Holiday Biscotti

I've been making biscotti for Christmas gatherings and gifts every year since I found out Biscotti existed, sometime in graduate school I think.  After collecting and trying dozens of biscotti recipes over the decades, I keep coming back to one basic recipe (no butter, some vegetable oil, light on sugar) and then mix in whatever combination of extracts, spices, nuts, dried fruit, chocolate, etc, that strikes my fancy. 

This year I made 4 batches: anise with chocolate coating, dried cranberry and almond with white and dark chocolate coating, tiny chocolate chips and almond with dark chocolate coating, and a cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg, cloves (1/4 tsp each) and candied ginger version.  This picture shows a box of 28 that will be for my in-laws. 

basic biscotti recipe by Jandee on allrecipes.com  It is simple and works every time.  Dust your hands with flour when shaping the dough and it will magically turn into 2 rolls and then just pat them to size on parchment paper.

Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 25 Minutes Ready In: 40 Minutes Servings: 42

"This is a simple, no frills biscotti. My friend at work gave this recipe to me. It's quick, easy and one of my favorite Italian cookie recipes."

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 cup white sugar 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3 eggs 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 tablespoon anise extract, or 3 drops anise oil

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
2.	In a medium bowl, beat together the oil, eggs, sugar and anise flavoring until well blended. Combine the flour and baking powder, stir into the egg mixture to form a heavy dough. Divide dough into two pieces. Form each piece into a roll as long as your cookie sheet. Place roll onto the prepared cookie sheet, and press down to 1/2 inch thickness.
3.	Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. Remove from the baking sheet to cool on a wire rack. When The cookies are cool enough to handle, slice each one crosswise into 1/2 inch slices. Place the slices cut side up back onto the baking sheet. Bake for an additional 6 to 10 minutes on each side. Slices should be lightly toasted.

Garden's Last Day: Dec 17, 2011

It was cold, really cold, but it couldn't be put off any longer.  The last of the 2011 harvest consisted of 21 leeks, 3 big turnips, 4 small kohlrabi, and about 3-4 servings of broccoli. Also, enough turnip greens from the late planting, and a little kale that will be nice in a soup or dal. We still have some parsnips, potatoes, small beets and turnips that are really good roasted all together.  I roasted some last week with a berbere spice mixture (Ethiopean) I made a while ago and promptly forgot what was in it. It is like a sweet curry.  Mixing the roasted root vegetables with cooked red quinoa was a simple, but delicious dinner, with leftovers for lunch.

One Day's End of Garden Menu

Late October: Among other things, I harvested some turnips, beets, zucchini, garlic, parsley, thyme, mint this week.  I have tomatoes, onion, and garlic harvested earlier. We ate the turnip greens the other day, and today I made:

Roasted Turnips with Thyme and Garlic-
http://whatdidyoueat.typepad.com/what_did_you_eat/2006/01/roasted_turnips.html

Sauteed Zucchini, parmesan and mozzarela-
http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2007/06/cheesy-zucchini-with-garlic-and-parsley.html

Sauted then Baked Eggplant, Zucchini, Green Peppers, Tomato, Onion, Parmesan

http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Yummy-Vegetable-Casserole-Recipezaar

Roasted Chiogga Beets with Mint-(no raspberry vinegar though)
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chioggia-Beets-with-Raspberry-Mint-Vinaigrette-232297

Sauteed Beet Greens with Garlic

I also cut up one regular turnip and a tiny buttternut squash, so I am ready to make this later this week. http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2007/03/easy-south-beach-recipes-roasted.html

I also have 4 small roasted beets ready to eat within 3 days.

Non-recipe links

Although I have cooked a great many delicious meals with food from the garden, I haven't added anything in a while.  There is not enough time in the day to harvest, decide, cook, AND take pictures AND then write about it.

I am going to try using this blog to keep track of non-recipe links to sustainable agriculture, food, garden movement type websites and blogs. 

Future Farmers - Victory Gardens
Farm Together Now
passive solar house designs

2 Excellent No-Oven or Stove Zucchini Recipes

Here are 2 easy zucchini recipes. These are especially good on a day like today when it was too hot to cook and basil or other fresh herbs were also abundant.

Raw Zucchini Salad

With a peeler or a mandoline, shave zucchini the long way into long thin slices or slice into very thin rounds.
Dressing: Grated Lemon Peel and Juice from 1 lemon (at least 2 T), 2 T olive oil, and about 4 T of fresh herbs.  I used basil and chives, but other herbs, such as mint, parsley, dill, would be good too.  You could also add sprinkle some soft cheese, like goat or gorgonzola on top, although I did not.  Instead I added all 5 orange cherry tomatoes that ripened today.

The other recipe is just as simple although the zucchini is cooked. I grilled it outside.

Grilled Zucchini and Yellow Squash with Basil Parmesan dressing

Cut squashes in half.   Spray or rub olive oil on both sides and sprinkle salt and pepper.  Cook on gas grill on both sides until softer but where it will still hold a shape when you cut it into 1" pieces after it is cooked and cooled.  The cooking time depends on how big your squash is.  A normal sized zucchini probably only takes 10 minutes on hot grill.  (my big one took 20 minutes). Discard seeds if numerous.  Sprinkle and mix in 1/3 cup shredded parmesan, 1/2 cup chopped basil,  2 T balsamic vinegar and 2 T olive oil.  (recipe from Bon Appetit found on Epicurous.com)

Rhubarb Crisp from NY Times

I liked this recipe because it called for only 1/4 cup of sugar to 6 cups of rhubarb. Most other rhubarb crisp recipes have way too much sugar. The crisp topping adds more than enough sweetness.

Of course, I had to make modifications to Rhubarb Crisp - NY Times. I didn't use any lemon juice or zest in the rhubarb and less butter in the topping. The recipe called for pecans in the topping-I used ginger agave cashews because that is what I had in the freezer. The recipe called for 1.5 inch pieces of rhubarb. Mine were much smaller-maybe 1/2 inch. I also added some fresh ginger to the rhubarb, because I am on a ginger kick lately. Slightly less topping (less sugar) would be fine. My version:

6 cups rhubarb, cut into 1/2 or 1 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup fresh ginger, cut finely (optional)

5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup brown sugar (as little as 1/2 cup would probably be sweet enough if you like very tart)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, or to taste
Pinch salt
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup pecans or other nut. Perhaps it was the ginger agave cashews that made this so good.

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease an 8- or 9-inch square baking or gratin dish with a little butter. Toss rhubarb with white sugar, orange or lemon juice and zest, and spread in baking dish.
2. Put the 6 tablespoons butter in a food processor along with brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt, and pulse for about 20 or 30 seconds, until it looks like small peas and just begins to clump together. Add oats and pecans and pulse just a few times to combine.
3. Crumble the topping over rhubarb and bake until golden and beginning to brown, 45 to 50 minutes.

Mango Jack

A few months ago, we stopped at Harvest Spirits and sampled the Mango Applejack that distiller and owner Derek had concocted.  It was delicious, but not for sale, so he told me how I could easily make it at home.  I bought a bottle of applejack from him. The dried mango is from the Honest Weight Co-op.
 
On March 19, I started soaking about 1/2 pound of dried mango slices in pure Applejack (Batch 12, bottle 518).  I tasted it today, May 14.  It is sweet and ready to sip.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

My hankering for tart food started with this Sweet and Sour Chicken dish from guest blogger Jaden Hair at Elise's Simply Recipes. I used a green and yellow pepper, and sliced carrots, and served it with brown rice.

I made it Thursday thinking Phil would be returning home that night or Friday.   He is still helping out his parents, so I ate it for dinner Thursday and Friday, and lunch on Friday and Saturday, and there is still some left.   It was really good.

Tonight's Dinner complements of Anne's Food Blog

I found Anne's Food blog yesterday and I prepared 3 recipes from it for dinner tonght.  Anne is from Stockholm, Sweden. I really like her recipes' style and the unique search method she has for her recipes. I actually haven't eaten any of these yet, as I will bake the chicken and dress that zucchini, whenever Phil gets back from his parents sometime tonight.   If I cook from here often enough, maybe metric conversion will finally become second-nature.  For now, I use these cooking conversion calculators frequently.

I had 4 boneless chicken thighs that needed to be cooked and a bounty of rhubarb in the garden. Anne's recipe came up when I searched on those 2 ingredients together.

Boneless Chicken Thighs with Rhubarb, cream, chives, sambal oelek (dried chilies).   This picture is before baking.  My rhubarb is mainly green.  It tastes great, but red would be prettier. (Oops, I forgot to add the honey and already poured the liquid over the chicken and rhubarb, so I drizzled a little agave over it since that is not as thick as honey).

Red Potato Salad with yogurt, parsley, coriander, mint, capers, vidalia onion, and celery. (Anne used yellow onion, no celery)
 

Zucchini Ribbon Salad with french tarragon, dijon mustard, red wine vinegar.  This picture is just zucchini with a couple of tarragon leaves, before adding the dressing.

The Mango Chutney Carrot recipe comes from a different website-Taste of Home.  I used half the butter and sliced regular carrots into matchsticks. I didn't have any OJ or oranges, so I added less than a Tbsp of fresh lemon juice. I have also made this with raw shredded carrots with fresh squeezed orange, instead of cooked carrots and it was delicious.  http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Mango-Chutney-Baby-Carrots.

Rhubarb is Ready! Rhubarb Bars and Pickled Rhubarb

All of the rhubarb plants sprouted flowers that had to be cut off (twice, already). It seems like it only took 2 weeks from the first leaves poking out of the soil to ready to harvest.  

I need to make something for a work celebration next week, so I made a smaller test batch of Rhubarb Bars with a shortbread crust.  I prefer more tart, so less sugar than most recipes, like Brooke's recipe. I don't have a 7 x 11 pan so I used a large pie pan instead.  The combination of the tart topping with the sweet buttery crust is delicious.
 

I also made Pickled Rhubarb, as that also sounded oddly compelling. We'll see if anyone likes it.

The idea is to serve as part of a cheese platter, so I made one jar with diced rhubarb  where the pickled rhubarb is featured as part of a white asparagus salad).

The rhubarb for the other jar was sliced in 4 inch thin sticks, so you can eat them like pickles.  My version was based on this recipe from Pickle Girl who made huge batches for her wedding, or this one from Mother Jones, but with different spices and proportioned down to 1 cup of cider vinegar, 3/4 c sugar, 1.5 inch sliced ginger, a couple of Start Anise, a little dried red pepper flakes.  I cut enough rhubarb stalks to fill a 1/2 pint jar of with thin sticks of rhubarb and another 1/2 pint jar of diced rhubarb. Then pour pickling liquid to top and refrigerate after it cools.

Asparagus-Bacon Quiche with no Crust

This was a pretty, tasty, and easy Easter weekend brunch.

5 eggs, 1 cup milk, 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese mixed.
1 onion and 1 garlic clove sauteed.
8 slices bacon, cooked.
1 lb asparagus (8 spears trimmed to about 5 inches, rest cut to about 1 inch. Microwave 2 minutes.

Combine everything except the 8 asparaus spears and 2 strips of bacon.
Pour into buttered very large pie pan.  Mine is 11 inches across at the top.
Arrange the 8 asparagus spears like spokes on top.  Divide the 2 strips of bacon into 4 pieces each and place between spokes.

Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 35 minutes.

Strawberry Semifreddo

Semifreddo just means partially frozen.  There is no specific recipe-most seem to be a combination of fruit and whipped cream and various other ingredients, (eggs, yogurt, mascarpone cheese).  I just found out about semifreddo today, but it reminds me of the strawberry-rhubarb quark pie I recently created.  I had put that in the freezer for a little while just to set because my strawberry-rhubarb sauce was still warm, but then refrigerated the pie.   I think recipe will be more like a light ice cream.


My semifreddo recipe will be Easter dessert tomorrow, but I wanted to write down what I did before I forgot. 

4 cups partially thawed strawberries, slices, and pureed in food processor with 1/4 sugar.
1 cup Meadowbrook Farms heavy cream, whipped with about 1 T sugar and about 1/2 t vanilla.
2 egg whites, whipped until holds a peak.

Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap.
Put a layer of the strawberry puree in the pan. about 1/2 inch?
Combine the strawberry puree with the whipped cream. Fold in the whipped egg whites.
Add mixture to the loaf pan.
Cover with saran wrap and freeze.
Tomorrow, unmold upside down onto serving plate.
Slice and serve on individual plates.

I made some strawberry-rhubarb sauce the other day that I may serve on top.
May garnish with whole strawberries too.

Note: I am not afraid of these uncooked egg whites as I know where these brown eggs came from.  We'll see what happens when you freeze whipped egg whites in this dessert. I tried to cook the 2 yolks over a double boiler, but got distracted and got scrambled eggs, so I left the yolks out.  I saw recipes that cooked just egg yolks, no whites, and another that cooked and eggs whites and yolks together, and recipes with no eggs at all.  No loss not having egg yolks as that is less calories and the mixture tasted really good.

Easy Strawberry-Rhubarb Quark No-bake Pie

I made up this recipe, liked it a lot, so I made it again for Sandra's Birthday Cake, and this time took a picture.  I needed to use rhubarb and strawberries still in the freezer from last summer since we will soon have a new crop, plus I had a tub of Quark and a small bottle of Meadowbrook Farms heavy cream left over from baking for last week's fundraiser.   And a unopened box of graham crackers in the cabinet I don't even remember buying.

Crust: 1 package of graham crackers, crushed in food processor. Mixed in about 5 T melted butter, and patted into pie plate.  Put in freezer while preparing the rest.

Fruit:  In saucepan, bring to a boil, a large bag of frozen diced rhubarb and frozen strawberries.  Add some sugar.  Boil and stir until rhubard dissolves and becomes thick.  Sweeten to taste. Put some in a bowl and put in freezer to cool faster.  Maybe a 1 cup?

Quark Filling:  Beat 8oz heavy cream with a little sugar and vanilla.  Meadowbrook Farms cream is so thick, this takes all of 30 seconds.  Beat in Quark quickly and add more sugar to taste.  Stir in the cooled or chilled strawberry-rhubarb puree.   Pour into the pie crust and put in freezer to set for a little while.  When set, decorate top with more of the chilled strawberry-rhubarb mixture.

Made it again August 2012

Quark is low-fat, but adding the heavy cream does away with that benefit.  It might not be as light and fluffy, but it could probably be made by leaving out the heavy cream and using a little gelatin to make the quark not weep, and/or drain the quark before beating.  Any fruit would work, but I really love the tartness of strawberry-rhubarb.  When I asked Phil what he thought of this creation, he said, "well, I am cutting a 3rd slice right now..."

Cauliflower Dal with Panch Phoran

I made this exactly as SusanV at fatfreevegan.com wrote, except I added a pouch of turnip greens I had frozen last summer. I also used a bag of frozen cauliflower because I had that in the freezer.   Add the extra ground panch phoran near the end.  I am trying to use up everything in the freezer as it is the 2nd day of Spring and almost time to start planting spinach and other early crops.   Although you wouldn't know it as it snowed again this morning and is cold and grey outside.
http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2008/01/cauliflower-dal-with-panch-phoran.html

Curried Lentil Stews (Red or Brown)

I make variations of these recipes frequently during the winter.  It is very filling and makes good leftovers for lunch. Recipe inspirations are from  Kalyn's Kitchen blog, NY Times, and Gourmet (links to originals at bottom of post).  

THE BASICS
1.  Saute diced large onion, garlic, ginger.  Add diced celery and carrot if you want.

2. Add the spices you like. Some options:
     a) 1 T minced garlic, 2 tsp fresh ginger, 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp Garam masala, 1.5 tsp ground cardamon, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, 1 tsp cumin   3/4 cup celery
     b) 4 garlic cloves, minced, 1-inch piece fresh ginger root, peeled and grated, 1 1/2 teaspoons garam masala, 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder, 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and chopped
     c) 2 tablespoons peeled and minced ginger, 1 tablespoon mild curry powder (such as a mild Madras)*1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper,  1 carrot, 1 celery rib, diced.  (*this is not hot at all, it uses the sweet spices of cardamon, cinnamon, nutmeg, fennel, etc. see below for a recipe)

3. Add the Liquid and Lentils: 
4 to 5 cups chicken, beef, or vegetable stock, or even water will work
1 1/2 cups red lentils (NY Times recipe used regular dried (brown) lentils)

4. ADD one or a mixture of these VARIATIONS
    a) 1 can (15 oz) chickpeas, rinsed  and 1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes 
    b) 2 pounds (4 cups) sweet potatoes,in 1/2 cubes, 1 lb swiss chard
    c) 1.5 pounds (4 cups) butternut squash in 1/2 cubes, some spinach (or a box or even 1/2 box of frozen spinach)

5. Simmer for about an hour until it is consistency you like.  Add the greens about half-way through cooking time.

6. Add an ACID:  If you didn't use  tomatoes, add juice from 1/2 lime or a tsp or 2 of lemon juice.

7. OPTIONAL: Serve with brown rice,  sour cream or yogurt on top

REFERENCES:
a) Kalyn's Kitchen: Spicy Red Lentil and Chickpea Stew (Paula's Moroccan Lentil Stew):
http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/10/recipe-for-spicy-red-lentil-and.html 
b) NY Times: Curried Lentils With Sweet Potatoes and Swiss Chard: 
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/14/dining/142arex.html
c) Gourmet: Curried-Squash and Red-Lentil Soup: 
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Curried-Squash-and-Red-Lentil-Soup-351416#ixzz18EKgO8oT

A sweet curry recipe:
Directions:  Over Low heat in dry skillet, heat the seeds until most pop, then add the rest and heat until quite hot, but not burnt.  Run through coffee grinder or use mortar and pestle to crush seeds. Cool. Store in airtight jar.

8 tablespoons coriander seeds
6 tablespoons cumin seeds
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
4 tablespoons ground cinnamon
8 tablespoons peppercorns
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg (or allspice)
1 tablespoon whole cloves (I think I used ground cloves)
2 tablespoons ground cardamom
2 tablespoons turmeric
2 tablespoons ground ginger
1/2 tablespoon cayenne (or leave it out, you can always cayenne or chili powder to pot)

Ginger Bundt Cake with Ginger-Infused Strawberries

This is a modification of a Bon Appetit recipe (april 2009).  My version has half the butter, half the sugar, 1 less egg yolk, and uses fresh ginger instead of candied ginger, light sour cream instead of regular, and adds cinnamon and cardamon.

• Softened butter (for brushing pan)
• 1/4 cup raw sugar (turbinado)
• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons ground ginger, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp cardamon
• 2 teaspoons baking powder (I might up this to 3 tsp next time)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup applesauce
• 1 cup sugar and 1/2 cup splenda
• 4 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup light sour cream (I might use plain low-fat yogurt next time)
• 1/2 cup finely grated raw ginger

Ginger-Infused strawberries:

• 1 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled, very thinly sliced
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 quart strawberries, hulled, halved (about 4 cups). I halved strawberries while frozen.

For Cake:
1. Preheat to 350 degrees.  Brush 10-12 cup bundt pan with soft butter and sprinkle raw sugar to stick to all side of the buttered bundt pan.
2. Whisk together flour, ground ginger and any other spices, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. In electric mixer, beat butter until soft, continue to beat in sugar/sweetener, applesauce. 
4. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then vanilla.
5. Add flour mixture and sour cream in several batches on low speed.
6. Mix in grated ginger.
7. Spread batter in pan and bake about 55 minutes until tester comes out with just few small crumbs.
8. Cool up to 15 minutes in pan, use spatula around cake, remove from pan, and let finish cooling on a rack.
9. Dust powdered sugar on lightly for looks.

For Strawberries:
1. Ginger Syrup:  Combine, water, sugar, sliced ginger, and lemon juice in pan. Bring to boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. boil about 4 minutes.  Remove from heat, cool to room temperature.  Do not remove ginger yet.  Can be made 2 days ahead and refrigerated. 

2. If frozen, you can prepare gingered strawberries a day ahead; if fresh 2 hours before.  Place strawberries in bowl.  Strain ginger slices out of the syrup and pour the syrup over the strawberries.  Cover and chill at least an hour (if fresh), overnight if frozen or until the strawberries thaw and there is strawberry juice in the bowl.

3. Spoon strawberries and juice over cake slices so it soaks in.

4. Try to have just one serving.  The cake is really good even without the strawberries, but really delicious with the strawberries.

Why a recipe blog?

I am starting this recipe blog as a way to finally keep track of what I cook.  I rarely make the same thing twice, even though I have made some really different and delicious meals.   A binder got filled up years ago, unsorted recipes are jammed into it, various notebooks have recipes jotted down in my illegible hamdwriting, and recipe bookmarks are too unwieldy.  The final instigation to create this blog is not indicative of my cooking at all because I haven't made a cake in years. But this ginger cake is really compelling.  I think it will appeal to adults who don't care for sweet cakes.  It sure did appeal to Phil and me as it is almost gone already.

Most of my recipes involve using the vegetables from our ridiculously huge garden (there are only 2 of us), as well as some vegetables and fruits from local farms.  No ideologies here, but my cooking tends toward vegan, with indian or asian style spicing, few simple carbs, and no processed foods.  Meat is involved sometimes, usually in small portions mixed with vegetables.