, strain in a colander and  allow to cool.  Once cooled, squeeze as much water out as possible either with your hands, or by pressing a small bowl against the greens that are still resting inside the colander .

Once the greens are no longer dripping water, place them  on a cutting board and chop them coarsely. Set aside.

In a medium size pan, heat the olive oil, add the chopped “odori” and cook until softened (about 10 minutes), being careful not to burn them. Add the garlic,  the chopped greens,  and cook down for a few minutes. Remove the garlic, unless you don’t mind garlic pieces in your sauce. Add the tomatoes(or puree) and the ginger, and cook down for another 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with  peperoncino, and salt and pepper to taste.

Add the roasted tofu cubes directly to the sauce or,  if  roasting thin slices, make bite-size sandwiches as I did.

Alternatively,  you can use fried tofu or polenta. Enjoy!

Food Saving and Repurposing Ideas

I don’t fancy being wasteful, so I am always compelled to make use of what I have in my kitchen before it goes bad. Although I must admit, as my husband points out, to avoid pitching $2 worth of ingredients, I will end up spending a lot more in time,  and additional ingredients, just  to save the one item that is about to expire. But that is beside the point...although he makes a good point.  Well, this weekend I was in this food saving mood, as that carton of buttermilk that was still sitting unopened in my refrigerator was begging to get utilized. So I decided to make homemade buttermilk pancakes, which the kids enjoyed with Nutella and/or real maple syrup. I made enough that they also had some for breakfast on Monday.  Pancake breakfast on a school morning is always a special treat.  

And while I was on this baking kick, I thought, why not use the remaining buttermilk to make fresh biscuits? And so everyone enjoyed one (or two..) for brunch with smoked salmon, avocados, grape tomatoes, baby greens, eggs (boiled or poached).

 But I wasn’t done yet!  You may have seen me post various assortments of cereal treats on my Facebook page "Kitchening with Francesca", and the reason being is that there is always leftover cereal at my house that nobody wants to consume, and rather than wasting it, I always enjoy experimenting with it to make treats. And most of the times they turn out good enough to eat :o) In fact, on this last round of experimenting, the chocolate chip soft bake cookies were such a hit with the kids, that they were gone by the next day.  For these, I adapted a chocolate chip cookie recipe by substituting some of the flour with flour obtained from organic oat and marshmallow cereal (all I did I put the cereal in a food processor (or vitamix blender) and reduced it to powder.  Because I used cereal which was already sweet, I of course used less sugar than the recipe called for.   For the whole grain granola treats, I used a mixture of raisin bran and granola, but the recipe is a bit more involved, so I will save that for another time. But I can assure you that not much is left of those couple dozen whole grain treats.

In the meantime, go ahead and experiment, and feel free to share your results.  

Happy saving, happy baking, happy savoring.

EASY ROASTED SPICED OKRA (LADY-FINGERS)

I LOVE OKRA...... There is something about this Malvaceae that I really enjoy and, apparently,  I have also turned my family into okra lovers. So much so, that they ask me to prepare it whenever they visit me in the US.  Curiously, this vegetable, also known as “lady-fingers” in many parts of the world, is not grown in Italy. 

The first time I had okra was in Georgia (fried of course). The second time was in an Indian restaurant in London (masala style). The third time was in Tamilnadu, South East India, and it was prepared by my husband’s grandmother, and it was one my favorite dishes that I tried while visiting there. I enjoyed it so much that I tried to make it again after I returned home. I have since prepared a few variations of Achi’s okra, one being this sliced okra with sauteed onions, ginger, garlic tomatoes and a combination of Indian spices, whose recipe will be featured in my upcoming cookbook. 

But all the cutting and slicing can be time consuming, so  when I am pressed for time, I resort to this effortless alternative, simple seasoning and roasting, which requires hardly any preparation, but is still delicious.

What I have learned is that picking the right okra is key to a texturally pleasant dish. I  also recommend purchasing okra at an Indian grocery store, which has a large turnover of this very popular vegetable, and hence, better quality and price. When picking your okra, you should lightly press it with your fingers, and it should be soft. If the okra is hard, it means that it is fibrous inside and no amount of cooking will redeem the trough texture. But if you pick the slightly soft okra, although not overly ripe to the point that it is turning dark, it will turn out great!

Method:

All you do is rinse the okra, and pat it dry it with a paper towel. Then in a bowl you toss it with olive oil and then add a few pinches of rasam masala powder and/or curry powder. If you do not have rasam masala, you can substitute with any combination of red chili powder, cumin and paprika and a tiny pinch of turmeric powder.   For extra flavor I also toss in a few cumin seeds (and fenugreek seeds, optional). But do not add too many, as this may compromise the flavor balance.

Then  spread the okra on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Preheat oven at 400F and bake for about 20 minutes, or until soft and slightly roasted, tossing the okra around once about mid-way. Then turn the oven to broil and broil for a few minutes,  being careful not to burn your okra.

Remove from oven, sprinkle with sea-salt and optional ground pepper, and serve.

It makes a great side or snack.

If the okra is tender enough, you can consume it whole, including the caps.

Fresh Ricotta Ravioli with Saffron Sage Butter, Zucchini Blossoms and Orange Zest

This dish is absolutely delicious...fresh, delicate, yet flavorful, buttery, earthy, tangy, all packed in one succulent bite. Here are the directions for the butter sauce. For the ravioli, see further down for my recommendations.

Ingredients (serve 4-6)

16 large ravioli

a few sage leaves (rinsed)

1/3-1/2 stick of butter

6 zucchini blossoms, stamen and sepals removed-all you want is the petals.

a tiny pinch of saffron

the zest of one organic orange (making sure you don't grate the white part along with the orange peel)

a pinch of salt

Directions

Separate the blossoms into strips by pulling away from the bottom of the flower with your fingers. Set aside.

In a pan, melt the butter and add the sage leaves, allow to bubble without burning the butter,  then add the blossoms strips and cook down for a couple of minutes, again, making sure not to burn the butter. Mix in the orange zest and the saffron, cook for another minute, then set aside on a warm burner.

Boil some salted water in a pot, add the ravioli, one by one, making sure they don't stick together. Cook for a couple of minutes, and then strain by either gently pouring in a colander, or by gently removing the ravioli with a slotted spoon one by one. Toss the ravioli in the pan with the sage butter sauce, then transfer to a serving plate. Enjoy immediately. 

If you want to get fancy, you can do a tempura of whole blossoms and sage leaves, and serve them along with the ravioli.

If you cannot find zucchini flowers, you can also make this dish without, and it will still be delicious.

The Ravioli

There are several options you can choose in making the ravioli, from fully homemade, to store bought.

If you don't have time to prepare your own ravioli, hopefully you will find some that are made with good quality ricotta and that are not doughy or too thick. Otherwise, the next option is semi-homemade with wonton skins. 

And the ones pictured here are those that I always buy, since they are veil thin and yield the most delicate ravioli. On a side note, I also used these squares to make lasagna (lasagne in Italian), and there is no need to boil them first.  

You can find these wonton squares in most Asian groceries. If you choose this option, then all you do is arrange the squares on a flat surface (I do six at a time). Add a dollop of filling, wet all four sides with lukewarm water with the tip of your finger. Lay another wonton skin on top, and seal by gently pressing with your index and thumb finger tips along each side, being careful not to leave any air inside the raviolo. In order to minimize this, gently press the top square from the center out, and when sealing, try to squeeze out any air. If you have too much air inside the raviolo, it will blow during the boiling and it may break. Once sealed, run a ravioli wheel cutter along each side, about 1/8-1/4 of an inch from the edge. Using the ravioli cutter will help further seal your ravioli, and it will also give them that nice serrated appearance.

As you seal your ravioli, place them on a lightly floured surface. I typically cut parchment paper into rectangles which fit inside a pan, and I lay them on lightly floured parchment paper (about 8 per rectangle) and stack them inside the pan, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 1-2 days or freeze up to a few weeks.

The final option is to make your own dough, then layer it on a surface and cut it in squares of desired dimensions. Homemade pasta dough recipes are plentiful on the web, but if you need specific directions please leave me a comment and I will be happy to assist. Because a gourmet raviolo has to be thin, and making veil thin pasta dough can be a challenge for the novice cook, if you don't think you can pull it off, go for the wonton skins :o). 

The ricotta filling

For the filling, you also have a few options. You can either buy ricotta, or make your own. The problem with store bought ricotta in the US, it's that the majority of what is sold in stores is not real ricotta, does not taste like real ricotta, and the texture is gritty, so for these reasons it does not make a very attractive filling. Therefore, unless you can find hand-dipped ricotta, which is quite rare, you are better off making your own. 

Making ricotta at home is not that difficult, although I admit, I have had a few blunders. Although the one I made just recently was perfect.  I used Trader Joes organic 2% milk (about 1/4 of a gallon) and a couple of tablespoons of heavy cream. You don't want to add too much cream otherwise the milk will not boil. Also add a pinch of salt.

In a saucer, bring to a boil, without boiling over. As soon as the milk is boiling, add the juice of one lemon, remove from heat, and gently stir with a wooden spoon to allow the citric acid to mix in. Allow the milk to curd up for a few minutes. Then pour it through a fine mesh strainer or a ricotta mold which you have sitting on a bowl. The strainer will catch the curd, while the liquid will be collected in the bowl. If you want, you can pour that liquid back in a saucer and boil again and add more citric acid to obtain additional curd, although the second round you do not get as much, of course. Reserve some of the liquid.  Once you have collected all the curd in the strainer or ricotta mold, transfer to a small bowl in which you will add a bit of the remaining liquid. Then seal with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. 

You can also make this dish with a squash filling, for which I will have the recipe in my upcoming cookbook.

Summer Zucchini and Blueberries bread

With amazing taste, texture and fragrance, as well as being healthy, this bread will have you come back for more and more. And it is simple to make. This is a variation of the classic zucchini bread. It has more whole grain, less sugar, and added blueberries, which not only compliment the overall flavor with their tartness, but they add more antioxidants to this delicious bread. Instead of cinnamon, which I believe makes every cake/bread taste the same, as, in my opinion, instead of bringing out the flavor of the main ingredient it masks it, I add lemon zest, which adds to the fragrance and freshness. 

Ingredients

2 cups for shredded zucchini (from about 4 medium zucchini)

3/4 cup of fresh blueberries

1 1/2 cup of all purpose flour (sifted)

1/2 of whole wheat flour

1 cup of raw sugar (or your preferred ratio of granulated sugar and brown sugar)

2 eggs

1/4 cup of vegetable oil + 2 tbsp  of melted butter

1 tablespoon of ground flax seed (optional)

1/2 tsp of baking powder

1/2 tsp of baking soda

the zest of one organic lemon

a few tablespoons of sunflower seeds (optional)

a few tablespoons of pistachios

a pinch of salt

Directions

Preheat oven at 325F

In a medium bowl, with a handheld mixer at high speed, or a tabletop mixer, mix the eggs, sugar, oil/butter, until smooth (about a minute or so).  Add the flours, flax seed, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and mix at lower speed until fully incorporated. You will have a very thick mixture, which is needed to offset the wetness of the zucchini that you are about to incorporate. Fold in the zucchini with a spatula until evenly incorporated, then fold in the sunflower seeds, pistachios and lemon zest. 

Pour the evenly mixed batter in a plum cake mold which has been buttered and floured (unless it is guaranteed non-stick).

Bake at 325F in the middle rack  for about 1 hour, or until golden brown and/or if you run a toothpick through the cake it comes out dry.

Cooking time may vary depending on the oven, so it is good to check your bread about 1/2 way.

Once ready, remove from the oven and allow to cool before slicing and serving.

It tastes great accompanied with a dollop of  plan FAGE or Siggi's yogurt and some honey drizzle.

Enjoy

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