GOOD EATERS

Edamame Hummus and Pita

2008-08-03T11:27:00.007-06:00

This morning I decided to put our brand new stand mixer (thanks estie!) to good use and made homemade pita and edamame hummus. This is my favorite appetizer at Rice in New York and it was exciting to try and recreate it. We were pretty happy with the results- maybe next time a little less lemon in the hummus? a little longer second rising for the pita? Otherwise... perfectly delicious.

Edamame Hummus
1 1/2 C shelled cooked edamame (frozen? boil in salted water for 5 min.)
1/4 C tahini
1/4 C water
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1 1/2 T fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 1/2 lemon)
1 clove garlic, smashed
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp coriander
3 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T chopped cilantro (or flat-leaf parsley)

Puree edamame, tahini, water, lemon zest and juice, garlic, sea salt, cumin, coriander and cilantro until very smooth. Drizzle in 2 T olive oil. Transfer to bowl and top with remaining olive oil. Serve with pita bread or cut veggies.

Pita bread (from James Beard's Beard on Bread)
2 packages active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
2 C warm water (100 to 110 degrees)
1/4 olive oil
1 1/2 T salt
6 C hard-wheat flour
cornmeal

Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 C warm water with the sugar in a large bowl and let proof for about 10 min. Place in stand mixer bowl and add the remaining 1 1/2 C warm water, along with the oil, salt, 5 C flour, one cup at a time, mixing vigorously (use dough hook). Kneed the dough for at least 10 min, or until it is smooth and elastic. Shape into a ball, place in a buttered bowl, and turn to coat with butter on all sides. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place, for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until doubled.

Punch down the dough, turn out onto a floured board, and allow to rest for 10 min. Cover the balls with a cloth or foil and let rest for 30 min. Flatten each ball with a well-floured rolling pin and roll to 1/8 inch (about 8in circles). Dust a baking sheet with with cornmeal, and place two rolled out doughs onto the sheet. Cover and let rest again for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Put baking sheet on bottom rack for 4-5 minutes (do not open). Then move to middle rack and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, until puffed and slightly brown.

Remove immediately from tray and wrap in foil. This last step will keep the pita soft and stop it from drying up and cracking. Serve with edamame hummus!

Chickpea Quesadillas

2008-08-03T11:22:00.004-06:00

Hello! Its been a long, long time. Despite the absence, there has been a lot of cooking going on here! Here's the first of hopefully many (more frequent) posts to come...

We were so excited to have Samina with us for the past two weeks in Ann Arbor. The weather was really beautiful, so we were able to eat on our front porch in the evenings. One of my favorite ways to eat! This evening, we all wanted something easy and delicious- chickpea quesadillas. I made it up a while back and knew the basic proportions, though they are easy to tweak to your own tastes.

To make the chickpeas:
Heat 1-2T olive oil in a large frying pan.
Add 1/2 chopped yellow onion, 2 cloves crushed and minced garlic, 1 tsp cumin/coriander blend, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 3/4 hot finger pepper (de-seeded and finely chopped), 1 tsp sea salt.
Saute until onions are soft and translucent.
Add 3 chopped tomatoes and cook until soft and sauce begins for form.
Add 1T adobo sauce (available canned in most grocery stores- with the chiles).
Add 1 large (I think 24 oz?) can of well rinsed and de-skinned chickpeas.
Bring to a boil, then simmer on very low for about 20-25min, until all the flavors are well incorporated. Stir every so often, mashing a few chickpeas into the side of the pan to thicken the sauce.

Then compose the quesadillas:
Each one has about 1/3 cup of the chickpeas, 1/4 grated pepper jack cheese, 2T fresh salsa, 1 tsp guacamole (or mashed avocado), 1 tsp chopped cilantro.

Heat a large flat frying pan and brush each side of the quesadilla with a little olive oil.
Fry on each side for about 2min on med-low heat (until lightly browned and crispy) and serve immediately, garnished with an extra bit of cilantro if you like.

We ate ours with chips/salsa/guacamole and amazing watermelon.

Congratulations Dahlia and Shiv!

2007-12-04T22:33:00.000-06:00

Dahlia and Shiv got married last weekend in Pittsburgh. It was a beautiful wedding for one of the most lovely couples I know. I am so happy for you both and hope you are enjoying a very glamorous honeymoon in San Francisco.

I have been cooking new recipes every night for nearly three weeks. More food posts to come very soon.

"If I eat one more slice of bad pizza..."

2007-10-30T09:23:00.000-06:00

Everyone knows how much Shiv and I love Aiello's pizza. Nothing in Ann Arbor can compare, so I have been trying to find alternatives that can satisfy that pizza craving without having to drive 4.5 hours to Murray Avenue in Squirrel Hill. Some of the ready-made pizzas at Whole Foods are nice- American Flatbread and Amy's both work on occassion. On a visit to Trader Joe's though, I came across very nice looking, and very cheap (!) pizza dough. Hmmm.... I have tried making my own dough before, and don't think that could become a regular part of my cooking routine. But ready to go dough! Perfect. Instead of making staight-up pizza though, I figured I could have a little fun and make something I would want to snack on also. Here's what I came up with:

Take dough out of the freezer and let stand at room temp for 20 minutes.
Cut dough into eight equal parts. Indivually roll out each piece into a long skinny strip.
Sprinkle each piece with a little minced garlic, shredded sharp cheddar cheese, shredded parmigiano reggiano, a few chopped rosemary leaves (fresh), a pinch of cayenne and red pepper flakes (if you like it spicy).
Place on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil.
Bake in 375 degree over for about 10-12 minutes, or until cheese starts to brown and bubble.

I have made these sticks a few times now, and have paired them with a bunch of main dishes/soups- they seem to complement fall flavors really well because of the earthiness of the rosemary.

Colorful Fall Dinner

2007-10-23T21:47:00.000-06:00

Maybe it's because the fall colors are the least brilliant I have ever seen them or the fact that it was the warmest birthday of my life (80 degrees on October 18th), but I am really trying to bring the Autumn spirit with food this year more than ever. On tonight's menu was:
Pan-Seared Halibut with Oranges and Olives
Wilted Spinach with Roasted Garlic
Sweet Potatoes with Lime Juice and Vanilla Sea Salt

I linked to the recipes but I only used them as a guidelines. I substituted some ingredients and made the portions to serve 2 instead of 6. The fish recipe called for Mahi Mahi, but when I consulted my Seafood Watch Guide it said to avoid imported Mahi Mahi because of environmental effects. So I opted for Pacific Halibut which was equally as well for this dish. I also used Kalamata olives instead of green olives which I think was an improvement for both color presentation and flavor. I also used a bit more saffron than the recipe called for just because I love it. The Sweet Potato and Lime dish was supposed to be butternut squash but I think this substitution worked well and made a lot of sense. I seasoned the sweet potato slices with Halen Mon Sea Salt with Taha'a Vanilla which was perfect with the sweetness of the potatoes. For desert we had my mom's homemade pumpkin pie from my birthday celebration. To give my mom the props she deserves I would like to point out that she grew the pumpkins and of course makes the crust from scratch. I added a homemade whipped cream that I spiced with ginger, allspice, cinnamon, and vanilla. It was a perfect October meal.

Posted by Meredith

Housewarming Party (long overdue)

2007-10-23T20:25:00.000-06:00

Even though we moved to Chicago in July we waited to have our housewarming party until after our sofa arrived in September. Now, one month later I'm finally posting about all of the food I made for the party. It was by far the best collection of appetizers I have ever made and they were all new recipes that I will definitely make again.

Lubia Salad
Brioche Toast with Smoked Salmon and Apple Spread
Sesame Crusted Shrimp with Chile Lime Sauce
Honey Cake

I also put out some extra goodies because I love to over-feed.

Figs
Pomegranates
Apples and honey
Ginger snaps
Kalamata olives

The entire spread

Smoked Salmon Spread

Honey Cake

Sesame Crusted Shrimp

Lubia Salad

The honey cake was incredible, very moist and not dry and dense like darker honey cakes. The cake and the Lubia salad came from The Essential Book of Jewish Festival Cooking by Phyllis and Miriyam Glazer

The Smoked Salmon Spread is from Toast by Jesse Ziff Cool but is simple enough to post here:
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
1 cup crumbled dry-smoked whitefish (I used dry-smoked salmon instead)
1/2 cup finely chopped apple (I used Pink Ladies)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
slices of toasted bread, brioche was lovely for this recipe

The Sesame Crusted Shrimp was from a back issue of "Chow" magazine.

Squash #2

2007-10-18T19:21:00.000-06:00

The farmer's market was full of beautiful squashes- butternut, delicata, spagetti, and kabocha. Overwhelmed by the choices, I asked the young lady behind the table for her favorite. She said "they all taste wonderful fried"... while probably delicious, that was not exactly what I had envisioned for dinner. I decided on the dark green kabocha because I had never cooked with it before and was told that it had an even deeper orange center than butternut. Continuing on my adventurous streak, I decided to use another ingredient I had never used before- phyllo.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/11095

I found this recipe online and thought I could easily omit the bacon, and that roasting the kabocha would add depth to the flavor. It was fun to make, but the phyllo was certainly tricky- so easy to tear and I am not sure mine turned out quite as fluffy or crispy as it should have. Despite the tricky phyllo, the pizza turned out delicious-light. fresh and full of smooth squash flavor. This one's a keeper.

First fall challenge...squash

2007-10-15T14:09:00.000-06:00

For the sake of cooking with local, seasonal ingredients we have decided to alter the format of our food blog. We will pick one seasonal food and each create a dish featuring the ingredient. Since the weather finally feels like October I got in the mood for our first challenge, squash. I know Dahlia made some secret, savory dish I decided to counter with a desert.

Ginger-Squash Cake with White Chocolate Frosting

I had to make a few substitutions with this recipe because while the grocery store closest to my house has plenty of Ukrainian specialties, they don't have hazelnuts and were out of fresh ginger. So I swapped hazelnuts for pecans which I think worked really well. For the ginger the recipe called for 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger and 2 tablespoons of fresh. I substituted by using a teaspoon of ginger paste and a tablespoon of ground ginger. Luckily I still have really nice, strong ground ginger from Morocco so the flavor was really nice but not too overpowering. I served this as a desert following a Tuscan Onion Soup that I made for my friends Rita and Megan. It was a lovely, autumnal meal.

You will find the recipe for this here

this isn't tofu...

2007-07-31T15:09:00.001-06:00

Since moving to Ann Arbor with Shiv, we have been eating mostly homecooked meals, but occasionally enjoy a meal out at one of the local restaurants. We have tried a few tasty Indian restaurants, a thai restaurant, and most recently, a very disappointing Vietnamese restaurant called 'Dalat'. We had heard some positive reviews from friends, so we thought we would give it a try. We were both experiencing intense cravings for Tram's (a pittsburgh fave) lemongrass tofu dish, so we ordered a number of different "tofu" appetizers and main dishes off the menu. Unfortunately, we were served dark brown wheat gluten in every dish, and left the restaurant feeling duped and unsatisfied. The next day called for some homemade lemongrass tofu. Though different than Tram's recipe, it came out really delicious- bright, fresh, and flavorful with loads of basil and red peppers. We had made this recipe in the past, but our new kitchen, and cuisinart, made it much easier and perhaps, even more delicious.

Lemongrass Tofu

1 block of very firm tofu- pressed slightly with a paper towel and cubed
2 lemongrass stalks
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp chopped thai bird chilies
1/2 tsp dried chili flakes
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Finely chop lemongrass (or process quickly in food processor). Combine with above ingredients and marinate the tofu for at least 30 minutes.

In a large wok/frying pan, fry until soft and transparent:
2-3 Tbsp vegetable or canola oil
1/2 thinly sliced large yellow onion
2 thinly sliced shallots
1 tsp minced garlic

Add and saute until cooked through:
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
1/2-1 C trimmed green beans

Add tofu mixture and stir gently until cooked through.
Add 10-12 basil leaves and stir in gently. Serve immediately with jasmine rice.

First review from Chicago- Lula Cafe

2007-07-30T13:13:00.000-06:00

This post is long overdue mostly because of unemployment induced laziness and the hectic weeks surrounding my move to Chicago. I wanted my first post from the Windy City to be a review of a recent meal at my favorite restaurant, Lula in Logan Square.

Mac and Cheese
Penne pasta
Emmental cheese
Cornichons
Yellowfin tuna
Oyster mushrooms
sauteed onions
finely chopped scallions for garnish

This was a brilliantly conceived dish and extremely well executed. The texture of the penne was perfect, not at all sticky or too crunchy. The combination of the Emmental and the cornichons reminded me of the fondue I had in Switzerland and northern France which is always served with cornichons and tartly pickled pearl onions; the sourness is a great compliment to the rich, nuttiness of the cheese. The Yellowfin was cubed in thick chunks throughout the mac and cheese. The server said the kitchen recommended the tuna be served raw but I requested medium rare which I think was a better choice for both the texture with the cheese sauce and the taste was more pronounced. The chewiness and earthiness of the oyster mushrooms was a nice contrast to the sour, crunchy cornichons. I drank a Leffe Blonde beer with this dish which was a good choice though a white wine would have complimented it better.

Jasmine Rice Pudding
Mandarin champagne sauce
Candied lavender

The fresh squeezed mandarin orange juice mixed with champagne was a such a bright and fresh contrast to the warm, sticky rice pudding. The candied lavender not only a lovely color contrast but also added a more complex, aromatic taste combination to the dish.

cupcake surprise for the graduates

2007-05-18T21:24:00.000-06:00

We decided to surprise Shiv and Simon with a special cupcake treat in honor of both of their graduations (medical school and grad school) this weekend. When we first discussed it we had lofty ambitions of making two different kinds of cupcakes. However, we realized that would take far too long if we were to make them both entirely from scratch. Dahlia found a recipe for chocolate chai cupcakes with a chai spice buttercream frosting. We wanted a less sweet frosting so we used a base of chocolate ganache with the buttercream for decoration.

There were some hilarious mishaps in the cupcake process beginning with the chai spice mix. We didn't have ground cardamom so Dahlia peeled and crushed whole pods before adding them to the other spices and grinding them in a coffee grinder. The double boiler also proved a bit tricky. I used far too much water and bowl that was much too small, this combination resulted in a near ship wreck spilling precious chocolate and butter cargo.

Despite our multiple near defeats in the kitchen, the results were fantastic. The cupcakes were light and not overwhelmingly spiced; the ganache was a perfect compliment. Five hours and 32 cupcakes later, Shiv and Simon joined the party and we toasted cupcakes to the end of student life.

recipe for Chocolate Chai Cupcakes

brunch without our mothers

2007-05-13T13:00:00.000-06:00

masala eggs
cornbread muffins w/maple butter
fried potatoes
tomato and mint salad w/balsamic dijon dressing
fresh berries
sparkling pomegranate/blueberry juice

Decadent and delicious! On a mother's day when we were both states apart from our mothers. Together with our boyfriends, we initiated the good eaters blog. This will probably be our last joint cooking project in Pittsburgh before we move to our respective new cities (Ann Arbor and Chicago).This blog will help us update each other and our readers on our good eats.

masala eggs
whisk together:
6 eggs
3 T milk
salt and pepper

heat 2T olive oil to large frying pan.
add 2-3 black mustard seeds and wait until they pop.
add:
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
4-5 crushed curry leaves
1 hot pepper, minced
3/4C yellow onion, diced
1 T garlic/ginger paste
saute until soft.

add:
1 red pepper, diced
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce
saute 2 minutes.

add egg mixture and mix over medium/low heat until cooked through.
stir in:
1T chopped green onion
2T chopped cilantro

serve!