Quinoa's Revenge

I had some mushrooms and not much else kickin' around the fridge, so I browsed my spices and came up with this. It's a little bit Indian, a dash Moroccan, and all around Incan. The cashews are as much a spice as they are a nice texture enhancer. Delicious!

Spiced Quinoa with Mushrooms

1 c quinoa
1 T olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 handful raw cashews, broken in pieces
1/2 lb mushrooms, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/8 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 c chicken broth
salt, cayenne and pepper to taste
fresh chopped cilantro to garnish

(Optional: Place the quinoa in a large skillet over medium heat and toast for five minutes, tossing occasionally.) In a separate pot, heat the olive oil and saute the onion until softened. Add the cashews and fry for a minute, then add the spices, mushrooms and garlic. Toss until the garlic is fragrant and the mushrooms have shrunken a bit. Add the quinoa and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Check the seasoning, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes or until the liquid has been absorbed. The grain will be transluscent and the white germ will have spiraled out. Top with cilantro and serve hot. Serves 4 as a main or 6 as a side. This would make a great side to a roasted leg of lamb or goat (just a hunch).

Try it with couscous instead! Substitute 1 c couscous for the quinoa and reduce the liquid to 1 1/2 c. After you've cooked the mushrooms, add the broth, bring to a boil, and then add the couscous. Cover, remove from the heat and let stand for five minutes. Stir and serve.

Game Day Munchies No. 1

We have a week and two days to prepare all the munchies for the Big Game. I'm planning a knockout pierogi that only a Steelers fan could love; more to come on that next week. Today I'm happy to host a recipe submitted by a good friend and fellow cheese lover. Check out the number of different cheeses in this warm, gooey, cheesey - yet healthy (spinach? instant healthy points!) - dip. You bet I'll be making this as soon as possible.
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Phateline's Spinach and Artichoke Dip

This is an approximation of what I did, you could probably use a handheld mixer too with the regular fittings, just make sure there ain't giant chokable pieces of spinach in there, cuz that ain't appetizing.

Dip:
½ bag frozen spinach thawed and drained well
1 regular can artichoke hearts drained with a teaspoon of juices reserved for mixture
¾ cup mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons of finely grated parmesan cheese
¼ cup soft crumbled blue cheese
1 package of cream cheese softened
2 heaping tablespoons of regular mayonnaise
1 teaspoon of dried Italian Herb Mixture (just plain herb mixture, don't use a salt/garlic etc mix)
2 cloves of fresh roasted garlic
½ teaspoon of cayenne or a your favorite hot sauce
½ teaspoon sea/kosher salt (don't use that throwaway Iodized !#$!)
½ teaspoon black pepper
teaspoon of fresh lime juice

for topping:

handful of pine nuts
1 tablespoon of parmesan cheese
¼ cup shredded mozzarella

Mix dip ingredients together with all purpose fitting of mixer; the garlic spinach and artichoke hearts should break up. Mix on Low for about 2-3 minutes until well blended. Mix for 30 seconds on high to further break up until smooth. Spread in a shallow ceramic baking dish (I used about a 6" by 8" by 3" deep) and top with toppings. Bake at400 degrees for 30 minutes. Serve warm with crusty bread. Probably serves about six generously, although 3 of us pretty much ate it all.
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Cheese of the Week No. 8

It's time to take a trip to the Netherlands for a tour of goudas. The typical gouda you find in every supermarket is one of the most mass produced cheeses in the world, and somehow it still ends up tasting delicous. From there things only get better with age.

Gouda: pasteurized cow's milk, Netherlands. Semi-hard, mildly flavored, ivory colored cheese that almost always comes packaged in red or black wax. It's easy to snack on, completely inoffensive, and melts well, making it a good alternative to cheddar for almost everything you can imagine.

Geitekaas (Goat Gouda, Arina): pasteurized goat's milk, Netherlands. Semi-hard, full goat flavor, nice smooth texture like regular gouda. Pure white with small holes throughout, often coated in white wax. This is a great alternative to the usual cow's milk, and it's an unusual style for goat's cheese, being sliceable rather than spreadable. Try it on a sandwich, or with beer, wine, crackers and sausage.

Medium aged Gouda (Parrano, Vincent): pasteurized cow's milk, Netherlands. Semi-hard, sprinkling of pea-sized holes throughout, yellowish color. These gouda-style cheeses have been aged about 6 months and have a much bolder flavor, somewhat sweeter and a little tangy, with a lasting taste and irresistable appeal. Wherever I bring this cheese, it's always the first to go. Aside from its utter snackability, it's a great alternative to cheddar on sandwiches and grilled cheese, and it's great shaved over pasta dishes.

Aged Gouda (Amsterdam Reserve, Primadonna, Rembrandt): Semi-hard but very firm, still sliceable while maintaining its shape. Aged one to two years, these cheeses have an orange-yellow color, pea- to marble-sized holes scattered in the paste, and a creamy mouth feel with the occasional crunchy bit. Much bolder than the medium aged cheeses, these begin to reveal caramel and butterscotch flavors with a slight smokey finish. Really delicious, easy to love, and they go well with sausages and red wines. A little goes a long way.

Extra-aged Gouda: cow's milk, Netherlands. After two years of aging, goudas become something altogether different. They enter into the realm of the great Parmagianno-Reggiano and cave-aged Swiss cheeses. Their color deepens to a nice shade of orange, and the paste becomes much more crumbly, barely able to hold together when sliced. I bought a piece of a four-year old gouda today, and let me tell you, there's nothing quite like it. There is still a pleasant creaminess to a morsel of this cheese, but now those delicious crunchy crystals are more abundant and the flavor is miraculous. So many layers develop, ranging from caramel and fruit to smoke and whiskey. This is a wonder to be enjoyed with a great wine or beer, maybe some good smoked fish. A good Belgian ale makes a great partner.

A Word About Brine

Last week I received another challenge from Melissa (of savory cupcake fame). She decided she liked brine, so she challenged me to brine something. I gladly accepted, and I began digging deep into my cookbooks for some ideas. Das neue grosse Kochbuch has a good Sauerbraten recipe, and it talked a little about Schweinebraten, but neither one is really brine intensive. The good old Joy of Cooking has an amazing corned beef recipe that requires the brisket to be corned for two weeks! After consulting with Mom about Swedish pot roast, and Oma about Sauerbraten, I settled on pork and came up with this recipe. The gravy was a bit on the strong side, but the meat was meltingly tender and delicious.

Corned Pork Roast

1 pork loin roast, about 1/2 pound per person
3/4 c white wine vinegar
1/2 c salt
1/4 c sugar
1 onion, sliced roughly
3 cloves garlic, whole
2 bay leaves
4 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp peppercorns
1/2 tsp whole coriander seeds
water to cover

Place the roast in a stainless steel pot just large enough to fit, add the brine ingredients and cover with water. Set in the refrigerator to pickle for 12-24 hours. Reserve the onions, garlic, and some of the whole spices from the brine, and discard all but a few tablespoons of the pickling brine. Wash the roast under running water and pat dry with paper towels.

For gravy:

2 T vegetable oil
1 1/2 c boiling water
reserved onions and brine
salt, sugar, vinegar and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Have ready an oven-proof dish or pan with a tight fitting lid. Set the dish over high heat with the oil. Brown the roast well on all sides. Add the onions and cook another minute without burning them, then carefully add the boiling water and the reserved brine. Cover the dish and place in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour.

Remove the roast from its juices and set aside to rest while you prepare the gravy. Strain the juices into a saucepan and give it a taste. Add sugar if it's too sour, vinegar if it's too sweet. Season it with pepper and salt if necessary. Prepare a thickener if you want to with cornstarch, potato starch, or flour in water to make a slurry. Whisk in a tablespoon or two of the slurry into the gravy over medium heat and bring to a boil. The gravy will start to thicken. Add a little water if it's too thick, or more starch if it's too runny. Check the seasoning again and serve.

I decided that Bavarian shredded potato dumplings would make a good side dish, but something about my mixture didn't come out right. Danger Mike suggested we batter and fry them, and it turned out to be just the thing those dumplings needed. A little beer batter, a touch of breading on one side, and they were crisp, golden and delicious, especially with a smothering of sweet and sour gravy. Prost!

Grain of the Year 2006 BC

I recently tried quinoa for the first time and really liked the texture and delicate flavor of this pseudo grain. It cooks up like rice, but is smaller, lighter, and has a slight crunch to it. It's pretty fancy looking, too, with its spiraling white germ surrounding the transluscent body. It's not really a grain but rather the seed of a relative of spinach, and like its leafy cousin, it's packed with iron and other nutrients. What's not to like?

Since it's been growing in South America for 5000 years, try looking in Latin-American markets for this newcomer to North America, otherwise you might have luck in a fancy grocer. If you get a hold of some, cook it up and make a salad with it using walnuts, dried cherries, wine vinegar and oil. Or try this spin on an old Cuban favorite:

Arroz y Quinoa con Poco Pollo
(Rice and Quinoa with a Little Bit of Chicken)











1-4 chicken breasts, diced
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 T olive oil
1 green pepper, finely diced
1 red pepper, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz tomato sauce
2 c chicken stock
2 c dry white wine
pinch saffron
1 bay leaf
salt, pepper and cayenne to taste
1 1/2 c white rice
1/2 c quinoa (or more rice if you can't find it)

In a large pot over medium high heat, brown the chicken on all sides in a tablespoon of oil. Remove the chicken and set aside. Add the remaining oil and cook the onion over moderate heat until it begins to soften. Add the peppers and garlic and cook a few minutes more until the garlic is nice and fragrant. Add the remaining ingredients except the chicken, quinoa and rice, stir and bring to a boil. Add the chicken, taste, season and cover, reducing heat to a simmer for 15 minutes. Add the rice and quinoa, stir once, and cover again, cooking over low heat for 25 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve. Feeds many.

The Glarner Schabziger Adventures

After picking up my cone of Schabziger cheese yesterday, I paid a visit to the maker's website and perused the recipes. The pale green cheese most often ends up grated into a sauce and poured over potatoes, fish, just about anything. So I got to thinking that potato gnocchi would probably taste good with some Schabziger tossed in. Then I got to reading a Julia Child book and thought that maybe a modified sauce parisienne would be really good poured over the gnocchi. Finally the idea of adding onions and bacon to whole wheat dumplings really sounded good to me, so I ended up with the recipes below. If only I had a really cool Swiss name to attach to it. How about...

Herdöpfelknödeln mit Glarner Schabzigersosse

Dumplings:

2 pounds boiling potatoes
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/3 pound bacon
2 T finely chopped parsley
1 ounce grated Glarner Schabziger cheese
1/4 c grated parmesan cheese
1 egg, beaten
salt and pepper to taste

Boil or pressure-cook the potatoes until tender. While the potatoes cook, fry the bacon until very crisp, remove to paper towels, and break the strips up into little bits. Drain all but one tablespoon of the bacon fat from the skillet and fry the onions in it over medium heat until they are soft and golden. Peel and mash the potatoes and begin working in the flour until it is all incorporated and the dough is smooth. Add the parsley, Schabziger, parmesan, bacon and onion. Season if necessary with salt and pepper. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Set a large pot of salted water to boil, and in the meantime, prepare the sauce below. Once the water is at a rolling boil, form teaspoon-sized dumplings and drop into the water. Cook until they float to the surface, about 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside as you continue cooking the rest of the dough.

The dumplings taste fine boiled, but like most things, they taste better after being panfried in butter. Brown as many as you want in a hot skillet with butter, and top with the sauce. Freeze the rest if you like.

Sauce:

2 T butter
3 T flour
1 c chicken broth (bouillon is fine)
1/2 c milk
1/2 c white wine
1 T finely chopped parsley
1 ounce grated Schabziger
2 egg yolks
1/4 c cream or milk
salt and pepper to taste

In a saucepan over low heat, melt the butter and whisk in the flour. Cook for 5 minutes without coloring. Slowly add the broth, 1/2 c milk, and wine, whisking constantly to avoid lumping. Bring to a boil as you continue stirring. The sauce should be quite thick, but still manageable with the whisk. Mix in the cheese and parsley and remove from the heat. In a separate bowl or saucepan, beat the egg yolks with the remaining milk (or cream) until smooth. Whisk in the hot cream sauce by driblets at first to avoid cooking the yolk. After adding about 1/2 cup of the sauce, you can increase the addition to a steady stream. Return the sauce to the heat, bring to a boil while stirring, and cook for one minute. Adjust the seasoning and pour the custardy sauce over the dumplings.

Would I make them again? That depends. If I were running a bed and breakfast in Glarus, and I wanted to give the guests a taste of the local Schabziger, this would be an excellent introduction. These dumplings probably won't make it into my favorite meal rotation, but they are tasty and the sauce is excellent. You could go with just parmesan instead of the green wondercheese, or you can omit the cheese altogether and serve these dumplings with a roast and gravy on Sunday. Me, I'm going to enjoy my leftovers and experience that unique Schabziger taste a few more times.

Cheese of the Week No. 7

Grüezi mitenand! German East meets French West on our brief cheese tour of Switzerland today.

Gruyere: raw cow's milk, Fribourg Canton, Switzerland. From the same wonderful animals that produce the double cream of Gruyere comes this full flavored cheese out of the French speaking hills of Fribourg. The town of Les Gruyeres is like a fairy tale, complete with a castle and picture-perfect green mountain landscape dotted with cows and edelweiss. The cheese comes from a big 80 pound wheel and has a terrific nutty flavor that intensifies as it melts. This is the cheese of fondues, gratins and onion soup. Don't underestimate its snackability, though. Try it with crackers, or use it in your next grilled cheese with caramelized onions on rye bread.

Glarner Schabziger (or Sapsago): cow's milk, Glarus Canton, Switzerland. This cheese is as unusual as the German spoken by the Swiss in Glarus. To make this novelty, fresh whole milk is skimmed and then heated and allowed to sour naturally, forming curds of cheese. These curds are pressed, dried and ground. The unusual color and flavor comes from blue fenugreek, known also as blue melilot. This special type of clover is added along with salt, and the powder is pressed into molds to form the trademark truncated cone. This is used primarily as a grating cheese or as an addition to spreads and butter; on its own it is simply too strong. It has a truly unique flavor and aroma, something akin to sage and honey crossed with hops and parmesan. Watch this space for Adventures in Schabziger.

Way Over the Top

One benefit of working in a gourmet grocer is the access to top quality ingredients for snack time. All I had to do was ask the butcher what cut of beef he would recommend for tartare, and voila, a nice slice of USDA Prime chuck roast was delivered to my station. It's not the most tender cut, but it was nicely marbled and it was free, so I'm not going to complain. I sliced it thinly and gave it a grind of pepper, a dash of salt, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Delicious.

I looked around my department for anything else that might be tasty with the raw delicacy, and lo and behold, a slice of foie gras made itself handy. I tucked a little into the beef and rolled it up for some outrageously decadent carpaccio. It's not something I'm likely to try at home, but I thought I'd share.