a few new things

I found this recipe a while back in Cat Cora's book, Cooking from the Hip. It's one of those "just wait til the season rolls around" recipes I was really excited about. I've never cooked with squash or lentils before, but it sounded so good I had to try it.



Curried Lentils with Butternut Squash

1 cup lentils
1 small butternut squash, cut into chunks
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 tsp chili powder
kosher salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 375 and butter an 8x11" dish.
2. In a saucepan, add the lentils and enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, add the squash, and reduce down to a simmer. Cook for 25-30 minutes until liquid is reduced down and squash is tender.
3. Strain liquid from vegetables. Return back to pan and mash the squash lightly.
4. Spoon into the baking dish and bake for 20 minutes until hot.

I served mine over coconut basmati rice (using leftover coconut milk from the cupcakes...) which was delicious!


For dessert, I decided to run with the coconut theme and make some pudding...from another saved recipe.


Warm Banana-Coconut Pudding with Tapioca Pearls

3 cups water
1/3 cup small tapioca pearls
bananas, sliced in half moons
1 14 oz. can coconut milk
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt

1. In a saucepan, bring the water to a full boil. Add the tapioca pearls stirring constantly for 1 minute to avoid clumping. Slightly reduce the temperature to a strong simmer, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes or so. The mixute will thicken considerably.
2. Add the coconut milk, sugar, and salt and cook for a couple minutes.
3. Serve hot/warm with banana slices. Garnish with flaked coconut.
   

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Japanese Dry Curry with Tempeh

I heard of tempeh from my vegan cookbook a while ago, saw it at the grocery store, decided it looked scary, and didn't buy it. But then I came across this recipe on Just Bento which made tempeh seem a little bit scary. So I went back to the store and picked some up.



All I know about tempeh is it's soybeans, I believe fermented soybeans (same concept as Japanese natto, only not stringy and smelly). If you're interested, check out the wikipedia entry on it or a quick google search. But I do promise, it's not as scary as it seems!

I won't go into too much detail about the recipe, but it was pretty simple. I choppd up some vegetables in a food processor, sauteed them until tender, then added some spices, then the tempeh. Heat through and serve over rice! The recipe made enough for about 4 lunches.

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Chocolate, Coconut and Rum Cupcakes with Coconut Lime Frosting

Inspired by some leftover limes from an earlier meal (that dry rubbed salmon), I really wanted to make some cupcakes. So much so that I've been dreaming and scheming about them in my head for two days now.

Lime and coconut sounded really good...but then I had an even better idea of adding chocolate to the mix! And what goes better with the semi tropical flavors of lime and coconut then rum?? Off I went to find a chocolate rum coconut lime cupcake, or something like it. Ha. Like that was really going to happen.

I decided I wanted to make chocolate coconut rum cake with coconut lime frosting. I finally settled on a "light" chocolate cup cake recipe by Martha Stewart and decided I'd modify it a bit to incorporate my coconut rum inspiration, plus add a buttercream frosting later.

Chocolate, Coconut and Rum Cupcakes with Coconut Lime Frosting

the cake:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp cocoa powder
3 tbsp hot water
3 tbsp butter, melted
6 tbsp buttermilk
1 1/1 tbsp dark rum
1 large egg
1 large egg white

the frosting:
1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3-4 tbsp coconut milk, plus more as needed
1 lime, juiced

the recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and coconut.
3. Mix cocoa powder and hot water to form a paste. Add the wet ingredients and stir until smooth and well blended. Whisk in the flour mixture.
4. Spoon the batter into the muffin tin and bake for 20 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
5. Cool on a wire rack.
6. To make the frosting, whisk all ingredients in a bowl until fluffy. Spread onto cooled cupcakes, and garnish with a bit of flaked coconut.

The cupcakes are quite light in my opinion, not to heavy or dense. While I would normally prefer my cupcakes a bit more dense, I think the texture compliments the delicate buttercream quite nicely. I suppose this is quite dangerous, as I feel I could eat half the batch in one sitting!

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Dry-rubbed Salmon Filet

I got this book from the library a few weeks ago. I'll admit, the title did sound kind of boring, but open it up and it's got a great layout, great pictures, and unique recipes. I found myself bookmarking more pages than I ever expected. The first recipe I've made is dry rubbed salmon. Sounds totally different than anything I've ever seen or tried, but wow is it good! I halved the recipe which made about 4 servings.

Dry-rubbed Grilled Filet of Salmon

Ingredients

• Filet of salmon, approximately 1-2 lbs.

For the rub:

• 1/2 cup raw cane sugar
• 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
• 1/4 cup grated lime zest, from about 3 limes
• 1/4 cup coarse sea salt
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tbsp cumin

Method

1. Mix together all the rub ingredients. Spread evenly over the salmon fillet, gently rubbing into the flesh and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour (or in the refrigerator for 2).
2. Prepare the grill.
3. Scrape dry rub off the salmon; grill for 10-12 minutes or until cooked all the way through.

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The Ultimate Caramel Apple Pie

I made this pie for Thanksgiving last year to add some variety to our traditional pumpkin pie dessert. I ran across it on Food Network, it sounded good, so I made it! Little did I know it would be the most delicious pie. EVER. The recipe is by Tyler Florence, one of his "ultimate" recipes from the show, Tyler's Ultimate, where he takes traditional recipes and makes them, well, "the ultimate". Unfortunately for him, following the directions posted to the site will inevitably lead to failure, so let me tell you how to make it the right way.



The Ultimate Caramel Apple Pie
For the crust:

3 cups all-purpose flour
Pinch salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut in chunks
2 eggs separated, (yolks for the pastry, whites for the glaze)
5-6 tablespoons ice water, plus more if needed

For the filling:

1 cup sugar, plus 1/4 for sprinkling on top
3 tbsp water
1/4 heavy cream
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 vanilla bean, split
1 lemon, juiced (optional)
4 Granny Smith apples, cored and peeled
4 Gala apples, cored and peeled
1 tbsp flour
2 tsp cinnamon
Couple pats of butterTo make the pastry, combine the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Cut in the chunks of cold butter with a pastry blender, a little at a time, until the dough resembles cornmeal. Add the 2 egg yolks and the ice water, and blend for a second just to pull the dough together and moisten. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Form the dough into a ball, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and let it rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

To make the caramel sauce, put the sugar and water in a pot and bring to a slow boil. Do not stir (I learned this lesson the hard way...the caramel does not form if stirred). You want the caramel to take on a nice golden color, but not to the point of burning. After the caramel has formed, swirl the sauce with a spoon to distribute the color evenly. At this time, take sauce off the heat and add the wine and cream, slowly. Return to the heat and cool until thickened and reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Let cool.

Remove dough from refrigerator, cut in half, and return one half to refrigerator. You will need this to warm up a bit in order to roll out the crust later. At this time, preheat oven to 350.

Take the dough roll out on a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough out to a circle a bit larger than the pie pan you will use (I used a 9" glass pan). When rolled to desired size, place into pie pan and push into place.

To prepare the apples, I recommend using the slicing blade on a food processor. Otherwise, you'll need to use a mandolin or slice by hand. In this case, use lemon juice to keep apple slices from browning. However you slice them, (dry if appropriate) toss them with the flour and cinnamon.

Take the apple slices and layer them carefully into the pie crust. Every few layers or so, spoon a bit of the caramel sauce evenly over the apples. Continue this process until the apples are domed up (they will bake down a bit), and top with a few pats of butter.

Roll out the last bit of dough to fit over the top of the pie. Use the leftover egg whites to brush the edges of the pie to act as a glue between the dough. Lay the top crust over the pie and crimp the edges with the bottom to seal. Cut a few slits in the top of the pie to allow for steam to be released. Place the pie on a baking sheet to catch any drippings, and tent pie with foil.

Bake the pie, tented, for 25 minutes. Mix the remaining sugar and cinnamon for sprinkling. Remove the foil from the pie and brush the top with the egg whites, then sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Bake for an additional 25 minutes until the pie is nice and golden. Let the pie rest for at least an hour before cutting and serving.

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Quinoa Salad

I discovered a bento blog with a huge range of recipes, based around the Japanese bento style lunchbox. And since I'm always looking for something to eat for lunch, I like perusing the site to get ideas.

I decided to make a quinoa salad to go with dinner one night and it turned out pretty well.



It is better with the addition of fresh tomato slices before serving. Next time, I'll do that and substitute some of the italian parsley for basil. It definitely lasts a few days in the fridge, so it's great to make ahead of time for later.

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