Home-All-Day Beans

Now we are home all day, every day, thanks to COVID-19.  I'm a little distracted and I'm prone to teariness - is that what you're doing? I start something, walk off, and do something else, and stare into space, and burst into tears.

We are playing board games, doing chores, watching movies, eating our normal good food with extra desserts (morale booster!), and deliberately, consciously, running around in the fresh air every day. I am an introvert and a homebody, so overall, if I don't look too hard at what is causing this situation, I'm content to cuddle down and nest with my dear ones. 

So, the beans. I actually don't have a photo of these beans because they only look like black beans, a little bit soupy. Enjoy these photos of Phoebe playing her daddy Uno instead!

As I put the beans in my slow cooker this morning, I realized they are just absolutely what I want to be cooking in this strange time.  They are forgiving of my distraction, they do well with little check-ins throughout the day but they're fine without, they might get done early if the beans are fresh and then they can sit and wait for dinner.  They use pantry staples, and they are cheap and nutritious. They don't make a big mess, which is lovely because even though I have time - lots of time! -  to clean up the kitchen, I'd rather be sewing.  These beans are the kind of  simple, fundamental food we didn't realize we were craving.  They are creamy and salty and while they have flavor, they can be a side dish or the main dish of a meal.  Tonight we ate them spooned over cornbread with a crunchy purple cabbage salad with cilantro and lime and frying cheese. Also great next to garlicky greens and mac and cheese, or over rice with salsa.

Home-All-Day Beans
Put 1-3 cups dry beans, whatever color you like, in slow cooker in morning (I typically do 2 cups black beans in my 4-quart cooker).  Add water to cover by an inch or so.  Add a tablespoon or so of olive oil, a few shakes of cumin, a sliced garlic clove or two - I just slice it in my fingers with a paring knife, very quick and casual.  Turn on High. In an hour or so, stir the beans, add a little more garlic or cumin, and keep it all cooking.  I check on the beans intermittently, tasting and adding more garlic and cumin if I feel moved, and when they are almost soft, I add salt (the experts vary on when to salt cooking beans - eye roll - I get contrary sometimes and add it whenever I want to).  Sometimes I turn the cooker down to Low.  Sometimes I take the lid off mid-afternoon if the beans have more liquid than I meant them to have.

Phoebe lost the Uno game, can you tell? Be well, friends. Let's keep in touch and lift each other up.

Still Here

I have plans to knit myself a robin's egg blue hat.  I'm almost done with a pair of striped socks for Phoebe. 

The superintendent came to the PTO meeting tonight, and I am now fired up about inequitable school funding and considering more ways to get involved. Mr. Thrift is not pleased, as I run intense about stuff like this and he would prefer I calm down. I might.

The oldest has a new pet, a sweet little bunny,  that she worked long and hard to prepare for, but I was still out to the Amish stores yesterday to buy pellets and see about getting hay for her to burrow in. 

I bought the most beautiful, soft fabric at the creative reuse store the other day - I think, I dare to hope, it may be cashmere; the strongest, most declarative green  - not kelly, not dark green, just a strong, rich green green.  

I overheard a standholder at market say she needed to get rubberbands for the egg cartons, and I had a bag of rubber bands down to her the very next market day because I am oversupplied.  We were both tickled.  And this is also the stand that still has local storage veggies, which I am so grateful for because buying and eating local food is my act of defiance and hope in the face of very large world problems.  

Phoebe has had a dreadful cough and of course, it is worst at night and people are sleeping poorly around here. We read the news about the coronavirus with disbelief and worry. 

I do laundry every day.  I keep up!  I keep the family in good food.  I have a sore foot that is healing very very slowly, so I can't jog as much and this is changing my mental and physical health.  I do Pilates.  I try. 

Ben has soccer games and soccer practices just about all the time (it seems).  He just absolutely loves it, so I try to work on my attitude about driving him all over creation.  We carpool, and I take my knitting along, and I enjoy my boy enjoying himself. 

I am studying sourdough bread.  I have borrowed books on the subject, and one or two blogs I read.  I made a few notes.  I make something with sourdough every week, as I have for about 10 years now, but I am tweaking and understanding it differently, and the feel of the silky strong dough is pure delight in my hands. 

I finished Phoebe's quilt.  That does really need its own blog post. I'll be back.

Singapore Street Noodles

My husband found this recipe somewhere online and cooked it with Ben when it was Ben's turn to make supper.  Total keeper recipe!  We all love it. I've tweaked it a bit, and I've also subbed in whatever vegetables and protein I had on hand: the sauce is the important part.

I loved the street food scene in Crazy Rich Asians because I love food.  Eating Singapore Street Noodles gives me a tiny little connection to the food on screen.

To cook this recipe, do all the prep and chopping first.  Once the wok for the stir-frying part gets going, you won't have time to chop anything or untie a jump-rope or check a child's "cleaned" room or supervise screen time.  Or maybe that's just me.

Singapore Street Noodles

Cook and set aside:
16 oz. pasta or rice noodles, skinny strands preferred - toss with 1 Tbsp. sesame oil after cooking to prevent sticking

Mix and set aside:
1/2 cup oyster sauce

2 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. ketchup
1 Tbsp. rice vinegar
2 Tbsp. curry powder
1 tsp. sriracha, or to taste (some of us add more at the table)

Stir fry in large skillet or wok over high heat:
2 Tbsp. oil
8 oz. chopped, raw chicken breast

Add and cook for 2 minutes:
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 cup thinly sliced cabbage
1/2 cup julienned carrots
2 tomatoes, diced

Add:
8 oz. peeled raw shrimp
sauce

Stir and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Add cooked noodles - use tongs to lift and toss and combine well for 2-3 minutes.

Turn off heat.  Add:
1/2-1 cup chopped cilantro
4-5 spring onions in 1" lengths

Notes: I don't usually use chicken.  I use more shrimp or sub tofu or mushrooms. Boneless skinless chicken breasts are super-expensive if you buy local, organic chicken; the reasonable price is a whole chicken, and I can't be bothered to skin and bone a breast for this.

New Cookbook Review: The Food in Jars Kitchen

The Food in Jars Kitchen is a cookbook after my own heart: it uses little bits of food in clever, flexible ways and gives the home-canned pantry lots of work to do.  I've been keeping track over the years of what my family eats, so I've cut back on making jam because we don't go through much toast and jam.  Marisa is evangelical about people like me in her Introduction - there's so much more to do with jam than toast! She is giving me an "empty-jar-to-empty jar education."

When my copy came in the mail, I put my nose in it and my pencil to paper as I jotted down all the recipes I could make right away.  There are so many! I did make three before I wrote this post, and I will make all of them again.

Also, please note: I received this book free as a review copy, but my opinions and my decision to write a review are my own.

First, I made Popunders.  Isn't that the most adorable name? I made them one morning at breakfast time and while we did, indeed, spoon a little jam in their little hollows, I could also see a dab of cheese or pesto or a bit of anything that I would put on bread.  Popunders are super-fast to whip up, sugar-free, made with pantry staples and standard muffin pans, and just need 20 minutes in the oven, no-preheating needed.

 Even though Marisa recommends them hot from the oven, we found they made a perfectly fine snack at room temperature a few hours later.

For a family gathering, I made the Concord Grape Butter Pizza with Camembert.  Oh! that was delicious! When I make and can grape juice in the fall, I use the spent skins to make grape butter, so I've got plenty of grape butter on hand.

I followed Marisa's pizza crust recipe instead of using my standard favorite, and it was the perfect thickness and texture for its toppings as well as easy to make and handle.  Marisa also explains the ratio of sweet spread to cheese to green topping which is helpful to cooks who want to go off-recipe.  I used Brie instead of Camembert and chopped arugula instead of baby arugula.  So, so, so delicious. I will definitely be making this for future neighborhood potlucks.

Yesterday, I made Marisa's Jam-Lacquered Chicken Wings for supper (excellent name!). I buy whole chickens and when I cut them up to cook, I've been collecting the wings separately in the freezer.  I've never made wings before, just threw them into stock, but I was determined to try since Ben has requested wings several times. 

Marisa's recipe was very clear and produced excellent results.  I didn't know meat can literally cook under the broiler - I typically just use the broiler to brown something.  But the wings cooked under the broiler exactly as Marisa indicated.  To paint the wings, I finished up jars of fig jam and grape butter and added some tomato jam as well as enough runny pepper jam (from 2013! it was waiting for its destiny) to give them a nice kick.

Next time, I will salt the wings on both sides and also broil them on both sides to increase the caramelization.  I find it annoying to get my fingers so messy for such a little bit of  (ok, delicious) meat, but my family was loving these wings, so ok, I do love seeing my people enjoy their food. Too bad my fingers were too sticky to operate my camera!

There is really a lot more to love in this cookbook.  I'm going to use my onion jam in a Goat Cheese Savory Jam Tart, and I'm going to consider all the options for a jar of apple butter that I don't think we will spread on toast.  I appreciate Marisa's inclusion of some basic canning recipes in the final section because I have a deep yearning for Orange Marmalade Ice Cream and no marmalade in my pantry.

 I have two small quibbles with the book, both of which are typical of me and typical of most cookbooks being published (and probably not Marisa's decisions, either).  I prefer spiral bound cookbooks for kitchen use because it's tricky to get a stiff hardcover book to stay open while I cook. But good job keeping the recipes mostly on the same spread! It's also very tricky to turn pages between ingredient list and instructions while cooking.   I also prefer a very detailed index that includes major ingredients as entries so that I can look up recipes based on the ingredients they use, not just the recipe name or type.

I highly recommend the Food in Jars Kitchen cookbook.  It's beautiful to look at and full of recipes for daily cooking - from quick-the-kids-need-a-snack to the fancy-food potluck happening on the weekend. 

Beet Sauce

Now the local produce is dwindling from the root cellars.  I'm not that interested in shipped produce, especially imported with its high carbon footprint.  So I'm still buying roots and sometimes even finding new, delicious ways to prepare them. 

Here is beet sauce, from The New Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen.  I have actually blogged about it before, but I'll give you a clearer recipe and some more ideas.  Because it is absolutely delicious - the best idea of Harvard beets without the syrupy over-sweetness.

I bought a quart of beets recently at market.  I put them all in a covered casserole and baked them until they were soft, then rubbed off their skins in cool water while they were hot. You can do this in a slow cooker, too. 

Two of the beets went into the sauce.  Then I also took two beets and two wrinkly apples and chopped them up, adding a little mayo and some toasted walnuts:  beet and apple salad from the More With Less.  Perfect next to shepherd's pie and broccoli.

The remaining beets will probably be used as vegetables in a green salad, although it's easy to dress cooked beets with a vinaigrette, sprinkle with feta or blue cheese, maybe some walnuts, and serve on a bed of greens.

Beet Sauce
2 medium beets, cooked and peeled, roughly chopped

Add to blender with:
1/2 cup orange juice
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp. cider vinegar
2 tsp. honey
1/2 tsp salt
several grinds black pepper

Puree.  Taste.  Add a little something if needed (I can assure you, I am not getting out teaspoons and tablespoons for this! I am using glugs and dollops). Katzen also recommends minced fresh mint or tarragon, which I have never bothered with.

Serve this sauce room temperature with hardboiled eggs, macaroni and cheese, semolina gnocchi, or something potato-y.  Even avocado toast. . .

What do you do with beets?

Red Hammer Soup

The inspiration for this soup comes directly from Rebecca, who served me a hot virgin bloody mary this winter.  It was fantastic, sipped directly out of pretty china cups, with chicken-salad sandwiches and chips.

 I have never liked this name for a drink, even though I do really love the drink (tomato juice anything, really), so I did a little sleuthing.  Back in 1942, a bloody mary was called a red hammer.  So that's what I'm renaming this splendidly versatile soup.

Red hammer soup brightens up a winter menu as a soup, yes, or an appetizer cup, or even just a vegetable to go next to pesto and pasta and green salad, as we had it here.

 Essentially, make any virgin bloody mary and heat it up: now it's a red hammer, ok?  This is how I make mine, although the measurements are guesses.  I add the seasonings, taste, and adjust.

Red Hammers
Heat together:
1 quart tomato-soup base* (see recipe here)
2 tsp. Worcestershire
1/2 tsp. celery seed
1/4 tsp. Tabasco (or add individually if you have spice-adverse eaters)

Serve hot to sip in mugs, or in bowls garnished with chilled, diced shrimp or chopped celery and onion.
Other ideas of add-ins or garnishes: squeeze of fresh lime juice, minced parsley, Old Bay seasoning, oyster crackers

*I think you could absolutely start with something other than homemade tomato-soup base.  I'm using what I have.  Try pureeing fresh or canned tomatoes, or use tomato juice or V8.

Sheet-Pan Meatballs with Lemon Yogurt and Onions

The reason to make these sheet-pan meatballs and chickpeas is for the flavors.  It's got several steps and components to the meal (unlike sheet-pan chicken which blew my mind with its simplicity and flavor, and so far no sheet-pan meal has topped that). 

I got the recipe from Smitten Kitchen and tweaked it a bit to make it even easier.  As is the case with sheet-pan meals, we all loved it, so that's an incentive to go through a few extra steps.  I also like how meat is present here but not dominant. 

Besides the meatballs, chickpeas, yogurt, and onions, we also had steamed broccoli and French bread. I have some big kid appetites to reckon with.

Also, the yogurt with salt, pepper, and lemon juice was a real revelation. I've since salted and peppered plain yogurt a few times just because it was so delicious. 

Sheet-pan Meatballs and Chickpeas with Lemon Yogurt and Onions

Mix and set aside (I did this in early afternoon and kept it in the fridge until suppertime):

1 lb. ground beef

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

1/4 cup plain yogurt

1/2 tsp. salt

1 egg

2 minced garlic cloves

1/2 tsp. ground coriander

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. turmeric

1/4 tsp. cayenne, more or less, to taste

Prepare the lemon yogurt and lemon onion toppings and set aside. 

Mix:

1 cup plain yogurt

zest and juice of half a lemon

1/4 tsp. salt

few grinds fresh pepper

Mix:

half a large onion, sliced thinly

zest and juice of half a lemon

1/4 tsp. salt

few grinds fresh pepper

Now to cook! On a sheet pan, combine:

3-4 cups cooked chickpeas

1 tbsp. fennel seed

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. turmeric

half a large onion, sliced

2 Tbsp. olive oil

salt, pepper

Toss to coat.  Roast at 400F for 25 minutes. Form 1" meatballs while the chickpeas roast. Place meatballs on top of chickpeas after 25 minutes are up, and roast again for about 15 minutes, until meatballs are cooked through. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup chopped cilantro. Serve hot with lemon yogurt and lemon onions.  Bread or pita on the side is really great. 

A Real Winter Soup

Happy New Year, everybody! I am done with cookies and meat and cheese balls.  Let's put a pot of real old-fashioned soup on the stove because it is so cold outside that school has been canceled for the day (yes, really, how ridiculous).

I love making a pot of soup that stays on the stove for a long time, throwing in some more veggies as I run through the kitchen, tasting a bit later and adding more something.  Worcestershire sauce or fish sauce is a bit of soup magic.  Or freshly ground pepper or a bay leaf.  I love building the flavors of soup over a few hours.  Throw in a loaf of fresh bread because I'm home all day out of the cold, and that is why I love winter suppers.

I had some radish tops, so I put them in the borsch too.  And look at Phoebe, just totally happy with her new easel in the winter sun. Her big thing these days is dressing and undressing; it's rarely appropriate to the circumstances, which cracks us all up.

Russian Borsch - from the More With Less with tweaks by me, and please taste and tweak as you go along; I tried to accurately record what I did, but ultimately, soup-making is an art which varies with mood and pantry realities

If you have a beef bone, preferably a meaty, fatty bone, from roast beef, simmer it in 2 quarts water in a soup pot for at least 12 hours with 1 tsp. salt and 1 Tbsp. vinegar. I did mine 18 hours, starting the night before. (More With Less recommends a mutton neck or lamb bones - good for you if you can get those). And if your cupboard is bare and you have no bone, use whatever meat stock or broth you have.

Take out and discard the bone. Add to the stock:
1 large onion, chopped
2 big potatoes, diced
1 medium red beet, shredded
1 cup pureed tomatoes
1 tsp. fresh-ground pepper
1 dried red pepper
3 bay leaves
1 Tbsp. dill seed

Simmer covered for 1 hour or so. Taste, and if the broth seems thin, I like to add some powdered beef bouillon instead of just salt.

Add:
4 cups shredded green cabbage
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 tsp. dillweed

Simmer another 30 minutes or so.  Taste and add more salt if needed (or a splash of Worcestershire!). Serve with dollops of plain yogurt or several tablespoons of heavy cream in each bowl. When you stir it in, the borsch will turn creamy red-purple, which is exactly what I remember from Russia.

The Very Interesting Patagonian Hot Dog

I love to eat adventurously, but I don't have many adventures when it comes to hot dogs.  I usually have some combination of ketchup, mustard, chopped onion, pickle relish, and sauerkraut.

 But when I read about the Patagonian hot dog, I started hunting down ingredients immediately because I am inevitably attracted to weird recipes.  I am excited to tell you that this one is a winner!

Patagonia is the region at the bottom of South America (Chile and Argentina), and apparently, these toppings make up their standard hot dog.  I did ask my aunt who lives in Ecuador if she had heard of them, and she hadn't, so maybe the Patagonian hot dogs are skipping over the rest of South America and enthralling the USA.

You will need:

avocado mayo (recipe below)

sauerkraut

chopped tomatoes

chopped cilantro

hot dogs

hot dog buns

Put all these toppings on a grilled hot dog and you may not even think of ketchup and mustard for hot dogs again.  So good!  I even bought a can of sauerkraut for these dogs since my homemade stuff is long gone and the fall cabbages are a ways off yet.  

Avocado Mayo

In a food processor, puree:

1 ripe avocado, peeled and pitted

1/3 c. mayonnaise

1 Tbsp. pickled jalapeno (or use fresh jalapeno and add some vinegar or lemon juice)

1 scallion, chopped

1 garlic clove

pinch salt

1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper

Notes: Feel free to adjust the spiciness level to your liking, although mine turned out spicy and it was so good that way (but too much for Phoebe, sadly). The avocado mayo will keep in the fridge for about a week.  It's an excellent condiment for sandwiches or atop rice and beans or slathered on tomato slices.

Sheet-Pan Chicken is Hot and So is the Weather

It was 97 degrees F in the shade at our house today, but I still need to tell you about this chicken recipe before I forget (and shout out to Sarah, where I saw the link to the recipe first).  It is fabulous, a total crowd-pleaser and a cook-pleaser because it's so easy.  The vegetables get roasted and, in spots, caramelized; the vegetables under the chicken are bathed in drippings as well. The chicken is juicy, tender, and perfectly savory from the salt.  The crisp chicken skin is highly coveted.

The first time I made this chicken, my family exclaimed over and over - my husband even said it was the best chicken he ever had.  Whoa, baby!  The big kids begged me to make it again.

However, I will not be making this chicken again until the weather cools down because you crank the oven up to 500 degrees for almost an hour to make it.

I think it's kind of an internet sensation right now, sheet-pan chicken, and for all good reasons.  When it's not so stinkin' hot, I will be looking for variations because this will go into heavy rotation in the winter at my house.

Simple Sheet-Pan Chicken and Veg
Ingredients:
--1 chicken thigh per person, bone-in and skin on
--assorted vegetables that take well to roasting - root veg as well as onions, broccoli, green beans
--salt, pepper, some dried rosemary (optional)

Prepping the Pan:
I made 5 thighs on a half-sheet pan (13x18 rimmed baking sheet) with a crowded single layer of vegetables underneath.  It's important to have the veg crowded together so they don't burn to a crisp, but also important to have a single layer so they can be caramelized (yes! yum!) in spots. So, size your pan according to how many veggies you want to use.
You can line it with heavy-duty foil if you want even less clean up (regular foil just peels up with the veggies when you try to serve them - you can learn from my experience!).  I didn't line it with foil the second time and the clean-up was still very easy as long as you're willing to break out a Brillo pad.

Method:
Cut veggies into large bite-sized pieces.  Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, and some dried rosemary if you wish, and spread in single, thick layer on rimmed baking sheet.
Lay the chicken thighs skin side down on the veg.  Sprinkle each one generously with salt.  Flip the thighs over, peel back the skin, and salt the thighs generously UNDER the skin.  Pull the skin back into place.  Pat the skin dry with a paper towel or old kitchen towel. This will make amazingly crispy skin.
Bake the chicken and veggies at 500F for 50 minutes.  No need to stir, check, or bother for that whole baking time.  Serve hot.  We like a side of coleslaw or something vinegary on the side.  Shown here was steamed asparagus with lemon juice.