Meaty Monday: Whole Cauliflower with Brown Butter, Sage & Capers

What was left of the cauliflower after the photo shoot...

A lot of things changed last spring when Chuck died, and I simply lost my cooking mojo. It is coming back, bit by bit, and I think some of it has been rekindled by the lovely vegetables and meat I've found in my CSA shares. Life has a habit of going on. Luckily. On Friday afternoon, I had just finished shooting this cauliflower dish when my pal John wanders into the kitchen and says, "What's THAT???! It smells wonderful." Those pictures didn't turn out as well as I'd have liked, but this shot of it after the two of us had a go at the cauliflower right on the platter says it all. The cauliflower is tender, but just holds together until you collapse with a fork it into the rich, toasty brown butter sauce.

Even though today is usually Meaty Monday around here, you need a few good, fast side dishes to go along with the meat. More than a few.  Especially if you eat Primal / Paleo as I do. The uninformed think it is a meat-centric diet; actually it isn't, it's mostly vegetables with moderate portions of high quality animal protein a time or two a day. I generally aim for two cups of cooked vegetables (or the equivalent raw) at each meal, including breakfast.  Just no grain, legumes or processed sugar, although I avoid any kind sugar most of the time.

There has been an absolutely beautiful cauliflower recipe circulating the 'net for the last few years with a whole roasted cauliflower and sauce. The cauliflower roasts for about 1-1/2 hours. Gorgeous, but who, on a work night, really has time to roast anything for that long? I don't.  Can't speak for you, though.  In my  CSA box this week from Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative is a lovely, locally grown cauliflower, and it deserves to be shown off. This is the way to do it. The absolutely fastest way to cook a whole, intact, cauliflower is in a pressure cooker. It cooks in 6 minutes flat, and brown butter, one of those delicious but fussy sauces can be making itself in 5 minutes in your microwave with no watching on your part. And you pop the butter in the micro while the cauliflower cooks. Instant dish. Spectacular. Lick the plate good.

This really isn't a recipe. More of a technique following a list of ingredients. If you are Primal / Paleo, use pastured butter.  Set out all your ingredients, and have the sage cut and the lemon squeezed before you so much as touch the pot. This is vegetarian, Paleo, Primal, gluten free, and utterly delicious.

Please use a pressure cooker of 5 quarts or larger with a rack or basket in it and always, always, follow the manufacturers instructions to the letter.

Evidently I can still cook, but the photo skills are rusty.

Whole Cauliflower with Brown Butter, Sage & Capers 

From start to finish, this takes perhaps 15 minutes , and most of that time is hands-off, so you can multitask and make some sautéed salmon or pan-grill some steak while it is all cooking.

1  2 lb. whole cauliflower, leaves removed and stem trimmed flush
2 oz. unsalted butter
Juice from 1/2 lemon
6-8 fresh sage leaves, slivered
2T capers, drained
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper

1. Place 1-1/2 to 2 cups of water in the pressure cooker. Set the rack or basket inside, and set the cauliflower on the rack. Close the lid and seal according to the manufacturer's instructions. Bring to high pressure over high heat. While it heats, place the butter in a deep microwave safe bowl ( I use a 2-cup heatproof glass measuring cup), and cover with waxed paper or parchment, large enough to tuck under the bowl to contain any splatters.

2. When the pressure cooker reaches high pressure, reduce the heat to maintain high pressure for 6 minutes, and cook the butter in the microwave for 4 minutes on high. If the butter isn't brown enough, give it another minute. Remove the bowl carefully from the microwave and set aside.

3. When the cauliflower has cooked for 6 minutes, release the pressure quickly, using the vent carefully (see your manufacturer's instructions for details). When the pressure is down, open the unit away from your face to keep the steam away and carefully lift the whole cauliflower out using two big cooking spoons, or a big cooking spider. Place it on a an attractive platter.

4. Stir the sage into the hot brown butter, followed by the lemon juice and capers. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and then pour over the cauliflower and serve.

Serves 2 to 4 depending on how greedy you are about brown butter.

Shockingly Delicious: Mango Banana Curry Ice Cream

Creamy, sweet, spicy, each flavor pops on your palate in harmony. Shockingly delicious, Mango Banana Curry Ice Cream. Must. Have. More. 


I know there are plenty of unusual ice creams out there. Sweet corn. Beet. But this is different. It's strangely addicting. Seriously addicting. Like you want to grab the tub and lock yourself away with it so you don't have to share. I served this to my roommate John and his unsuspecting sister Susan, along with some homemade vanilla ice cream, and we all wanted seconds on the Mango, Banana Curry ice cream. And then thirds. Poor vanilla.


I'm a sucker for the Ataulfo mangoes when they come into season in the spring. I eat too many, really. After the first couple of weeks, though, I usually have more of them parked in the fridge, dead ripe, than I can eat. So sometimes I freeze them. As I put a bag of the peeled and pitted mangoes into the freezer, I saw a couple of forlorn-looking frozen bananas on my frozen fruit shelf (yes, I have a frozen fruit shelf in my big freezer). They wound up there when they were too soft to eat, and were destined for banana muffins that I never  made.  A lightbulb moment: Cold- Mango- Banana. Hmmm...ho-hum....wait...Indian seasonings work in sweet mango  chutneys...Eureka.

Rich, creamy golden goodness,  Mango Banana Curry ice cream

This Mango Banana Curry ice cream is absolutely ravishing, both to the eye, in it's bright yellow hue, and on the palate. Be brave, make it today. I promise it'll be the best thing you've eaten this year so far.

Shockingly Delicious: Mango Banana Curry Ice Cream

Note: The vodka (alcohol) is simply to keep the ice cream from getting icy and and rock hard while it ripens in the freezer after churning. If you can't or won't use it, leave it out, but you'll have to take the ice cream out of the freezer to let it thaw a bit before serving. And use a sweet or mild curry powder here, you don't want to pack heat here, though it probably wouldn't be a bad thing if your family and guests are into it.

Mango Banana Curry Ice Cream

1 lb. peeled and diced mango, (preferably Ataulfo Mango in season) though thawed frozen mango works

2 very ripe medium-small bananas, peeled and mashed
1/4 cup water

3/4 cup cane sugar

2 tsp. sweet curry powder (I use Penzeys)

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup creme fraiche or natural sour cream
2T vodka (or a light colored rum would work, too, yum)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Juice from 1/2 lime

In a medium saucepan, place the mango, the bananas and the water. Add the sugar and the curry powder, stir and cook over low heat until the mango softens, and becomes sauce-like. Place the mango mixture in a food processor, or blender container. Add the cream, creme fraiche, the vodka, the vanilla and the lime juice. Puree until smooth. Place in a metal bowl and chill for at least 2 hours or until the mixture is below 40ºF. Or put the mixture into a zip-top bag, and place into an ice and water bath until fully cold.

Place into an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions. After churning, freeze the mixture in a freezer container for three hours or more to ripen and harden. Makes about 1 .5 pints.

Baked Layered Ricotta with Feta & Roasted Vegetables

I know. I USUALLY do Meaty Mondays. This isn't a Meaty Monday because I have a vegetarian housemate. SO shoot me. You COULD always add crumbled bacon or ham or other smoked meat to the vegetable layer. It's already delicious as it is.  I have trouble stopping at one serving, and you probably will too. Actually is good at room temp for lunch, and reheats in a snap in the microwave. It's also grain free and gluten free.

In my house, this is a vehicle for leftovers. I had made a big batch of ricotta last week, and after we had lasagna from it, there was still a great deal of ricotta leftover. Plus, whenever I have too many vegetables lingering in the crisper, I just roast them so they can be added to omelets, or grain salads so they don't get all sad looking and end up in the compost bin. I roasted a baking sheet full of mushrooms, zucchini, red onions, garlic cloves, grape tomatoes and bell pepper, just doused them in evoo, salted and peppered and roasted them for about 35 minutes at 425ºF. Gives me about 2 cups of cooked vegetables. Two cups of pretty much any cooked vegetable works here.

Baked Layered Ricotta with Feta & Roasted Vegetables

Baked Layered Ricotta with Feta & Roasted Vegetables

Note: Please select organic / home or locally grown products for your table... and this can be made without eggs. Drain your ricotta for an hour or so in a fine mesh colander and don't expect the baked product to hold together .

2 lb. whole milk ricotta
2 large eggs
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1T dried oregano
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp. fresh ground nutmeg
pinch of salt
fresh ground black pepper to taste
2 cups roasted or cooked vegetables
Grape tomatoes or roasted red pepper for garnish (olives would work, too)
Extra virgin olive oil to drizzle or spray

Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Oil an oven-to-table 9" square baking dish. In a medium bowl, mix the ricotta, the eggs, the feta, and the herbs and spices through the black pepper. Mix well. Spread half the ricotta mixture evenly over the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Layer the cooked vegetables over the ricotta mixture. Top with the remaining ricotta mixture. This is easiest to do if you put little dollops all over the top, and then gently  even it out. Decorate the top with halved grape tomatoes, cut side up, or bits of roasted pepper. Drizzle or spray the whole top with a light coating of oil (Love my EVO oil sprayer for this) and place in the oven. Bake about 35 minutes until the top is browned and the cheese is puffy. Serve warm or at room temp. Serves 6. Maybe. It should, but not likely.

Easy Pickling: Delicious, Fermented Pickles for Idiots

Little pickled tomatoes on the left, and Anahiem peppers on the right.

First off, I am not going to tell you that you'll be healthier, your gut will function better, and your immune system will flex its muscles all winter if you eat fermented foods. I will tell you that they are one of the best things you'll ever eat, and that you can probably get a big jar of pickled carrots or green tomatoes, or baby cukes going in about 5 to 10 minutes.

You don't need any fancy crocks, special jars with airlocks or any thing other than kosher salt, a clean quart canning jar, water, some spices and garlic you probably already have, and enough clean, firm smallish or sliced vegetables to fill a jar. It's been done for centuries, and trust me, our grannies didn't buy pickling tools off a fancy website. They used what they had, and so should you. They used fermentation for two reasons: it preserved the harvest, and it tastes good. This easy method I'm showing you is lactic fermentation in its simplest form. Idiot proof.

Right before our first frost, I picked of a lot of too small green tomatoes, and Anaheim peppers. Not good to eat or cook with as is, but waste not, want not… They are now becoming wonderful, easy, fermented pickles and I just use whatever I have in my kitchen: kosher salt, water, jars, coriander seed, garlic…don't let the food gurus scare you off. Pickling is pretty much idiot proof. Carrot sticks, baby cukes or sliced cukes, whatever you have can become something entirely new. If you can stir salt into water, you can do this. I'm sure, once you make your first batch, you'll be hooked. Just remember you can double, or even triple your batches, using the proportion of 1/4 cup of kosher salt  to 4 cups of water.

Here's how:

Into a bowl, measure 4 cups of water. Dump in 1/4 cup of kosher salt, and stir furiously until it dissolves. You just made a brine.

 Into a clean quart canning jar, pack your sliced carrots, or baby green tomatoes, hot peppers or whatever you want, tossing in the occasional peeled garlic clove, and a few pinches of your favorite spices, like coriander seed, dill seed or cumin seed and even a few cloves or bay leaves between the layers of veg. You can layer in a few small, hot peppers if you like spicy. The veggie pieces should be bite size.  Pack it full, right up to the shoulder of the jar. If you put the smaller pieces in the bottom, and the bigger at the top, fewer of the small pieces will float up out of the brine. Go find a smaller jar, or a bowl or a ramekin that will fit into the mouth of the jar and give it a good scrub.

Place the jar in a coolish spot, and set it in a pan or a tray to catch any overflow. Now, pour in the salt - water mixture-- your brine, right to the tippy top, and set the little container you scrubbed into the top to keep your vegetables submerged. If you have extra brine left, keep it in a jar to use to top up your pickle if it evaporates too much.

Check your pickle jar every day, and it should be sour enough to eat in a couple of weeks…or wait longer. remember that the colors of things will change a bit, green vegetables will dull a bit. Remember those wonderful sour pickles in the barrel in your favorite deli? Make sure the vegetables are always submerged. A little mold  floating on top is OK,  you can skim it off and top up the jar with the leftover brine. If it really smells awful, or goes moldy down in the jar, toss it all and chalk it up to experience. Use common sense; if it looks or smells bad, toss it. I like to label my jars with the start date, nothing elaborate, just a piece of masking tape and a waterproof marker.

I generally go about 3 weeks before I screw the lid on the jar and pop it in the fridge. I like my pickles cold, and it's all I can do to wait to taste the results. So freaking good!

Quick, Fabulous Mushroom Soup for the 5:2 / Fast Diet

Well, having been under the weather for the last month hasn't exactly helped my waistline any. I haven't really gained, but having had shingles has greatly reduced my ability to exercise. Feeling flabby. What it has done, though, is given me a little time to think up ways to make my fast days tastier. Since I am a firm believer in the Fast Diet (aka 5:2) which allows me the eat nicely on the 5 days I don't fast for my health, I'm always looking for tasty and filling foods to have on the 2 days I eat less. Usually this is Meaty Monday, but since it is a Fast Day for me, you're getting what I'm having today...

I love this mushroom soup. I love mushrooms, actually. I wouldn't make this with plain white button mushrooms as they are a little too bland. If they're all you can find, I recommend making it much more highly seasoned to make up for it. It's delicious, nutritious and quick. You need a pot, and a blender.  And a microwave if you want to garnish with a few mushroom slices...You can use a regular or immersion blender, although I prefer the totally smooth consistency you'll get with a regular container blender. Makes 4 good servings at less than 50 calories each.

Quick, Easy, Fabulous Mushroom Soup for the 5:2 / Fast Diet

Note: for a vegetarian version of this soup, replace the chicken bouillon with vegetable or mushroom bouillon, and the Worcestershire with either vegetarian Worcestershire or Pickapeppa sauce. All of the products I used are gluten free, but please read the labels if you are eating gluten free.

Creamy Mushroom Soup for the 5:2 Diet

Serves 4

1 lb. cremini mushrooms, 2 sliced, the rest chopped coarsely
4 cups water
1 packet chicken bouillon (I like Trader Joe's)
2 crushed garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
Chopped parsley or basil for garnish (optional)

1. Place the sliced mushroom in a small microwaveable dish, with a teaspoon of water, cover and microwave for 1 minute at high. Set aside. (you can omit this entirely if you don't want to pretty-up your bowl of soup.

2. In a medium saucepan, combine all the remaining ingredients through the Worcestershire, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook , covered until the mushrooms are softened, about 10 minutes.

3. Carefully puree the cooked soup in batches, or with an immersion blender. Taste for seasoning, and  add salt and pepper as desired. Serve garnished with the microwaved mushroom slices on top and a sprinkle of fresh herbs.

5 Delicious Things to Do with Your Homemade Crème Fraîche

Am trying to find some time to bury my toes in the sand. So please bear with a few reposts for the next couple of weeks. There will be some new material, but ...Happy Summer.

I know, I know. I've been banging the drum about making your own crème fraîche for months now, but honestly it's worth the 10 seconds (minus the sitting-on-the-counter-time) of actual work it takes you to make the glorious stuff. If you somehow missed the super-easy instructions I've posted before, you can find them here. But once you make it, you end up with a jar full, rather than the measly,  expensive little cupful you find in the market. A few of you have asked what you can do with such a bounty.

As far as I'm concerned, you can never have too much crème fraîche, just like you can never have too much chocolate. It's the sophisticated cousin of sour cream, and instead of a  sour tang, it has a nutty, full, more rounded flavor. And unlike one of it's parents, heavy cream, it keeps a long time. Mine will keep well up to a month in the coldest part of my fridge. If it lasts that long without having to start a fresh batch. I always start a fresh batch when I get down to my last half-cup or so.  Remember to keep a quarter cup or so to use as a starter with a bout 2 cups of single pasteurized heavy cream. Every day I can find a reason to dip into the jar of creamy goodness at least once.  God forbid I run out. Here's how I use mine (other than eating it right off a spoon):

Homemade crème fraîche.
For the record I did not eat the whole spoonful.

1.
As a topping for fruit, lightly sweetened or not.  I like it unsweetened, but taste it, and add a bit of sugar , honey, erythritol or stevia to your liking. Nothing is nicer than a bowl of sweet berries or peaches with a big ole spoonful of crème fraîche atop. All those ads showing strawberries with that fake-tasting frozen glop in a tub can't hold a candle to creamy crème fraîche. Or unsweetened as a topping for a baked potato, or better yet, a baked sweet potato. Nothing wrong with adding a sprinkle of blue cheese and some black pepper...

2.
Replace heavy cream with an equal amount of crème fraîche in baked goods. If your baking recipe calls for heavy cream, use your crème fraîche instead. It adds a depth of flavor you can't get from heavy cream. Cream pies, cakes, and ice creams are all seriously improved with crème fraîche.

3.
Whip it. You can whip it, and use it in either savory or sweet dishes. Mine usually whips more easily than regular cream, and if you stir a bit of curry paste into it before whipping it to dab on your crab cakes or spoon into your tomato soup, you won't be disappointed. Surprise your dining mates with savory whipped cream. They'll think you are a genius.

4.
Turn into a sauce or dressing. Just add your favorite seasonings,--- mine are currently Dijon mustard and anchovy paste, whisk in and the resulting sauce is perfect over grilled chicken, or over steamed vegetables like beets or green beans. To make into a dressing, you can do this, or simply mix with lemon juice, salt, pepper and a little minced fresh garlic. Need it lighter, use equal parts crème fraîche and plain fat-free Greek yogurt. A crème fraîche-yogurt salad dressing makes salad days seem a lot less penitential.

5.
Make cultured butter. If you have ever tasted cultured butter, you know why it costs so much over at Whole Paycheck. It's hard to go back to regular butter once you've had it or cooked with it. If you put a couple of cups of crème fraîche into a food processor or beat it with a hand mixer, just turn on the power, and keep going until it curdles up. Just takes a few minutes. Carefully, with a spatula, press out as much whey as you can, drain it off, and then add some cold water with an equal amount of ice to the curds and whirl again. Press out the water again with your spatula, and drain --keep going until it's all butter, and with the spatula, stir in a pinch or to of finely ground salt if you want salted butter. Go get some bread and eat. Don't share, it's that good.

Meaty Monday: Grilled Chicken Paillards with Corn, Green Beans & Basil Drizzle

Certain foods, I think, are etched into our national psyche as symbols of things near and dear to our heart. If you are eating cotton candy, chances are there's a Ferris wheel not far away,  and if you're munching a corn dog on a stick, there is probably a heifer wearing a blue ribbon in her halter within spitting distance. Corn, tomatoes, basil and green beans scream "Summer!" to me in a not so subtle way. If there is ever a time of year when these foods have reached their pinnacle of perfection, it is now.

Chuck likes grilled chicken. Actually he loves grilled chicken. Really loves grilled chicken. Really thin grilled chicken. If I was willing to serve it at least once a week on a regular day (have I told you about our Tuesday burger night....?), he'd be thrilled. Me, I like change. Especially different dinners.

Since I do like to make dinners that will make us both happy, I came up with this combo that even I could eat once a week...at least during the Summer. The chicken is a simple as can be, "paillards" is just a way to describe very thin pounded slices of meat -- and the drizzle is somewhere between a pesto and a vinaigrette. This can become one of your favorite do-ahead meals. Add the two, to the corn, fresh beans and tomato, and the whole thing just sings. If you need a vegan or vegetarian (or if you are doing a Meatless Monday side dish), just replace the butter in the corn dish with evoo.

Yes, it's every bit as good as it looks. Yes, I did lick the plate.

Grilled Chicken Paillards with Corn, Green Beans & Basil Drizzle
Serves 4

For the chicken:

1/4 cup low sodium gluten free tamari soy sauce
1/4 cup dry red wine
2 garlic cloves, crushed (jarred equivalent is fine)
2T olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin (paillards)

For the drizzle:

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, tightly packed
3 garlic cloves, (jarred equivalent is fine)
1/2 cup evoo
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon kosher salt

For the vegetables:

1 tablespoon butter or organic corn oil
4 ears of fresh corn, shucked and kernels cut off the cob
1/2 lb. fresh green beans, trimmed and broken in half
1 small fresh tomato, diced
a few basil sprigs for garnish


Instructions:

1. Early in the day, mix the first 4 ingredients and pour into a zip top bag. Add the chicken and chill until dinner.

2. Place all the ingredients for the drizzle in a blender or a mini processor and puree. Place in a covered container in the fridge until dinner time.

3. At mealtime, heat the butter or oil in a medium saucepan, over medium heat, and add the corn and the green beans to the butter. Stir to coat and sauté for a few minutes. Add 1/3 cup of water to the pan, cover and let steam for about 3-4 minutes until the beans are tender. Remove the lid and cook away all the water. Turn off the heat and stir in 3 Tablespoons of the drizzle. Cover and set aside.

4. Heat your grill to medium high, remove the chicken from the marinade (discard the marinade) and grill the chicken about 3-4 minutes per side depending on how thick it is. Place on a platter and drizzle lightly with a bit of the basil drizzle to serve. Pass the extra basil drizzle on the side.

5. Turn the vegetables into a bowl. Sprinkle the tomato over the top and garnish with a basil sprig.

Delicious corn, green beans with basil drizzle and chopped tomatoes,
easily made vegan...

Speedy Natural Microwave Ketchup No Added Sugar

Sometimes I'm just being so good about what I'm eating I can't stand myself; and then I find the cookies. Last night I had a nice grass-fed burger on one of my Funky Flax buns, with some smoked bacon on top and it was delicious. I also had this wonderful sweet, spicy ketchup and a pickle on it. Would have had red onion, but had none. I really do try to avoid grains,  sugar and its evil cousin, HFCS. Problem is even the organic ketchups, while they don't have HFCS in them, or even GMOs, they are full of sugar, and  not for me because I am not a modest ketchup user.  One serving? Hell, I just slather it on. I love the tangy flavor of homemade far more than the ubiquitous commercial stuff, although if that's what's available...

Now, last year I gave you a stove-cooked version of no sugar added ketchup, but when you are going to eat in an hour or so, it just won't be ready to eat in time. Hence this high speed version that you microwave for just 3 minutes. It's actually delicious still warm, but even better after it stands about an hour or longer.  Will keep about 2 weeks, covered in the fridge.

Oh, and I was so good about dinner last night, and then I DID find the cookies.

Speedy Natural Microwave Ketchup with No Added Sugar

Speedy Natural Microwave Ketchup with No Added Sugar

Note: if you can buy tomato products in glass containers, I highly recommend you do so as the linings of many cans still contain BPA. Read the label, it will usually tell you if the lining is BPA-free.

Makes about a cup.

6 oz. tomato paste
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
2T rice wine or cider vinegar
1teaspoon Cholula or other hot sauce
Liquid or powdered Stevia  (two servings worth depending on brand)
black pepper
1 tsp kosher salt

1. Mix all the ingredients in a 2-cup or larger microwave safe container.

2. Cove and microwave for 3 minutes. Remove and stir. Serve warm or chilled.

Another No-Grainer: Funky Flax Microwave Sandwich Buns

 Funky Flax Microwave Sandwich Buns
Delicious, no grain, no sugar, and speedy!

Probably the thing I miss the most are burger buns and sandwiches. And it's not that I never eat wheat or grains, (like I can really ever turn down a great piece of cake...) it's just that I generally try to limit my intake to keep my symptoms at bay. Even gluten free items usually have rice in them, and some of the other store-bought alternatives taste awful. Shockingly bad. When I do choose to eat grain, or a wheat product, it has to be worth it; consequently, many of my lunches and dinners are breadless.  Even when on busy days, a sandwich would be the most convenient thing to take to work to eat on the go, I end up going without, and tuna salad wrapped in a lettuce leaf gets old fast.

If I'm going to indulge in grain, it's going to be a piece of really good, fresh artisan bread or a roll, a great cookie or cake, or a homemade biscuit. Not that grain-free highly processed yuk from the supermarket. In the meantime, I've been fooling around with a recipe my friend Betty sent me that her husband calls "Funky Flax Muffins". These are fast, easy and you can literally make them while you are packing lunches or chatting on the phone. Bonus: they're damn tasty.

These really are very good -- kind of nutty tasting, and hold up to a good juicy burger, or a mayo based salad. Good buttered and toasted, too. There are quite a few kinds of microwave  flax-based breads floating around the web, but this one uses ingredients you can actually find easily in any supermarket. Nothing odd or spendy. Betty's version makes one big muffin, but its over 200 calories, and nearly a meal and a half if you are watching calories, especially if you add a sandwich filling or butter. My recipe makes two, at just over 100 calories each. ( Ran the recipe through Livestrong; your calculation may differ). I like them split and toasted, but, if toasting isn't an option, make them early in the day, or the night before, split each in half and leave it out for a while to dry out a bit.

Slice carefully when completely cool.

Funky Flax Microwave Sandwich Buns

Makes 2

Note: you'll need a couple of burger-bun sized ramekins or one of those Nordicware Eggs n Muffin Microwave breakfast sandwich makers to actually get these to the right size. Alternatively, just place 2 equal sized mounds on a piece of parchment paper and spread them out to bun size. If you are strict with a Primal / Paleo eating, plan, you may want to omit the cheese and add a seasoning salt, if you are not eating dairy products.

1/4 cup flax meal
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2-3 grinds of black pepper
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of sea salt
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
1 large egg
1 tablespoon water

1. Mix the flax meal, the garlic powder, the pepper, the baking powder, the  cheese if using, and the salt in a small bowl with a fork. Beat in the egg and the water. Let the mixture stand for 3-4 minutes until it thickens.

2. Place even portions in each of two microwave safe ramekins, or a microwave-sandwich maker, opened up, or, just make two round blobs, slightly smaller than the diameter of a burger on a piece of parchment paper. Microwave on high for about 60 to 90 seconds until the rolls are dry and puffed.

I knew I could find more than one use for my microwave egg pan!
Especially since I don't really like microwaved eggs...

3. Let cool for a couple of minutes, and then remove from the pans or paper. Slice each one in half after it has completely cooled. Toasting lightly before serving is recommended.

Baked Ricotta with Asparagus & Chives

Baked Ricotta with Asparagus & Chives

I love ricotta, no, wait, I adore ricotta.  Used to drive my Mom crazy when we'd have lasagna for dinner as I'd eat all the ricotta filling and leave the lasagna noodles piled on my plate. I thought the filling was the best part, and I still do.When I have time, I like to make ricotta, not with acids like lemon juice or vinegar, but with cheese making enzymes. Much sweeter and better. There's nearly always some sort of ricotta in my fridge. This week though, I have store-bought ricotta to use.

Well, I started messing around, and having homegrown asparagus, and LOTS of chives, I thought  a savory cheesecake would be the way to go. Firm enough to cut, but still creamy. These are perfect. The flavor of both the asparagus and chives, and the Romano, too, come through beautifully, but you can still also taste the creamy goodness of the ricotta.

These are really delicious, little individual ricotta cheesecakes. It's a nice lunch or dinner with a salad and a glass of wine. These little cheesecakes are vegetarian, and gluten free, and great when you have omnivores and vegetarians at the table. Nobody will complain.

Note: To drain ricotta, line a colander or sieve  with paper towels or paper coffee filters and dump in the ricotta. Let drain for an hour or so before starting the recipe. My friend John, when he was packing to move, gifted me with some really nice little 4" spring form pans, he wasn't going to use anymore. Thank you, John! You can use similar pans from here, they're just a bit bigger, or just bake them in ramekins and don't bother unmolding.

Baked Ricotta with Asparagus & Chives
Serves 4

2 large eggs
2  large egg yolks
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
1/4 tsp. fresh grated nutmeg
Black pepper, fresh ground
3-4 T minced fresh chives
1/4 tsp. garlic powder

2 lb. whole milk ricotta, drained for at least 1 hour
1-1/2 cups  asparagus, blanched and sliced into 1/2" pieces, and 20 tips set aside


1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray four 4" springform pans or ramekins with cooking oil spray. Set the prepared pans on a baking sheet.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, beat the eggs and yolks together, then whisk in the Romano cheese, the nutmeg, a few grinds of black pepper, the chives (more is better) and the garlic powder. When its well-blended, fold in the ricotta, and the cut asparagus.

Ready for the oven.

3. Divide the ricotta mixture evenly among the four pans, and press 5 asparagus tips in a circle on top of each pan. Bake for about 1 hour until browned and puffy, and a toothpick comes out clean.

Minutes away from....lunch!

4. Cool about 15 minutes in the pan, then run a thin knife blade around the sides and remove the springform rim.  If using ramekins, just serve in the dish. Serve warm.

Ah, Spring: Braised Baby Artichokes with Potatoes, Preserved Lemon & Fresh Oregano

So pretty, I couldn't resist buying these baby artichokes.

There is a point in mid spring, when you walk through the produce markets and you realize you are totally surrounded with foods that are only available in the spring. The most common is certainly local asparagus, but the fresh herbs, ramps, fiddlehead ferns, greens and garlic are starting to make up for the dearth of foods that still smell faintly of the earth they were grown in. In the winter, for some reason there is no what I call "good dirt smell" on the vegetables. Probably because they came from half a planet away. I generally don't buy vegetables that have been shipped across the country if I can help it, but when it comes to tiny,  OMG red, baby artichokes, I just can't help it. They're only around for a few weeks in the spring and fall, since they like the cooler temperatures, so don't put off buying any or you'll have to wait until fall. These little red babies just jumped into my basket.

Note: Baby artichokes are different from small artichokes.  Babies are usually just a bit bigger than a walnut. And they come in red or normal, pale creamy  green artichoke-color. Both colors are delicious. The babies have no choke inside and take much less preparation. All you have to do is remove the tough little outer leaves, trim the little stems to about 1/4" and halve them. Have a bowl of water spiked with lemon juice at hand, because as soon as you cut them, artichokes will turn brown. So as soon as you cut them in half, drop them into the lemon water. If you are not an artichoke fan, or fond of lemon, you probably will want to skip this recipe, because the potatoes take on the flavor of the artichokes and lemon intensely. I like this at room temp, but served warm is good too. Drizzling with a little extra olive oil at the end doesn't hurt either.

Braised Baby Artichokes with Potatoes, Preserved Lemon & Fresh Oregano

Braised Baby Artichokes with Potatoes, Preserved Lemon & Fresh Oregano

3 - 4 T extra virgin olive oil
12 baby artichokes, trimmed and halved, see note above
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 preserved lemon, pith discarded and peel finely minced
1-1/2 cups water (plus a bit more if needed)
1/2 cup dry white wine
12-16 tiny new potatoes
salt and pepper to taste
4T minced fresh oregano, or 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
minced fresh chives for garnish, opt.
Extra olive oil for drizzling 


1. Over medium heat, heat the olive oil until it shimmers in a shallow covered sauté pan that has a tight fitting cover.  Drain the artichokes well, and pat dry with a a paper  towel, then carefully add to the hot oil and turn carefully with tongs to coat. 

2. Add the garlic, preserved lemon, the water and wine, bring to a simmer, and cover. Cook about 20 minutes until the artichokes are about half cooked. 

3. Carefully add the potatoes, the oregano, and season with salt and pepper. Add a little more water if it doesn't look like enough to last another 20 minutes. Replace the cover, and cook gently for another 20 to 25 minutes until the potatoes and artichokes are tender. Most, but not all of the liquid should be gone. A few tablespoons should remain. 

4. Sprinkle with the minced chives, and drizzle with more olive oil if using, and serve warm or at room temperature.

Serves 4.

Fee, Fie, Foe, Friday: Remember Junket Desserts?

Junket Chocolate Custard. Those three words were just about my favorite answer when I asked my Mom what we were having for dessert. It wasn't too sweet, and not terribly chocolatey, but it was creamy and delicious. It was hugely popular through the 1960's but seemed to just slide over the horizon. I hadn't seen those iconic Junket boxes in the supermarket in years. Until today.


For those of you not born around the middle of the last century, Junket custard is a milk custard that is thickened using rennet. Rennet is an enzyme that causes milk to coagulate and separate into curds and whey. Most cheeses generally are made with some sort of rennet. Rennet can come from animal sources, vegetable sources and microbial sources and others  Junket is not made form animal rennet, but vegetable rennet. The topic came up a couple of weeks ago while my friend Sue and I were trying to come up with a vegetarian panna cotta. Most of them are made with commercial gelatin, which is an animal product. We were speculating if the rennet in it would thicken cream, but neither of us had any Junket to try it.

So as Chuck and I were tooling down the baking aisle in our local Wegman's, what should I spot out of the corner of my eye above the myriad of pudding mixes, but those little iconic boxes. Not the dessert mix, but Junket Tablets. Now I can experiment. Except that I forgot to buy cream....  So when I get something good going, I'll let you all know.

Just when we'd given up hope of finding Junket...there it was1

Cauliflower Puree with Parmesan

I've been trying to focus on good side dishes that don't include grains, but that are still satisfying and delicious. I promise the broccoli puree, soon, but I make this often, it's so versatile, and it goes with so many foods that it bears re-posting.

Cauliflower Puree with Parmesan.
I'd rather have this than potatoes any day.

Some meals just cry out for mashed potatoes. Roast beef and gravy. Pork chops. Homey things. Then there are chic meals that need something UNDER the protein to prop it up. Any restaurant worth its salt will plop some potatoes, couscous or polenta under your meat or fish, and plate your entree at an appealing angle. The starch is the "glue" of the plate. You eat first with your eyes. And the meat on top looks great. The stuff underneath, well, not so much.  I have a much better choice.

Often those potatoes or grainy glop are hardly worth eating. Guess what? Cauliflower puree is creamy, unctuous, and decadent. If you put that under your chop, or along side it, you may just decide to eat it first, after just one taste. So good, that when you spoon it into a bowl. it'll be impossible not to run your finger through the swirl and taste. Pure heaven. Gluten-free, grain free, low carb and vegetarian (with vegetable stock or water), even cauliflower haters will enjoy this creamy, mildly cheesy puree.

There are still nice cauliflowers in your local farm market, but if you are pressed for time, two 1-lb. bags of frozen cauliflower will work, too. We had a cross between the two: the last home-frozen cauliflower from last year's garden. Especially appreciated since the critters ate all but two of my cauliflower plants this year. It was really lovely beside our grilled pork chops and some fresh, steamed haricots verts.

Cauliflower Puree with Parmesan
3-6 servings

2 lb. of fresh or frozen cauliflower, cut into florets
1-1/2 cups unsalted chicken stock, vegetable stock or water
3T unsalted butter
1/3 cup grated Parmesano Reggiano cheese
1/4  homemade crème fraîche or heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
salt and white pepper
Minced chives or parsley to garnish

Place the cauliflower in a medium covered saucepan with the stock or water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until very tender 15 to 20 minutes. Keep an eye on the stock as even in a covered pan, it may be mostly gone towards the end of the cooking time. There should be just a few tablespoons of liquid left in the pan; if not, add a bit of water.

Spoon the cauliflower into the bowl of a food processor, keeping the cooking liquid aside to use if needed. Puree until smooth, adding as little liquid as possible. Add the butter, cheese, cream, nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste. Puree again and scrape down the bowl. Serve hot. Garnish with chives or parsley if serving in a bowl instead of individual portions.

Easy Carrots with Preserved Lemon, Garlic and Cinnamon

I don't know about your week, but mine has been total confusion with work sandwiched in between appointments and errands. Running from one thing to the next. We've spent more time in the car, and eaten more unplanned meals out.  I like to go out, but I much prefer to go to places where the food has a good chance of being better than what I fix at home. Quick pick-up meals usually just depress me, and I often end up eating things I wish I hadn't later. One more French fry and I won't be bathing-suit ready until 2014. Thank goodness the weekend has been quiet, and I actually had time to make a real dinner last night.

We had some beautiful strip steaks in the freezer, to thaw and cook, but I wanted something other that the usual steakhouse standards to serve as sides. Plus, I wanted to show you how to use some of the Moroccan style preserved lemons I showed you how to make last month. While these delicious carrot edge a bit towards Moroccan flavors, they have a sweet- savory taste with a little salty and lemony burst from the preserved lemons. Addicting.

Lazy is my middle name, and one of my main tasks this afternoon was a nice nap. Which didn't leave me a whole lot of time for slicing and dicing. And this dish takes absolutely none, if you buy baby cut carrots. I actually prefer the baby-cut over true baby carrots in this because they are generally sweeter. And you can plop the whole thing in one pot, put it on the stove and you are good to go.

Preserved lemons add such a burst of flavor, I don't know why you can't find them
in every supermarket in America.
But then, it's so easy to make your own.

Note: baby cut carrots, as opposed to actual baby carrots, are mature carrots that have been cut into the size and shape of immature, baby carrots. They have a richer carrot flavor, but do take a few minutes longer to cook. And we use a cinnamon stick, rather than powdered cinnamon so the finished dish of carrots doesn't look all muddy. I like to leave it on top as a decoration when serving. Silly, huh?

Dump and run, almost.

Easy Carrots with Preserved Lemon, Garlic and Cinnamon

Ingredients:

1 lb. baby-cut carrots
3-4 whole garlic cloves, peeled
1 small whole cinnamon stick
2T honey
1T unsalted butter
water
2 quarters of a preserved lemon, rinsed, pulp discarded, rind cut in julienne

Instructions:

1.Place everything through the butter in a medium ( about 3 quart) covered saucepan. Add just enough water to not quite cover the carrots and other ingredients.

2. Bring to a boil uncovered, then cover and reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook the carrots until just barely tender, about 15-20 minutes.

3. Remove the lid and add half of the julienne lemon rind, raise the heat and cook until the water disappears. Watch carefully so the carrots don't  burn. remove from the heat, stir in the remaining lemon  rind and serve.

Serves 4.

I promise the Broccoli Puree recipe later in the week.
It was a great steak dinner!

Pesto Braised Zucchini & Fennel with Shallots

I've been looking for reasons to run my oven lately. It's been so damned cold here that the warmth and aroma of slowly cooking food appeals to something primal in me, I think. I wouldn't mind camping out in front of my oven the way our elderly cat is camped out in front of the heat vent in the living room. Now, you can certainly braise food on top of the stove, or even in a slow cooker, but neither of them give you the same cozy, warm home. And once everything is in the oven, there's not so much for the cook to do but have a glass of wine, or a nap.

Braising involves cooking food partially submerged in liquid at a simmer. A pot roast or meat stew is a braise, but some of my favorite braises involve vegetables. Braised vegetables become meltingly tender, and absorb all the flavors they've been bathing in. Wonderful cold weather food.

Last week's recipe for Butter Braised Asparagus is a quick braise without much prep needed on your part. This braise of Pesto Braised Zucchini & Fennel with Shallots takes a few more minutes, but the resulting dish is luscious, with great depth of flavor and it reheats beautifully. I always pray for leftovers. It's one of my favorite dishes to serve beside simply baked chicken or fish, which can, incidentally, be popped into the oven next to the zucchini at the right time.

Pesto Braised Zucchini & Fennel with Shallots

Ready for the oven, just needs to be covered and baked.

Note: This is vegetarian and gluten free as written, if you prefer a vegan version, use all olive oil instead of the butter and oil, and use the basil and oil puree carried in many supermarkets, instead of traditional basil pesto, as it usually contains cheese.

Ingredients:

2T unsalted butter
1T extra virgin olive oil
2 fennel bulbs, trimmed and cut into sixths (reserve some fronds for garnish)
3 small to medium zucchini, cut in half through the middle, then halved lengthwise
8 large shallots, peeled and halved
2T basil pesto
1T lemon zest
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup water or stock
salt and black pepper

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.  Lightly oil a shallow 2-3 quart oven-to-table baking dish.

2. Heat the butter and oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium high heat. as soon as the butter begins to brown very slightly, add the fennel, with a cut side down. Lower the heat to medium and cook until the fennel is browned on one side, then flip and brown the other cut side. Cook about 10 minutes total. Remove the fennel to the prepared baking pan.

To get the fennel browned you may have to turn it a few times.

3. Add the zucchini to the oil in the pan, and raise the heat if necessary to brown the cut side quickly. You want the zucchini to be mostly raw. Remove the zucchini to the baking pan, and then arrange the zucchini and fennel alternately, and tuck in the cut shallots in between. Salt and pepper liberally.

4. Add the pesto, the zest, the wine and the water to the frying pan, swirling to blend. Bring to a simmer for a minute, and pour it evenly over the vegetables in the baking dish. Cover with a lid or foil, and bak for about 1 hour, or until the fennel is tender. Test it with a fork or the tip of a paring knife. garnish with the reserved fennel fronds if you wish.

Pesto Braised Zucchini & Fennel with Shallots in
my favorite baking dish from Kitchen Kapers

Serves 6.

The Bottomless Jar of Crème Fraîche, Again

As most of you know, I work in a kitchenware store, and the long hours coming up for the next couple of weeks are keeping me from experimenting in the kitchen. So what you'll find posted here is just like TV in the summer: reruns. I'll be posting some of my more popular and interesting posts for the next couple of weeks, and will be back with new recipes and rants in the New Year. May you all have all the best and happiest things in your life for the Christmas Season and in the New Year. And thank you for coming along for the ride with me so far.

Makes simple food what our family calls "RQ" – Restaurant Quality. Everyone is just so shocked that you can make this wonderful stuff so easily and cheaply at home. Enjoy!

I’m cheap. Well, sort of, but there are a few things I won’t spend a lot of money on even if I consider them essential. So many of my favorite cooking tools, my cars and my dogs have been bought used (except for the current dog), and even my husband is second-hand, although I DID get him in a kitchenware store. 

In the food department, I’m willing to pay good money for goodies like maple sugar and olive oil --- things I can’t or don’t have the time or skill to make myself, but it kills me how expensive something as delicious, easy to produce, and useful as crème fraîche can be when you like to use it by the glob.  It has a wonderful, nutty-tart flavor, it doesn’t separate when you boil it, makes a wonderful easy addition to pan sauces and can make a no-cook sauce in a flash with just a few herbs, spices and a dash of salt. It whips beautifully, and lightly sweetened, it is much better on many desserts than basic whipped cream. 

Sour cream doesn’t hold a candle to this stuff, except maybe in a baked potato or on top of a nacho. Crème fraîche is so simple, and soooo good!

Crème fraîche is one of those essential things. If there isn’t any in my fridge it requires an immediate trip to the market. Not to actually buy crème fraîche, just to get the ingredients to make it at home. I have bought the culture to make the real thing, and it does make a product closer to what I’ve eaten in France, but buttermilk, and pasteurized heavy cream are enough to make an endless supply, so I can wallow in the luxury of having as much as I want. When it's nearly all gone I can use the last bit in my jar to make more by transferring it to a small bowl, washing the jar thoroughly, mixing the remaining crème fraîche with two cups of cream and start the fermenting process again.  Fabulous and...cheap.

Time to start another batch of Crème Fraîche!

Homemade Crème Fraîche

1 pint of heavy cream pasteurized (NOT ultra pasteurized)

¼ cup of cultured buttermilk

Tools: spoon, measuring cup, and a very clean quart or liter glass jar with a cover

How: pour the ¼ cup of cultured buttermilk into the bottom of the jar, pour in the cream, stir gently and thoroughly, and either partially cover the jar, or leave off the lid and cover the top loosely with a clean cloth or a paper towel. Set it aside at room temperature for 8 to 36 hours (depending on how warm your kitchen is, and how thick you want the finished product). Stir gently once or twice a day if you think of it, and while you are stirring you can judge how thick it’s getting. Try not to lick the spoon, although I am totally unsuccessful at it. Just don't double-dip.

When it’s nearly as thick as you’d like (somewhere between the thickness of yogurt and commercial mayonnaise), seal the jar with the lid and pop it I the refrigerator. It’ll keep about two weeks, and if you notice that you’re down to your last half to quarter cup of the stuff, you can use your already made crème fraîche as the starter for your next batch. So you can fearlessly use up all that excess buttermilk in pancakes, pies and cakes, and keep that crème fraîche jar going just about forever. It’s bottomless. Really. 

Curing the November Blues: Lentil Soup with Speck & Kale

Lentil Soup with Speck & Kale is a great lunch for a
gloomy, cold late Fall day.

I have the November blues. The cold is starting to already get to my Mediterranean  genes. We're halfway through November and I'm already looking for "Signs of Spring". The garden seed catalogs are still at least 6 weeks away, and since I'm planning a fallow year so I can work on the soil, I will be planting very little, and probably in Earth Boxes. The frost on the brown leaves on the ground makes them look like frosted cornflakes, but that just makes me think of the snow to come. It's getting dark way too early in the evening. That is not good. Am trying to think of things that will cheer me up. Maybe putting up the Christmas tree over the weekend will help. Maybe. This lentil soup, with speck and kale, though, and my favorite yellow, happy tablecloth will probably do the trick.

This is the kind of healthy soup that doesn't taste "healthy". Chock full of good stuff like lentils and kale, it'll warm you up without slowing you down. You could make this a vegetarian soup using olive oil in place of the bacon fat or butter, vegetable stock, leaving out the speck and adding about 2 drops of liquid smoke; also remember to use a vegetarian Worcestershire, or the Pickapeppa which has no animal ingredients. This is also gluten free.  A great carry-to-work-lunch, too, that will have your coworkers swooning around the microwave when you heat it up. Don't share unless you've brought extra.

Note: Speck is smoked proscuitto, and if your grocery or good deli doesn't carry it, use smoked bacon instead. It does not taste the same, but will still be delish.


Ingredients:

Lentil Soup with Speck & Kale
Serves 6

2T bacon fat or butter
3 oz. diced speck (can sub minced, smoked bacon)
1 lb. regular brown or green lentils, washed and picked over
1 large onion, diced finely
2 celery stalks, diced finely
1 large carrot, coarsely grated
1/2 cup minced red bell pepper
1 quart of homemade or no  salt added chicken stock
1 quart of water, plus extra if needed
2 bay leaves
1T dried marjoram leaves
1T dried thyme
2 tsp. Worcesteshire sauce or Pickapeppa sauce
Coarse salt and pepper

1 lb. kale, leaves and small stems only, blanched, squeezed out and chopped

2T good quality balsamic vinegar

Instructions:

1. Heat the bacon fat or butter in a deep soup pot, and sauté the speck until brown. 

2. Add everything else through the worcestershire sauce and bring to a simmer. Cook about 45 minutes to an hour until the lentils are tender .

3. Taste for salt and pepper and add as needed, stir in the kale and the balsamic vinegar, and heat through.  Serve piping hot.

Quick, Easy, & Gluten Free: Homemade Polenta in the Microwave

For years I made polenta the traditional way. Cornmeal stirred for a long time in a big pot. It's how my Grandma taught me. One day I noticed, in a cookbook by Barbara Kafka, a method for making polenta in the microwave, read it over and mentally filed it away for nearly 10 years. Couldn't be as good as Grandma's, I reasoned. 

And then, in the late 90's when I had to produce a gluten free Italian meal for a friend with celiac disease, with less than a half hour to spare, I remembered. Somehow the neurons in my brain sent me back to Kafka's book "Microwave Gourmet Healthstyle Cookbook". And there it was. Soft Microwave Polenta. I was saved, because it was fast, easy and crazily delicious. No sweating over a steaming pot of bubbling cornmeal for too long. While I quickly cooked up some Italian sausage from the Italian Market down on 9th St. and added a couple of jars of tomato sauce from last summers garden, my polenta cooked away happily in the microwave with almost no attention from me. And it was good, really good. No gluten, and no sweat. Sorry Grandma.

Honestly, I haven't made polenta any other way since I found this recipe, and I have fooled with it a bit (or a lot) over the years. While we don't eat a lot of grains at our house, this is so good as the base for so many saucy dishes, and as a hot cereal, that when I need a tasty go-to, this is it. nice as the base for vegetarian  and vegan stews, using just olive oil, and water or vegetable stock. I use Bob's Red Mill Cornmeal / Polenta, and have noticed that in a thick, broad pottery casserole dish it takes a few minutes longer to cook than in a 2-quart heatproof glass batter bowl. I also use an 1100 watt microwave to make this while the original recipe from 1989 uses a smaller wattage machine. Your cooking timing may differ, depending on your microwave and container. 

Such good polenta, you may be able to fool an Italian Grandma!
Just don't tell how you made it...

Oh, and check out the little bonus recipe below to make a single serving of fresh, homemade polenta...try it with a bit of butter and maple syrup for a quick breakfast...

And a note to Ms. Kafka: Please, if you ever decide to reissue either Microwave Gourmet or Microwave Gourmet Healthstyle Cookbook you will make one of your big fans VERY happy!


Microwave Soft Polenta
Adapted from Barbara Kafka


Ingredients:
3 qt. microwave-safe container  
3/4 cup Polenta or Cornmeal  
4 Cups water, any stock, or replace 1 cup of water with milk  
1/2 tsp. Salt
2T extra virgin olive oil, butter, truffle butter or any delicious fat you like
Black pepper to taste
(Parmesan, Gorgonzola or Romano)

Instructions: 
Mix the dry polenta into the water with the salt. Microwave on High, uncovered for 6 - 8 minutes. Stir. Microwave 6 - 8 more minutes. Remove from the microwave, stir in the olive oil or butter, the black pepper, and cheese if using. Cover and let stand, 3-5 minutes before serving. Serves 4.

Looks easy; it is, and relish!

Single serve Polenta

Ingredients:
3/4 cup water or ff stock  
1/4 Cup Polenta or cornmeal  
1/4 teasp. salt

Instructions:
Place all in 2-3 cup microwave safe container. ( I use a 2- cup Pyrex glass measuring cup) Mix well. Microwave on High 3 minutes. Stir. Cook on High about 2 minutes longer, let stand for a minute or so...enjoy. 1 serving.

My favorite, and available just about everywhere.