Seedy Crackers

Hi there!
I've been making these crackers for a good 4 months now and it seems like I ought to share them; particularly since I took them to every holiday gathering I attended. [Gluten- nut- egg-free things are always popular at parties.] People kept asking for the recipe and now, finally, I'm passing it along to the masses.*  Yes, I realize it's now past the holiday party season, but you can still make these, just for you.  They're an exceptionally flavorful snack all by themselves, but they're also great with cheeses or hummus, or tapenade.  The best thing about these pretty little crackers?  They're even easier to make than my go-to wheat crackers.

I first made them for a meat and cheese picnic because I wanted to have a second type of cracker to compliment with my usual crackers, and came across this recipe from a very nice GF website.  I wasn't actually planning to go sans gluten, but I liked the premise of the recipe.  Once I went gluten-free, though, I decided I may as well go nut-free, and once I started getting seedy, it just made sense to use flax seeds instead of eggs, which makes these babies quite vegan... but they don't taste vegan [if you know what I mean], so they're popular with just about everyone.

Gluten-free things need a little extra help holding things together, which is why the inspiration recipe used egg.  The flax seeds work as an egg substitute because they contain a good bit of mucilage, which is a clear gelling agent found in almost all plants that absorbs water and binds it into "mucilaginous gel."  [Cacti and other succulents have lots of mucilage.] Grinding the flax exposes the mucilage and mixing it with water lets it goop everything together. Fun, huh?

Recipe: Seedy Crackers

Pasta e Fagioli

I know it's been unseasonably warm back home [upper 80s instead of upper 70s] but Yankee Land just got more snow [April Fool's!], so hearty soup is still on my menu. The first time I saw a recipe for pasta fagioli I thought a soup comprised almost entirely of beans and pasta couldn't be that tasty.... but I was very very wrong. Italians cooks have a long history of making the whole far greater than the sum of its parts, and this soup is a part of that strong tradition.

Since the primary components are so simple, the seasonings and garnishes are very important in this soup, and fresh herbs really make a difference.  I quit using chicken stock in it a while back in favor of cheese rinds -- I keep a "rind baggie" in the freezer and any time I get down to the hard end of a wedge of parm or pecorino, I just throw it in there for later use.  You _could_ also buy a wedge, cut off the rind for the soup, then use the rest later.  The reason you want to use the rind is that it will impart great flavor [umami] but holds together throughout cooking and won't change the texture of the soup. I'm not the biggest fan of eating the rind, but JG loves them, so everyone wins.  You _could_ just discard them at the end, but there's probably someone at the table who would be happy to have them.

This soup is traditionally meatless, but I had some ground turkey that needed to be used so I made some super-simple mini meatballs [no binder required].  I included a recipe, but it's certainly not necessary for the soup. 

Finally, I believe this soup demands whole wheat pasta [shocking, I know].  Refined flour pasta will eventually turn to mush and make the leftovers much less appealing, but the bran in the whole wheat pasta maintains its structural integrity so each reheated bowl is even better than the one before.

Recipes: Pasta Fagioli and Mini Turkey Meatballs

Low-Fat Refried Beans

Here's another simple, wholesome-if-you-make-it food that cooks fast: refried beans.  The name comes from frijoles refrito, which actually means "well-fried beans" not "twice-fried beans" but there needn't be much frying at all to get a flavorful spread that's great for layering or dipping... friends back in Texas even include lean refried beans in their baby food rotation since it's a more substantial food than carrot puree.
 

I know plenty of people will think refried beans have limited Tex-Mex uses, but I learned better from my Grandpa Ed. Back in the day, he was a man who ate peanut butter like nobody's business; if my grandmother was away for a few days, he'd just eat peanut 'til she got back -- not because he couldn't cook but because it was all he really wanted to eat anyway.  [You may recall I made a stick-to-your-mouth peanut butter shortbread in his honor.]

Unfortunately, sometime in his late 60s or early 70s, the doctor told him his cholesterol was too high and the peanut butter had to go... forever.  It was a blow, but he soon discovered he could use canned low-fat refried beans as a substitute. It wasn't the same flavor, but somehow the texture was enough to satisfy him.  How he discovered this, I do not know, but as a result I've tried refried beans in and on many things you may not otherwise consider...  and, frankly, refried beans in a lunchmeat sandwich was a lot less weird than the peanut butter version.  Refried beans and celery sticks?  Delicious.

Think of it as "pinto bean hummus" if that makes it easier to diversify.  Despite its "refried" name, this recipe actually has less fat than hummus...

Recipe: Low-Fat Refried Beans

Gazpacho for Grownups

The tomatoes are finally ripe here in Yankee Land.  I think I understand why eating green tomatoes is such a Southern thing.  Up here you only get one big crop that takes forever to ripen... eating any before they're ready is just wasteful.

I bought ~8 pounds of heirlooms at the farmers' market this week and we've been eating them in:
in paella, with our last chunk of cured venison sausage
as a raw salad, with herbs from the garden
as bruschetta, with homemade rosemary bread
with hummus plates, which reminds me I need to ask JG if I can post his recipe
stuffed full of taggelio (a riff on these), which was fine, but not amazing
and -- my favorite-- as light gazpacho, with ceviched bay scallops added to the individual soup bowls.
[The scallops were actually too tender and mild to add interest, but the soup was still fantastic.]

A couple days later I was sipping a little of the leftover gazpacho straight from the storage container. [It was cold and I was thirsty; don't tell JG.] It was just a little spicy from the poblano I'd used in lieu of bell pepper and it was so refreshing to drink! It occurred to me that the only thing that would make it better [like so many things] was a shot of alcohol, using the gazpacho as a base like a lighter alternative to a bloody Mary.

I mixed 2 parts gazpacho to 1 part vodka [I'm keen on Tito's], shook it with a little ice, and garnished with a pick-full of olives and a big fat caper berry... and it was sublime.   It was also little dangerous, because it goes down so very, very nicely.  The flavors of the pepper and cucumber were present without asserting themselves and the olives and made a nice brine-y counterpoint.  [I also salted the glass rim, but I'm not sure it's necessary.]

I kept calling it a gazpacho martini, which I know is a misnomer as it contains neither gin nor vermouth; I guess it's just a "gazpocktail", which doesn't sound nearly refined enough for its sophisticated flavor. Whatever its name, it'll definitely be the belle of my next brunch.

Red Lentils & Yogurt

I'm trying to make more Indian/South Asian food because up here in Yankee Land it's a lot easier to find the ingredients cheaply than it is for my Mexican staples. There are three Indian and Pakistani grocery stores within a three-block radius of mi casa and I've found them to be the best-priced purveyors of bulk spices around town, so I decided that this week I was switching from beans and rice to their South-Asian split-lentil counterpart: dals.

[Side note: I've heard that people in the food scene here don't consider Mexican cuisine to be a viable food trend, which hurt my heart a little... and gave me a serious jonesing for some homemade corn tortillas... and made me think they need to visit Berlin for a little enlightenment.]

On this particular night worknight, I wasn't up for any real effort [like blooming whole spices in oil], so I decided to try a super simple [Americanized?] version of a red lentil recipe I'd printed from the New York Times. I didn't have any sweet potatoes, so I just skipped them and added a whole 15oz can of diced tomatoes (with juice) instead. The ginger in my vegetable bin was, ahem, fuzzy so I doubled the dried ginger. I didn't have a Thai chili so I used a serrano, half-seeded. I actually had a fresh coconut, but didn't feel like splitting it and I also had a jar of dried, unsweetened coconut chips in the pantry [gotta love a well-stocked pantry], and I'd somehow used all my fresh cilantro, so I put a big dollop of unsweetened, fat-free yogurt on top.

Verdict? Tasty, perfectly acceptable alternative to beans, and clearly adaptable to my whims. I served it over brown rice for dinner and ate it swirled with yogurt [2:1] for lunch the next day.*

I do have one Indian cookbook, and though it is the source of my favorite recipe for mattar paneer [spicy peas w/ fresh cheese], I don't really love it for some reason and rarely reference it. If you've got recommendation for a book or blog on the subject, let me know in the comments.

*... actually it was breakfast, but it was great, and it would have been great for lunch, too.

Greens, Beans, and Toasted Pasta

This tasty thrown-together dinner was loosely inspired by a NYT recipe for risotto-style pasta that I mentally bookmarked a while back.   My humble version was quick and healthy-hearty;  I'd say resulting whole was definitely greater than the sum of its parts. The collards maintain their tooth better than other greens and the starches released from the toasted pasta and the beans make a rich, creamy sauce.

The leftovers may have been even better. Overnight, the pasta soaked up the remaining liquid but retained its structural integrity. [Whole grain pasta, in my experience, never gets as mushy the white stuff.] While this pasta fagioli-esque dish was excellent hot, it also turned out to be an amazing cold pasta salad that would be a nice substitution for a mayo-based pasta salad at a picnic.

Recipe: Greens, Beans, and Toasted Pasta

Spinach Risotto with JG's Tangy Tomatoes

I don't know that this is the best thrown-together meal I've ever had in my entire life, but it's definitely up there. This hot mess is comprised of earthy spinach [brown rice] risotto, tangy vermouth-glazed tomatoes and onions, crispy kale leaves, and a perfectly fried egg. Any of these are tasty by themselves, but the combination is killer.
You have no idea what this tastes like. I had no idea what it would taste like until it was in my mouth... it's really, reeeeally good. It does get a couple bowls, 3 pans and a baking sheet dirty, but it's totally worth it. [Methodology is in the header notes after the jump.]

Recipes: Spinach Risotto and JG's Tangy Tomatoes
Start with the risotto. Do the tomatoes while the rice is cooking and the kale once the tomatoes are finished. Scatter kale on a plate, mound risotto and then tomatoes, and then, once everything else is ready, fry up the eggs and place on top. JG always fries the eggs; I have no idea how he makes them so perfectly.

Spinach Risotto

1 recipe Brown Rice Risotto
1 lb block of frozen chopped spinach
1/2cup frozen lima beans (or edamame, different but good)

Thaw spinach in microwave or on stove. Save as much liquid as possible, pressing the greens into a strainer over a bowl. Include the spinach juice in the cooking liquid.
Add 1/2cup frozen lima beans to the onions at the beginning. Stir in thawed spinach at the end with the cheese, make sure rice is back to near boil before removing from heat.

JG's Tangy Tomatoes

olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced pole to pole in 1/8th" strips
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes sliced in half, pole to pole
1/2 cup vermouth (divided use)
1/t tsp ground coriander
salt and pepper

Sautee onions with ~1/4 tsp salt over medium high heat until just translucent. Add tomatoes, coriander and 1/4 cup vermouth and reduce heat to a simmer, stirring occasionally and adding a splash or two at a time to keep the pan from going dry, reserving a tablespoon for the end. Cook until tomatoes are soft and pan liquids are viscous. Adjust salt, add pepper and final splash, stir, and turn off heat.


Crispy Kale

3 leaves of kale, ribs removed and torn into ~1 1/5" pieces
spray oil
salt and pepper

Heat oven to 500F. [I use my toaster oven for this] Line a small baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with oil. Spread kale pieces in a single layer on pan. Spray with oil, the sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake ~3 minutes or until sizzle-y and edges are beginning to brown.

Cannellini Dip

Need a quick dip for your Superbowl party? This one's a tasty variation on bean dip that pairs equally well with chips or veggie spears... and takes about two minutes to make.

It's based on an appetizer JG and I had at a restaurant in the North End. The bartender called it a white bean-tomato dip and it was served warm with crusty bread. I made mine a bit thicker and limited the seasonings to garlic and black pepper so it'll be a more versatile party dip

Recipe: Cannellini Dip
The stock adds complexity, but you can substitute the liquid from the canned beans.

1 32oz can cannellini beans, drained (aka white kidney beans, Great Northerns or Navy beans would work, too)
1 6oz can tomato paste
3 cloves garlic
1/3 cup chicken stock
1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup high quality olive oil
2 tsp cracked black pepper
In a food processor or blender, puree beans, tomato paste, garlic, stock, and salt until smooth. Slowly pour in olive oil. [Start with a dribble, never pour faster than a thin stream. Once oil is incorporated and emulsified, adjust salt to taste, add black pepper and pulse to combine.
Transfer to a bowl and serve; refrigerate any leftovers.

Chocolate-Banana… Er...

The "hot" weather is breaking; I don't think it'll get much above 80F here again this year. I admit there were times when I was actually reluctant to bake bread in my non-airconditioned attic apartment. The heat also made the breakfast bananas ripen too fast... and that led to a lovely new treat that uses neither the stove nor oven.This is not a mousse. Mousses use egg yolks and whipped whites. It’s not a custard; that requires baking cream and eggs in a water bath. It’s not really a pudding either since there’s no milk or starch involved. It's great frozen, but there's no sugar syrup so I wouldn't call it a sorbet. At cool room temp or in the fridge it sets to the consistency of a good cream pie filling, but it’s no pastry cream and uses none of the pastry staples: egg, cream, butter or flour… I think it’s almost vegan.
I have no idea what it should be called. All I know is it’s shockingly easy and as long as you like bananas, you’ll love the result. It's versatile, too. You can increase the recipe by 50% to fill a 9” pre-baked pie shell or crumb crust.* You can use it to fill a layer cake, Boston Cream Pie-style. You can freeze it in one container and scoop it like ice cream or freeze it in those popcicle molds and make them into healthy fudgecicles.So many possibilities!

Recipe: Chocolate [Peanut Butter] Banana… Dessert

The nut butter is optional but fun for variations... cashews and rum would make the whole thing South American-ish. As you can see in the picture, it does have a slightly grainy texture from the bananas. You can press it through a sieve if you'd like it more smooth, but then you get less fiber.

4 bananas
2 oz dark chocolate (preferably 60% or more)
1 tablespoon peanut butter [optional]
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla (or 1 tablespoon liquor; I like rum or kaluha in this)
pinch of salt

Combine bananas and chocolate in a microwave-safe container and nuke until chocolate is mostly melted,~2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute.
or
Combine in a small saucepan over medium-low heat (no water bath needed), stirring frequently until chocolate is mostly melted, ~5-7 minutes.

Use an immersion blender or transfer to a blender . Add remaining ingredients and process until smooth. Pour into 4-6 containers of your choice and refrigerate or freeze until set.


*It takes 6 bananas, 3 oz chocolate, and ~2 tablespoons cocoa to fill a 9” pie crust.

Pantry Burgers

I've been exploring the capabilities of the rice cooker in our sublet this summer. It’s not a fancy model and it’s not supposed to do anything but white rice, but it did brown rice just fine… so I started throwing other grains and legumes in it just to see what happens. The lentils turned out mealy with tough skins [I think it was a bad water ratio], but I had a lot of them so I started going through my cookbooks for ideas. The Natural Foods Cookbook, has oodles of veggie burger recipes that are some combination of lentil, soybean, and bulgur and I happened to have a big bag of whole-wheat bulgur in my pantry tub from the old house.
The tricks to a good veggie burger are hearty flavor and firm texture (what else is there?). For flavor, I hit up my old friend umami, that savory flavor that separates deliciousness from old-timey veggie loaf. It’s mostly found in proteins, but not strictly in meats. Lentils have more than soy beans, but fermented soy (soy sauce) has a lot… as do onions and mushrooms and nuts and they’re all compounded by browning them and caramelizing some of their sugars. Kombu or sea kelp has more than anything else I know – it’s basically a natural form of MSG – and if I’d had some I would have thrown it in with the lentils, too. [If you try that , take it out before pureeing… the solids shouldn’t actually go in the burger.]For texture, I found the basic ratio of legume to grain wasn’t too variable across multiple cookbooks and internet sites. The big problem with most of them is that they’re too tender to hold together and have to be rather carefully pan-fried. [Commercial veggie burgers use various combinations of corn- or algae-based coagulants like dextrose or carrageen to hold it all together.] I noticed that most of the recipes called for the bulgur to be precooked, but I remembered a tabouleh recipe in Cook’s Illustrated that just soaked the grain in a few tablespoons of room temperature lemon juice. Since I was planning on adding soy and balsamic for flavorants, I figured I could just use them plus any cooking water that clung to the lentils to hydrate my bulgur. By adding a little egg to help gum it all together, I managed to come up with a base that was perfectly sturdy and sculptable.

JG and I have made these bad boys multiple times now and I think the recipe is a pretty good one, and it’s based entirely on what I consider pantry and fridge staples. You can throw other things in it.. mushrooms, shredded squash, etc... based on what you have on hand.
These should be sturdy enough to grill, but I’m not actually sure since my grill stayed in Texas, along with my little red picnic table... it was a great picnic table.

Recipe: Pantry Burgers
You can use a 15oz can in lieu of dried lentils and water. How easy is that? You can also add squash or carrots or whatever you have in your crisper drawer, but you may need to add an extra tablespoon or so of bulgur to soak up the extra juices.

3/4 cup dried brown or green lentils
3 cups water
2 slices dried porcini mushroom (optional)
2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil (divided use)
1 medium onion , chopped
2 ribs celery (large), chopped
2 medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press
3/4 cup whole-wheat bulgur
1 tablespoon shoyu (soy sauce)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup unsalted pecans (or walnuts/ cashews/almonds)
1 egg (or 2 tablespoons regular or vegan mayo)
Salt and pepper

1. In a medium saucepan, bring lentils and water to the boil over high heat; then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered, stirring once or twice, until lentils are tender, about 25 minutes.

2. While lentils simmer, combine bulgur, soy and vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, then add onions and celery and sauté, stirring occasionally, until vegetables begin to brown, about 10 minutes. Stir in garlic and nuts and let sit until fragrant ~ 1 minute. Transfer veggie/nut mix and bulgur to a food processor [this will eventually be too thick for a blender] and puree until no large chunks of nut remain. (You can just wipe out the skillet and reuse it for cooking the burgers… no need to wash it twice.)

3. Once lentils are soft, drain them in a strainer or colander and shake out as much water as possible.* Add lentils to the other ingredients in the food processor and pulse until few entire lentils remain. Taste the mixture and add salt and pepper as needed. Add egg or mayo, pulse until combined, then let sit for at least 5 minutes to allow the bulgur to soak up more of the liquid. This is a good time to collect your burger toppings, slice tomatoes, etc.

4. Add remaining oil to the skillet and heat over medium-high. Shape patties and place them in the skillet (or use an ice cream scoop and drop them in, then flatten them with a spatula). Sear each side until golden brown and crusty ~3 minutes per side.

Store unused patties in an airtight container for a few days, or wrap individually in plastic and freeze in a zip-close bag.


* The liquid is pretty flavorful; I used it for baking a savory bread... which I then used for the "bun" in the picture. It could also be used for cooking another legume or grain.

Mole-Inspired Black Beans and Rice

Beans & Rice is my go-to weekday meal. I discovered it as dorm food. I previously had no idea those to things together could be a complete meal but there was nothing better after a stomach-roiling night. It's rather homely-looking, but it's just so good! I'm still unlikely to eat the lard-based refried beans and white rice that come as standard plate components at Tex-Mex joints... but sometimes I forget myself in their presence.
If I'm feeling lazy and have a bunch of leftover rice, I'll just open a can of beans -- usually black or pinto -- and heat them through with [maybe] a clove of garlic or can of diced tomatoes. Sometimes I start with dried beans, but I frankly don't taste much difference between the two, so I stock both and cook as I please. You can throw whatever veggies or spices you have on hand... like oregano and lemon juice with white beans for a mediterranian-ish variation.

July is cold and rainy so far in Boston and I'm missing the flavors of my former land, so I'm opting to share this spicy, mole-inspired variation of my comfort food.

Recipe: Mole-Inspired Black Beans and Brown Rice
Chipotles are dried, smoked jalepenos. You can buy them loose, or canned in what's called adobo, a thick, spicy tomato sauce. There's always at least one brand in the "Mexican Food" section at the grocery store, right next to the little cans of green chiles and the crispy taco shells. If I can find them in rural Missouri, I'm sure you can find them, too.

Brown Rice:
1 1/2 cups brown rice [I like Nishiki brand, medium grain]
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 cups water
Heat rice and salt over medium high heat in a saucepan, stirring occasionally, until grains start to pop and smell toasty ~2 minutes. Add water, cover, bring to the boil and turn heat to low. Simmer 50 minutes.

Beans:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 slices deli ham, diced [optional]*
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 32 oz. can of black beans [aka turtle beans]
1 tablespoon tahini [or 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, or a tablespoon of peanut butter]
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 chipotle en adobo, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup beer, preferably dark lager, preferably Negro Modelo or Bohemia

Optional toppings:
Queso fresco [or feta]
Hot pepper sauce
Cilantro
Minced raw onion
Fresh lime juice

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan. Add ham pieces and stir fry until crispy ~1 minute. Add garlic, stir, then add beans and remaining ingredients. Stirring occasionally, simmer 10 minutes or until beans are thick but still pour out of a spoon. Adjust salt to taste.

Scoop rice into a bowl, top with an equal amount of beans, and top as desired.

*We used a little ham in this recipe, but you could swap it for a splash of soy to get meatless savory flavor.

Delicate Tomato Soup

Tomato season makes me happy. This soup, a light gazpacho or raw tomato soup, makes me extremely happy. It's easy to make and the cold and clear flavor is a refreshing way to start a summer meal.The catch, of course, is that this soup depends entirely on the quality of your tomatoes, so you've got to eat a slice and make sure the tomatoes are worthy before proceeding. If you don't sigh inwardly and think "Ah, that's a great tomato!" then you'll have to hold off.
Recipe: Delicate Tomato Soup
The recipe makes ~6 starter-sized servings.
*Update: a wise commenter noted that this soup would be great with shrimp or mussels. I've included instructions for a seaood variation at the bottom of the recipe.*

1 lb tomatoes [~4 medium-sized], preferably home-grown and/or heirloom
1 cucumber, peeled [divided use]
1 bell pepper, any color but green [divided use]
2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt
2 cups water
1 clove of garlic
1 shallot
juice of 1 lemon [divided use]
1 tablespoon olive oil
additional salt and cracked black pepper, to taste

Chop all of the tomatoes, and half of the cucumber and bell pepper. Smash the garlic clove and put it in the bottom of a large mixing bowl. Transfer chopped veggies to a colander or large strainer and set over the bowl, scraping any accumulated juices from the cutting board into the container as well. Toss contents with salt and let sit 30-60 minutes or overnight.

Gently press solids with a spatula or spoon. The tomatoes should disintegrate, leaving only skins behind, while the cucumber and pepper solids remain intact. Discard solids and garlic clove [or save for a pasta sauce]. Add water to the collected juice and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hr. Meanwhile, fine dice remaining cucumber, bell pepper halves and the shallot, putting each into a separate small bowl. Squeeze 1/2 the lemon juice over the shallot to take off the sharp edge.

Stir soup to recombine liquids and solids, adjust salt, then ladle into 6 individual cups or bowls. Squeeze a few drops of lemon juice into each, drizzle with a little olive oil, then grind a little black pepper over the top. Serve with garnish options.

Spicy garnish options:
diced jalepeno, seeded
cilantro
diced avocado

More Traditional Gazpacho:
Puree tomatoes with bell pepper, cucumber, water, and 2 slices of bread.
Chill. Serve with garnishes as above.

*Light Seafood Gazpacho:
After the vegetable solids have been pressed and removed, fill a large bowl with ice and a little water. Bring 1 1/2 cups water to a simmer in a large skillet and add ~1 lb small peeled shrimp or shellfish, cover, and steam a few minutes until the shrimp pink or the shellfish open. With a slotted spoon, transfer the seafood to the water bath to quickly cool them off. Strain the cooking liquid into a measuring cup, add enough ice to make 2 cups and use this seafood broth in place of the called for water in the recipe. Transfer seafood to a paper towel lined airtight container and chill along with broth. Distribute evenly among servings.

Silken Chocolate Pie

This pie is fantastic. It's rich and creamy. It melts in your mouth yet cuts perfect slices. It's low-fat and has fewer calories per slice than a standard chocolate chip cookie, and more protein. It's tofu, baby.
It started with a recipe by Mark Bittman for chocolate tofu pudding. I've come across vegan chocolate pie recipes that consist of a bag of chocolate chips and block of tofu, but this one seemed a little more refined. I also had a bunch of biscotti crumbs I'd been saving and it was time to empty out the freezer in preparation for the big move... and I just happened to have a block of silken tofu in the bottom of my fridge that had to go, too. What's a girl to do?

Add liquor, for one thing. I had a small squeeze bottle of blended strong stuff that was left over from the beef cake. I also reduced the sugar and melted chocolate and added cocoa powder in its place, both because I wanted it to be a richer chocolate flavor and less pudding-like and because I didn't want to just throw out the last bit of cocoa powder in the pantry.

I love this recipe. I've now tried it out on friends, parents, in-laws, and a 4-year-old niece. With every group I told them part way through that the pie was tofu-based and they still finished it -- well my mother-in-law had already finished hers and I'm not sure if she would have -- but my dad sure did and he's not the tofu type... he's not even the chocolate type, actually, but he still liked it.
If you reduce the water and add more cocoa powder, you get something the consistency of chocolate truffles... I'm pretty excited about the possibilities.

Recipe: Silken Chocolate Pie
The picture is a small pie that I made in a 6” cast iron skillet, which used a half recipe of the filling and easily served 8. For the full recipe I used 3 tablespoons each rum and amaretto, then topped it off with water. The liquor boils off for the most part so it's safe for kids. I think brandy would work well, or crème de menthe for a grasshopper pie. You can also use all water… I'm still working on a crumb crust from scratch. I've tried to come up with one that doesn't have to be baked, but it hasn't really worked yet. You can use oil in place of the yogurt to make it non-dairy... but only if your crumbs are vegan to begin with.

Crumb crust:
1 1/2 cups cookie or cracker crumbs (I used my biscotti)
2 tablespoons fat-freet yogurt or sour cream
1 tablespoon rum or water

In a 9" pie pan, mash yogurt and rum into crumbs until they stick together. Add a little more yogurt if necessary. Use a dampened drinking glass or spoon to press the crumbs into place.

Pie filling:
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup liquor and/or water
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1/3 cup cocoa powder
pinch salt
1 pound firm silken tofu

Chocolate shavings or additional cocoa powder, sifted, to garnish.

In a large glass measuring cup in the microwave or in a small saucepan on the stove, boil liquid and sugar until sugar is mostly dissolved. Add chocolate and let sit a minute or two until the chocolate is mostly melted. Stir in cocoa powder and salt, then transfer to a blender (or use an immersion blender), add tofu, and puree until smooth. Pour into prepared crust, and chill at least 30 minutes before serving.

Yield: 8-12 servings

Brown Rice Risotto

You can make risotto with brown rice. It's delicious. It's healthy. It's harder to overcook than arborio because you'll always have tooth from the bran, but it can be just as creamy. It takes a little longer so it helps to plan ahead a little, but you don't have to actually do anything for most of it... and if you have a pressure cooker* it goes even faster. It doesn't have to look as emphatically brown as it does in the pictures; that's just from my mushroom broth.***
Recipe: Brown Rice Risotto

You do need to find short-grain brown rice, generally Japanese, because long- or medium- won't give off the starches you need. I've been able to buy it at a variety of grocery stores; if it's not in the regular rice section it's usually in the pan-Asian section.

2 Tbs olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cups short-grain brown rice [I use Nishiki brand]
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup dry white wine or vermouth [don't use Martini & Rossi; their dry vermouth has an off flavor for cooking]
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock or broth [divided use]***
1 Tsb fresh herbs or 1 tsp dried [optional]
1 cup veggies [optional]
1/2 cup good Parmeasan, grated
at least 1 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper or to taste

Saute onions in a large pan, pot, or small Dutch oven over medium high heat until onions begin to become translucent ~5 minutes. In a separate pot or in the microwave, heat 5 cups of stock until steamy [near boiling]. Add rice, stir thoroughly to coat with oil and saute until they start to pop, another 3-5 minutes. [You'd usually cook the arborio until it becomes translucent but that doesn't work with brown rice.] And garlic and stir until fragrant, ~1 minute. Pour in wine or vermouth and scrape up any stuck bits [called "fond"] from the bottom of the pan.

Stir off and on until almost completely evaporated, then add 5 cups of stock and stir until it starts to boil. Add herbs, if using, cover pot, and reduce heat to medium low/low. Cook 50 minutes, checking occasionally to make sure rice is just barely boiling. Meanwhile, blanch or saute veggies, if using, and set aside.

As the time on the rice winds down, heat the remaining 1 cup of broth. Uncover rice. At this point, it should look fairly standard brown rice with a little extra broth... some of this is actually starch. Turn up heat to medium and stir frequently until broth is almost gone, then add 1/2 cup of the remaining stock and, again, stir until broth is almost gone. [At this point you may think you have a lot of liquid left, but most of it is your delicious risotto starchey goo. The way I tell is by scraping the bottom of the pan with a (heatproof) rubber spatula. The rice and goo should fill back in the space as one; if liquid fills the space before the rice, you've still got more to go.]

Add last 1/2 cup of stock, any veggies, salt, and pepper. Stir well, etc. Off heat, add the parm, stir to melt, and check for seasoning. Serve hot, topping with additional grated parm and cracked black pepper.
*If you have a pressure cooker, reduce total stock to 4 1/2 cups. Add 3 1/2 cups to rice after cooking down vermouth. Seal and cook at pressure for 20 minutes. Continue with directions above using remaining 1 cup stock.

**My favorite is to make a mushroom stock by nuking 1/2 an ounce of dried porcini mushrooms in 2 cups of water for 3 minutes. Strain out solids, mince, and throw back into stock. Add a tablespoon of soy sauce for extra umami and use hot water for the balance of the liquid component. This is great base for a variety of earthier risottos, but is fantastic with roasted or sauteed baby bella [cremini], button, or sliced portabella mushrooms as the veggie. Use thyme for this variation. Thyme and mushrooms are beautiful together.

***You can use any chicken/veggie stock you like, just make sure it's something you'd be willing to eat as soup. You can also puree part of your vegetable component and add it to the stock at the beginning of the covered cooking time. This works great with asparagus. I puree the big fat ends for the stock and save the prettier tops to add at the end.