Menu Monday and recipe 18 (and last day of April!)

It's a little nuts to think that April has come to a close, but here we are.  Tomorrow is May 1st, which means the end of my "month of cooking," which didn't really happen quite as planned.  But, since I'm not actually intending to stop cooking, I think that's probably OK.  I'll do an overview of the month sometime this week, but for now, I think I can safely say that, despite the fact that I didn't cook every day, April was a success.  However, going forward, I'm going to stop numbering my recipes. :)

We put our CSA subscription on hold this week because we have a ton of stuff still to use up, so this week, the goal is to cook with the wide variety of random veggies in the fridge.  The tentative plan is as follows.

Monday: Black bean chili with TVP (textured vegetable protein)
Tuesday: Potato pancakes with green garlic, braised greens on the side
Wednesday: Roasted veggies (beets, sweet potatoes, and carrots)
Thursday: Probably nothing
Friday: Depends on amount of leftovers.  Maybe I'll try those black bean burgers I mentioned before but never did make.
Saturday: I want to make dessert of some kind!  Still have that sopapilla recipe to try, and Cindy also gave me a recipe for this delicious baked glutinous rice pudding.  So maybe one of those.
Sunday: Something mushroomy.  I'm thinking of trying a balsamic mushroom recipe with spaghetti squash, since we've got another one living in the fridge.

So, for whatever reason, I've been craving chili for the last week or so. It's really not chili weather here, what with the triple digit weather, but it's what I wanted.  We had dried black beans from the CSA from a while ago, and last week, we got another baggie of beans.  Given that it's only gonna get hotter over the next several months, I figured I may as well use the beans and make chili now. 

Black bean vegetarian chili with TVP
Ingredients
2 cups black beans (I used dry beans, so I'll include the long-soak method in the recipe)
1 cup TVP
6 cups veggie broth
3 medium onions
1 head garlic
2 cans (14.5 oz each) stewed tomatoes (Italian recipe is what I use)
1 can tomato paste
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
3ish tablespoons coriander seed
3-5 tablespoons cumin
3-5 tablespoons chili powder
salt to taste

The night before, wash and sort your beans, taking out any dirt, gravel, or shriveled or discolored beans.  Put the beans in a soup pot and cover with lots of water.  Leave overnight, 8-12 hours.  When you're ready to start cooking, drain the beans, return to soup pot, and cover with about 5 cups of the veggie broth.  Bring to a boil, allow to boil vigorously for about 10 minutes, then turn down the heat so they boil steadily but not vigorously.  Partially cover the pot (this is important, it prevents the liquid from evaporating!) and allow to cook for about 25 minutes.

In the meantime, bring the remaining cup of broth to a boil and in a separate bowl, soak the TVP in it for 5-10 minutes (it's OK to leave longer until you're ready for it).

While that's all happening, chop the onions.  Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large pan and add the onions.  Cook for about 7-8 minutes.  Mince the garlic and add it, along with salt and about half the spices.  Cook for another 5-10 minutes, until the onions are soft.  Add the tomatoes with their juice, tomato paste, and TVP and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

When the beans are starting to be tender, uncover the pot.  Add the onion-tomato-TVP mixture and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the remainder of the spices (or more or less, as you wish) and cook until the beans are fully tender but not mushy, stirring occasionally.  Serve with cheese on top if you have it (we didn't) or whatever other garnish people like for chili.

Nice big bowl of chili!

Recipe summary
Time: Not counting pre-soaking the beans, it took about 1.5 hours, with about 45 minutes being mostly hands-off.
Serves: 8, easy.  It's quite filling.
Highlights/thoughts: I have to make sure to cook the beans for longer on their own, and to cover or partially cover the pot while doing so.  My beans turned out a little undercooked, and I think it's because too much of the liquid evaporated (and then I added tomato, which is acidic and stopped the cooking process).  They weren't so undercooked as to be unedible, and I'm glad they didn't turn out mushy instead, but still.  Oh, and I probably used about 1/3 of the beans I made and just froze the rest.  Also, the TVP isn't totally necessary, but it adds a nice meat-like texture and some extra protein.
Would I make this again?  Yes, though I'm not attached to using dried beans, or black beans.  The flavor was similar to my tortilla soup, which I make with garbanzo beans, so I might try that next time.
Nutrition Facts (per serving): I've just started using a cite recommended to me by Cindy's sister Emily, and it allows you to build custom recipes by entering ingredients from its database (or adding your own if you know the nutritional info).  I don't promise that I'll do this for every recipe, but I figure I'll include it when I bother to calculate it for myself.

Calories: 288.9

Total Fat 10.7g

  Saturated Fat 1.5g

Cholesterol 0mg

Sodium 799.5mg

Total Carb 38.2g

  Dietary Fiber 11.8g

  Sugars 12g

Protein 13.6g

Menu monday and recipe 17

I'm clearly falling behind with recipes this month, but I realized early on that would happen, so I'm not too surprised or distressed.  This week will be short as far as recipes go, as well.  I'm super busy the next few days, and then on Friday, we drive to LA to go to Ren Faire with Cindy!  Weeeee!  So excited by this!  But, it does mean that I'm unlikely to cook anytime on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.  Also, I need to make sure I don't have a ton of leftovers in the fridge when we leave for the weekend.  Also, Mu suggested we celebrate me being done with my first (most stressful) draft of my dissertation proposal.  And my friend Jane suggested dinner on another day.  So, this week will be less a week of recipes and more...two days.  Huh.  Well, I do intend to keep doing this past April, so I guess it's not the end of the world.  With all that, here's the plan for the next few days.

Monday: Sweet potato fries and salad (not really new)
Tuesday: Probably nothing, since Mu and I are gonna go to dinner, but I may cook something small to have lunch on Wednesday.  Oh, and I'll do fruit tupperwares again.
Wednesday: Either dinner with Jane or potato pancakes from last week, this time with green onions
Thursday: See Wednesday :)
Friday: Nothing, we'll be driving all day.  Although if we can't leave right after my lab meeting, I may cook something for the road.
Saturday: Nothing, unless Cindy wants to cook with me in the evening.
Sunday: Not sure.  Maybe soup when we get home?  We'll certainly need dinner when we get home, but will I really want to cook?  Unclear.

Yummy salad! Now if only I had bread for croutons...

So, today I spent most of the day finishing up the first draft of my proposal, which took an inordinate amount of mental energy.  After that, I really didn't want to do anything requiring a ton of effort.  Last week, we got sweet potatoes from the CSA, as well as romaine lettuce, arugula, and radishes, and I had tomato and cucumber and avocado at home...so, salad and sweet potato fries it was!  I really don't feel that I can count the salad as a recipe, since I've done it so many times and it's really not a cooked dish, but the sweet potato fries certainly count.

Sweet Potato Fries
Ingredients
3 sweet potatoes (or however many you have)
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
paprika (or whatever other spice you want)

Preheat the oven to 450F.  Wash the sweet potatoes really well so that there's no dirt on the skin.  You can peel if you want, but the skin is yummy and nutritious, so you really shouldn't.  Cut off the very thin ends so that they don't burn.  Slice each potato in half, then in half again and then again.  You can cut thinner and smaller if you want -- I did, but I don't think it's absolutely necessary.  In a bowl, toss the potatoes with the olive oil, salt, pepper, and spices.  Make sure the pieces are coated.  Spread them out on a baking sheet so that they're in one layer.  Bake for 15 minutes, turn each piece over, and bake for 15 more.  Cool slightly (but not too much) before serving.

Hanging out, cooling down

Recipe summary
Time: 40 minutes, 30 hands-off
Serves: 3 as a main dish (with salad)
Highlights/thoughts: I'm not a frequent sweet potato eater, and I'm really not sure why.  These were easy and delicious and filling, and went surprisingly well with my green salad.  Yum.
Would I make this again? Yes!  I expect to get more sweet potatoes from the CSA in the coming weeks, and I think this is the perfect thing to do with them. 

A menu plan and recipes 10, 11, and 12

 So, I've decided that at this point, the cooking theme needs to be "make things from CSA veggies."  It's hard for me to work all the different things into some kind of coherent theme, so I figure, I should just focus on using the stuff we get.  That said, I want to do a few Indian things this week to at least try them out.  So, the plan is as follows, and we'll see if it works.

Monday: Veggie stock.  Also, arugula spaghetti and balsamic vinegar pearls!
Tuesday: Potato pancakes with green garlic, plus maybe a side of braised greens
Wednesday: Homemade paneer (Kinda scary!  Let's see if it works...)
Thursday: Saag paneer, if the paneer works out.  If not, I'll make some dish with the spinach.
Friday: Not sure yet, but likely nothing, since I'll probably have lots of leftovers.
Saturday: nothing -- I'll be at a conference all day and at a Yo Yo Ma concert at night.
Sunday: Maybe black bean tacos?  I've got dried black beans to use, though those will keep.  Or maybe something with the spaghetti squash that came in the CSA share.

Now, on to the recipes. As you can see from above, I finally tried molecular gastronomy!  Before I talk about it, I promised Cindy I'd share this conversation she and I had last week about it.  Here it is, in its ridiculous glory:

me: people are a little silly

 unrelated, but my sister got me a molecular gastronomy starter kit for my birthday!

 so i can now make round blobs and foams and random-flavor noodle-looking things!

 Cindy: hahahahaahah

  oh man

  that is the best descriptor of mo-gas ever!

  so true

 me: haha, i'm glad you like it :)

  i haven't tried it yet, but that's certainly my impression of the whole thing

Cindy: yeah

 me: i'm very excited by this, it seems appropriately ridiculous

 Cindy: same here

 me: i'm gonna have to find time to watch the recipe dvd, because it's really something that requires watching and not just reading, at least for me

 Cindy: yeah

  i don't think it's something that you just trial and error

  unless you want a flavorless blob of foam noodle

 me: hahaha, and even then, you probably have to get the additives right

 or you might get random chemical mess, instead

 Cindy: yeah

  like why not just open up the under-the-sink cupboard

  and eat some of that stuff

 me: i hope that the additives that came in my kit are less poisonous...

 Cindy: hahaha

  me too!

 unless your sister is trying to secretly poison you

 me: well, in which case think geek would be secretly trying to poison us all

 Cindy: oh

  yes

  the robots got control of think geek

  and are trying to kill off the human race

 me: that's concerning

  what did the human race ever do to them?

  i guess they're only trying to kill off the foodie subsection

  maybe they're jealous because they can't have awesome food?

 Cindy: yes

  oil and electricity can't be very tasty

 me: but maybe their palates have evolved to enjoy it?

 Cindy: i suppose that's possible  

Despite these suspicions, I decided to finally try my new kit,and the results were awesome and ridiculous.  So, the kit came with tools (a syringe, tubing, a slotted spoon, a pipette, and measuring spoons), a bunch of additives, and a dvd of recipes.  Of the 50 recipes, I decided to try arugula noodles and balsamic vinegar pearls.

Arugula noodles in their tubes

I watched the videos for each one several times and wrote down the recipes, which was helpful.  The only problem was, the recipes were really not that detailed.  Now, after having tried the whole thing, I looked the recipes up online and found a much more detailed version.  So, instead of typing them out, I'll link you to them, since you really kinda have to have all the details.

Arugula Noodles

Balsamic Vinegar Pearls

Balsamic vinegar...clumps

Molecular gastronomy snack!

 All in all, it was an entertaining experiment, and I'm looking forward to trying more recipes and different techniques.  I wish I had used more arugula and actually salted it (the linked recipe says to do so, but mine didn't).  My pearls looked less like pearls and more like clumps -- I think I didn't cool the oil long enough.  But it tasted good, and both Mu and I were highly amused.  All in all, it didn't take very much time at all.  The oil had to be put in the freezer ahead of time, but the rest of the steps took about 15 minutes, total.  Granted, I didn't do a large serving, but still, that's pretty good.  The really nice thing about it being so quick is that I feel OK about experimenting with more random recipes -- it doesn't feel like I'm wasting time.

You can see how the pearls aren't pearly

I'm not sure if the veggie stock ought to count as a recipe, but I'll go ahead and count it, since it's different from the mushroom stock of last week.  I don't have a picture -- veggie stock isn't that exciting -- and I'll do it in a more casual format, since it really isn't a formal recipe.

Basically, what I did was save veggie trimmings over the last week.  I ended up with lettuce cores, some beet greens that didn't get used, some stems from a now-forgotten green and onion peelings.  I added another whole onion and a head of garlic to start, some kale that was going to go bad before I could use it, chard stems from chard I haven't used yet, stalks that I won't use from green garlic, two leftover green onions, and a bit of dill.  I browned the onion and garlic, then added everything else in small batches, giving it a minute or so to cook down.  Then, I added enough water to cover the whole mess, about 5 quarts.  I brought to a boil, added salt, pepper, and pasta sprinkle, then reduced to simmer for about an hour.  Like with the other stock, this ones needs straining.  It cooked down a bit, so I ended up with a little under 4 quarts that I'll freeze.  The flavor was OK but somewhat bland, but that's what I want in a stock, so I don't mind.  I still want to add a bay leaf or two next time, but I haven't had a chance to get any.