Cherry Popovers

Another AZEats recipe.

Do you know what a popover is? Tell me. Mmm hmm. Oh really?

Okay, so maybe you're right. But maybe you, like me before baking today's recipe, had only some sort of vague idea what a popover was, just knowing it was something doughy and yummy. Which is, of course, correct. But there's more to it than that as I learned while trying to figure out a recipe.

A popover is an eggy batter baked up until it puffs and "pops" up over the top of the baking dish. Popovers can be made in their own little popover tins, or in a muffin pan. The finished popover should have a nice crusty exterior and a just barely doughy interior (think the texture of the inside of a french cruller donut).

Anyhow, cherries are in season both here and in Azerbaijan. My friend there told me they're big and pretty and so I had to figure out something to make with them. Cherry popovers came to mind, I don't know why. And that is why I had to go figure out exactly what a popover was and how to make them. I was happy with the results and hopefully you will be, too.

Cherry Popovers
Adapted from Maida Heatter's famous 1966 recipe
Makes 12 small popovers (in a muffin tin, probably more like 8 if you use a popover tin)
Printable version


Ingredients:
1 heaping cup of cherries, pitted and halved (about 24 cherries or 1/3 lb)
3 teaspoons sugar, divided
3 eggs
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (plus more butter for greasing the pan)
1 cup flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon salt
dash of cinnamon

Method:
In a small bowl, mix cherries and 1 teaspoon sugar. Set aside.
Grease bottom and sides of muffin cups.
Beat the eggs. Add in the milk and melted butter.
In a small bowl, blend together flour, salt, remaining sugar, and cinnamon. Stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture a small amount at a time. Beat until just barely smooth.
Divide the cherries among the muffin cups. Pour the batter over the cherries, ensuring there is an equal amount in each muffin cup.
Bake for about 50 minutes. Try not to open the oven during that time to retain heat/steam. Popovers should have risen and the outsides should be somewhat dry. Remove from oven and use a knife to cut a few small slits in the top each popover.
Return to oven and bake for an additional 5 minutes. Cool and serve.

Verdict? It was quite a surprise when I took these out of the oven. They did actually puff up big and tall like they were supposed to, despite the fact that I have to keep opening my oven to make sure the temperature hasn't suddenly skyrocketed as my picky oven likes to do. I know those of you in Azerbaijan don't have the most user-friendly ovens. Just do as I did and keep a close eye on the popovers - watch for them browning and remove them from the oven when they've puffed and the outsides look crisp, don't worry about the inside.

Summertime Cabbage and Kidney Bean Salad

Another AZEats recipe.

It is hot. Very hot. In Azerbaijan, that is. Here in NY we're having an extended period of early spring-like cold rainy gray days. Never mind that it is June and people elsewhere in the country are eating peaches!

But my friend abroad is hot, so despite the fact that I had a carrot and parsnip latke recipe to post for her, I'm going to skip that and not make her fry anything in this heat. So here is a salad recipe to enjoy using the cabbage that has apparently just come into season in Azerbaijan. For those of us in the U.S. - this recipe will work well as a summery side dish to serve at BBQs or elsewhere in place of our typically mayo-heavy slaws.

Summertime Cabbage and Kidney Bean Salad
By Me
Serves a small army
Printable Version


Ingredients:
1/2 head green cabbage
2-3 teaspoons salt, divided
1/2 pound carrot
1 green bell pepper
2-3 scallions
1/4 cup (gently packed) cilantro leaves
1 15 ounce can kidney beans (or an equivalent amount of dried beans)
5 tablespoons orange juice
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
2 oranges, peeled, and cut into membrane-free wedges

Method:
(If using dried beans, soak overnight and boil until softened through. Drain and cool.)
Using a knife or a food processor, shred the cabbage into thin strips. Put cabbage in a large bowl and toss with 1 teaspoon salt. Let sit while preparing the remaining ingredients.
Finely chop the carrot, bell pepper, and scallion. Add them to the bowl with the cabbage. Coarsely chop the cilantro and add to the bowl. Add the kidney beans and stir to combine.
In a small bowl, whisk together orange juice, cider vinegar, olive oil, remaining salt, and red pepper flakes if using. Pour over vegetables and toss to evenly coat. Arrange orange slices on top. Serve immediately, or refrigerate overnight for even better flavor.

Verdict? Refreshing and tangy good. The orange and cilantro together really say "summer" to me. I really wasn't sure this recipe would work with the kidney beans in it but am very pleased with the result. As mentioned in the instructions, this is even better the next day, after the flavors have had a chance to meld. So prepare it a day in advance if you can, but it is still great when eaten right away.

Roasted Parsnip and Carrot Salad with Pomegranate

AZEats recipe #3: So I'm reading over the list of foods my friend in Azerbaijan said she had available and one jumps out at me - parsnips. I think I have only been served parsnips once in my entire life, and I couldn't tell you what they taste like to save my life. Oh wait, those were turnips. Yeah, zero parsnip meals. So of course - I must tackle the parsnip challenge.

But first I had to buy some. I go to the grocery store and see some white root looking things. Could they be it? No signage. I look closer and see "parsley root" - close but not quite. Eventually I find them (signed), looking like a pile of carrots that Bunnicula attacked. I realize that I don't know what to look for in a parsnip. They all look a bit blah. I pick out the firm ones with fewer obvious defects and bring them home...where they sit for over a week in my veggie crisper because I've been too busy or too out of town to cook.

I finally got some time to cook them (thankfully parsnips store well), but then the problem became - how do I cook them? Googling for parsnip recipes yields lots of soup recipes and parsnip purees, but that isn't what I'm looking for. I finally find a recipe on the Food Network site that at least gives me an idea. It involves orange and ginger flavoring. And ooh - it uses pomegranate, another ingredient widely available in Azerbaijan. Let's do it.

Modifications from the original: This recipe was one where you read it and knew right away it would need some modifications. First off - it practically called for more onion than other veggies combined. Also - pomegranate isn't in season around here right now, so instead of topping the dish with pomegranate seeds, my version of the recipe has you reduce pomegranate juice to create a "dressing" of sorts. It really worked well and gave the whole dish some neat red highlights as well as additional flavor. But I think pomegranate seeds would be best of all, so go for the real stuff, you folks in Azerbaijan.

Roasted Parsnip and Carrot Salad with Pomegranate
Serves 4 (as a side dish)
Adapted from Food Network Kitchens
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 large carrots (about 12 ounces)
2 parsnips (about 10-12 ounces)
1/2 medium red onion, chopped
Zest of 1/2 orange
Juice of 1 orange
1/2 cup peanuts
1 tablespoon ginger, peeled and grated
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper (see note below re substitution)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
1 cup pomegranate juice OR seeds of 1 ripe pomegranate

Method:
Preheat oven to 350.
Peel parsnips and carrots and chop into pieces about 1/2 to 3/4 inch on each side.
Mix all ingredients except the cilantro and pomegranate, making sure the oil and spices are evenly distributed.
Pour into a roasting dish and put in oven. Cook for about 40 minutes or until parsnips and carrots are soft, stirring halfway through. Remove from oven and let cool slightly.
While the veggies are roasting, pour the peanuts into a shallow dish (a pie tin works perfectly) and toast in oven for about 5 minutes, or until slightly browned.
To make the pomegranate "dressing" - Pour the pomegranate juice into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil until juice has at least halved in volume and begun to thicken. Remove from heat.
Stir cilantro leaves into vegetables. Top with the peanuts and drizzle with the pomegranate (or sprinkle pomegranate seeds on top). Serve while still slightly warm.

Verdict? Sweet, tangy and peppery good. Parsnips are a totally different taste than I expected, crisp with a hint of licorice (but just a hint - I don't like licorice but the parsnips are good). Next time I might consider omitting the black pepper and using cayenne instead, perhaps adding a bit of honey. But I certainly enjoyed it as is.

While eating the leftovers cold over a salad today, it struck me that a dollop of goat cheese might be nice on it as well. Just an idea~ Oh, and if you're one of those (weird!) people who don't like cilantro (it is genetic, I know, I just love the stuff), you might try substituting with flat leaf parsley.

Bonus ingredient tip: Ginger (in the root form you buy in the produce section) keeps well in the freezer. Just wrap it tightly in plastic and store inside an airtight bag. When you need to use some, peel the skin off of the frozen root using a paring knife and grate it with a Microplane or other fine grater. This way you'll always have it when you need it and won't waste money buying a whole root just to use a small amount.

Parsnip picture above by Gaetan Lee, used pursuant to Creative Commons License.

Spinach and Gouda Quiche with No-Roll Crust

As promised, AZEats recipe #2.

I like quiche a lot - how can you go wrong when there's eggs, cheese, and pastry involved?! But I have a confession to make. I used to use storebought crust. I just felt like my minikitchen with its two square feet of counter space wasn't conducive to rolling out dough. (I'm not exaggerating about the lack of space, either - my old apartment's counter was exactly 1 foot wide and 2 feet deep.) But after several weeks of eating processed premade pastry stuff for recipe constest entries, the last thing I wanted to do was bring some premade pie crust in my house. Plus I just got a brand new Pyrex pie plate that I needed to break in. So it was time to make my own crust.
But this recipe is for my friend, and I'm not going to make her roll out crust in her minikitchen, either. So - the hunt for a no-roll crust recipe began. Most recipes I found called for vegetable oil to be used, sometimes shortening, too. I wanted to stick with butter, so I kind of made up my own recipe. I also wanted to minimize the amount of dishes she (and me) had to wash, so this recipe can be made right in the pie dish. Pretty cool, no?

As for the selection of spinach and gouda, well - I tend to make broccoli quiches but wanted to branch out a bit so spinach it is (plus it has been on sale at the stores around me lately - notice a trend in my recipes?). And Gouda, well, my friend told me that she basically has available three kinds of cheese - something salty and white, something mellow and melty and yellow, and gouda. Gouda it is.

A quick preparation note - Gouda is fairly soft and might not shred well. Try freezing it for 30 minutes or so first to harden it up a bit. If the Gouda just crumbles - don't worry, that will work just fine. And note to anyone who tries to cheat and use the food processor to crumble the Gouda - just use the "pulse" setting and don't process it too long or you'll have something that looks like the inside of that nut-encrusted cheese & wine ball that is ubiquitous at parties... I learned this firsthand, yes. It still works in the recipe, just will require that you manually break it up into "pieces" so you don't have a giant blob of gouda in your quiche. Also - fluff up the flour a bit in the bag before using it. The reason a lot of baking recipes seem to work for one person and not for another is due to how flour can settle during shipping, causing one cup of flour used by one person to weigh a lot more (and thus contain a lot more flour) than someone else's. To combat this, stir the flour in the bag to fluff it, scoop out more than your measuring cup can hold, and then use the back of a table knife to push off the excess, taking care to not pack more flour in your cup than it naturally picked up. I will also give weight measurements for those of you with kitchen scales.

Spinach and Gouda Quiche with No-Roll Crust
by Me
Serves 4-6


No Roll Pie Crust:
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 7.25 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 stick salted butter, melted (1/2 cup)
2 tablespoons milk (plus more if needed)

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Add flour, salt, and sugar to your pie dish. Stir with a fork to evenly distribute the salt and sugar.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the melted butter. Stir to combine (this will be a sort of half-stir, half-mashing motion).
Add the milk a tablespoon at a time and stir. Mixture should have the appearance of large crumbs but be able to be molded almost like clay. Add up to another tablespoon of milk if needed.
Using your hands, gently press the mixture flat against the bottom and sides of the pie dish. It will seem like you won't have enough dough, but you will - extra dough hides in the corner between the bottom and sides so be sure and shape that area carefully.
Shape the top edges if you want to be fancy about it. (I just kind of did a quick semi-pinch thing.)
Using a table knife or fork, make about six small cuts in the bottom of the crust (to prevent air bubbles from forming under the crust).
Place an oven-safe plate on the inside of the crust to weigh it down (you can also cover the crust with foil and use about two cups of dried beans or rice to weigh it down).
Bake the empty crust for 20-25 minutes, or until edges are light golden brown.
Remove from oven and let cool.

Quiche filling:
Ingredients:

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon salt (divided)

10 ounces fresh spinach, roughly chopped into 1 inch ribbons
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (divided)
3 large eggs
1 cup milk
6 ounces Gouda cheese, shredded or crumbled

Method:
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until beginning to soften. Stir in the garlic and 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Cook until onions are fully soft.
Add the spinach and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, until all the spinach has wilted. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs and milk together. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and the Gouda. Stir until combined. Stir in the spinach mixture.
Pour the egg and spinach mixture into the cooled pie crust, ensuring that the spinach is spread out evenly.
Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes, or until center of quiche is slightly firm to the touch, and a knife inserted in the center of the quiche reveals no uncooked egg.

Verdict? Really yummy. In fact, I can't wait to have the leftovers for lunch today! (I even ate some cold when I was preparing my lunch last night.) Seasoning the spinach well ensures that the seasoning is spread throughout the whole quiche (instead of getting lost in pockets of egg as happens with some quiche recipes that mainly have you season the egg mixture). Gouda's subtle tang is a good mix for the earthy spinach. And that crust? Nice and flaky and better than anything I'd have previously bought in a store. So it isn't perfectly thin and I totally lack the skills to make the edge pretty, but - I think you'll like it and appreciate the ease as well as the taste. Next time I'll try and press it out even a bit thinner, though. Isn't that cross-section pic with its spinach ribbons pretty?!

Intro to AZEats

So a good friend of mine is in the Peace Corps in Azerbaijan. I miss her lots, but admire her dedication and willingness to go quite out of her way to do good stuff for others.

Anyhow, a few days after I started this blog we were chatting and I asked her if there was anything I could send her from the U.S. Her request was not for stuff, but for recipes - in particular, recipes that could be made with the foods available where she is. I loved the idea, and thought it was a good way to kind of steer this blog in an actual direction from time to time as opposed to just random (but yummy!) recipes.

(Image above is of a market in Baku, Azerbaijan, taken by Flickr user LOOMstudio, used pursuant to Creative Commons license, and making me hungry for megastrawberries.)

So - look for recipes tagged with "AZEats"; those recipes contain only ingredients on the list of foods my friend said she has available. I'll also likely only select recipes that aren't terribly fussy; i.e., nothing that requires any special equipment or annoying preparation techniques.

I actually already have my first AZEats recipe posted, the carrot, spinach, and rice stew. Look for recipe #2 to be posted soon!




(Second image is of white cheese, I think of the same kind that my friend was telling me about. Taken by Flickr user Loomstudio.)

Carrot, Spinach, and Rice Stew

I spent the past weekend trying my hand at a few recipes for the Pillsbury Bake-Off. I've only entered a few recipe contests and have yet to win anything. I don't mind, though, as the contests provide me with motivation/inspiration to be more creative with my home cooking.

For the Pillsbury Bake-Off you have to use at least two of their products. That means that I've been eating way more than my fair share of breads, sweets, and other high calorie foods. "This week will be healthy eating week!" I declared at 4 AM Sunday night, after submitting one of my last recipes to the Bake-Off. Of course I follow that edict with a dinner out at my neighborhood Italian-ish joint for rigatoni with eggplant and a (probably not) healthy dose of smoked mozzarella.

But Tuesday night came. I was once again ready to set foot in my kitchen, and wanted something healthy to make. Enter this simple recipe. It is low-fat and low-calorie, having little more than veggies, rice, and vegetable stock as its ingredients. An online calorie counter estimates this recipe has 115 calories per serving - not bad, right? It is also pretty low cost, as spinach, carrots, and rice are all fairly cheap at the store, and you're making your own stock now, right?

Modifications from the original: Cardamom! I feel like I unearthed a secret by putting that in there. The original makes only loose suggestions for seasoning, suggesting cumin or dill, and a lemon finish. I opted for cumin as it is one of my favorites (and I'm still satiated with dill from the zucchini pancakes). The lemon juice squeeze at the end gave the stew a bit of tart brightness and the cardamom served as the perfect bridge between the cumin and the lemon. But try it for yourself and see! I also used brown rice and a bit less spinach because that's what I had on hand, and simmered everything in stock instead of water. The recipe also calls for a tablespoon of butter to be added at the end. The butter does help a bit, but it doesn't alter the flavor or mouth feel of the stew terribly much, so feel free to use olive oil in its place or omit the butter/oil entirely.

Carrot, Spinach and Rice Stew
Adapted from Mark Bittman
Serves 4

Ingredients:
6 cups vegetable stock
1/2 pound carrots, peeled and chopped
Salt, to taste
1/2 cup rice (white or brown)
10 ounces spinach, roughly chopped (if using baby spinach, don't chop it)
3 small cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 tablespoon salted butter
1 lemon

Method:
Bring the stock and carrots to a boil in a large saucepan. Stir in the rice and a pinch of salt. Return the mixture to a boil and then reduce heat so the mixture simmers. After about 15 minutes, add the spinach, garlic, and spices. Simmer another 15 minutes, or until the rice is fully cooked. Add the butter and taste for salt. Serve with a lemon wedge or top each bowl with a generous squeeze of lemon juice.

Verdict? Comforting, earthy yet tangy, simple goodness.

Beet and Potato Hash

Beets have been a relatively new addition to my diet. I don't recall them being around when I was a kid. As an adult I always just thought of them as those red things in salad bars. I liked them well enough, but that was about it.

One day I decided to buy some on a whim when I was food shopping, because they looked so pretty - in a happy earthy way. I just roasted them in olive oil with salt and rubbed the skins off when done. I ate these sliced over some mixed salad greens and was hooked.

My beet adventures have since continued, bringing us to this recipe. This comes to us by way of chow.com, originally titled "Red Flannel Hash." It was intended to be a breakfast recipe, but it made a wonderful dinner alongside a green salad with vinaigrette.

What's great about this recipe is that the ingredients store very well. This is the sort of recipe you can shop for a week or more ahead of time. Another thing that was great about this recipe? Eating it. I really enjoyed the homey feel of the pan-cooked potatoes mixed with the different texture and slightly sweet flavor from the beets. And everything is better with an egg on top, in my humble opinion...

Oh - I almost forgot! I made a special purchase for this meal: my first cast iron skillet. Unfortunately it isn't quite up to snuff as far as seasoning and having that lovely natural non-stick coating, so I experienced quite a bit of sticking. A way to avoid this would be to stir the hash more often, but don't do it so often as to prevent the potatoes from forming nice crunchy crusty bits; that is part of the point. If you don't have cast iron, any oven-proof skillet will do. Avoid rubber handles (that probably goes without saying) and non-stick coatings (which can become toxic when exposed to high temperatures such as used here). Look for more cast iron recipes soon, as I've been saving them up for when I finally got one!

Modifications from the original: I just used whatever kind of potatoes I had on hand - Russet, I think. I mixed red and golden beets. The color from the red beets still dominates everything, but there now are a few lovely yellow undertones as well. The original also calls for a half cup of chopped parsley to be stirred in just before the eggs - to be honest, I just forgot to do this and don't feel as though the dish suffered much. So if you have the parsley on hand, go for it (or any other fresh herb you're a fan of), if not - don't sweat it. Also - I added some other seasonings as detailed below. Unfortunately I neglected to measure these out. So - taste as you add. But it will be hard to go wrong with any sort of salty/peppery/herby combination on this; even seasoned salt would do nicely.

Beet and Potato Hash
Adapted from chow.com

Ingredients:
1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 medium potatoes, diced to about 1/2" cubes
2 red beets, diced
2 golden beets, diced
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground pepper
dash of paprika
dash of cayenne
dried oregano
4 eggs

Method:
Preheat oven to 450.
Add vegetable oil to skillet and place in preheated oven for about 5 minutes, until the oil is shimmering.
Remove skillet from oven and stir in the potatoes, beets, onion, and garlic. Add salt and pepper. Put skillet back in oven and roast for about 50 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking time (or more if your skillet is not non-stick). Add the remaining spices at the halfway mark. Taste for salt.
When the potatoes and beets are cooked through, remove the skillet from the oven and stir the hash. Create four indentations in the hash and crack an egg in each. Return skillet to oven until eggs are cooked to desired level, about 6-9 minutes.
Serves 2-4.

Verdict? Loved it. I'll be eating this again for sure. I love savory breakfasts, I love eggs, I love beets. I wish I still had the leftovers...