Dear readers, I now take you to Part 2 in my Kumquat Series. All this stems from the bumper crop that our kumquat tree is providing us this year. My food blogger friend Christina, of Christina’s Cucina, told me what her neighbor who has a kumquat tree does when he eats these little guys out of hand. For those of you who don’t know what kumquats are (listen up, Lulu, you, who call these little lovelies, whatchamacallits), they have a sweet rind and flesh and VERY tart juice. I didn’t even realize that. I thought the entire inside is tart. But then Christina told me her neighbor cuts open each little kumquat, squeezes the juice out in the sink and pops them in his mouth. I tried it. Remarkable! It was so much mellower. It’s the juice that’s tart!
What to do? What to do?
First, I gave you kumquat chicken. For the recipe, click here.
Then, I thought, MARMALADE! What’s super cool about this recipe?
- very few ingredients!
- low sugar!
- no sterilization of jars!
I cut the fruit lengthwise in quarters. The larger kumquats were cut again in half around the equator. So, the smaller fruit was cut in 4 and the larger in 8. To get an idea of the different kumquat sizes, here’s what they look like sitting beside a medium orange.
Once you have about a pound of kumquats kut cut up, macerate the fruit by putting sugar on top and letting them sit for 15 minutes or so. The sugar draws out the juice and in this case will help balance the flavor.
Trust me, there’s a lot of fruit under that sugar. (It’s a close-up, people, it’s a close-up!)
I used a mix of orange juice and water to further balance the flavors. Everything simmered gently together for about 20 minutes.
Have faith. Once the kumquat marmalade cools, it thickens and thickens more when you chill it in the fridge.
This a great idea for Passover or any time of year. I know we’re going to be eating matzo with butter and kumquat marmalade for breakfast this year. Yum!
Other ideas – feel free to substitute crackers for matzoh:
- Spread crackers with a bit of marmalade and a small slice of your favorite cheese. I love Manchego, Dubliner and Gruyere.
- Or spread crackers with any semi-soft or soft cheese and top with a bit of marmalade. I love goat cheese for this.
- Of course, terrific on buttered whole-gran toast or bagels.
- Also, use as part of a marinade for chicken or lamb!
- My novio enjoys spreading the marmalade on my mandelbread… both were around this week.
Marmalade, anyone?
If I keep this up, they’ll be calling me Lady Marmalade.
KUMQUAT MARMALADE
Ingredients:
2 1/2 c. (500 g.) kumquats 1/2 c. (120 g.) sugar (if you like the tartness, use 1/3 c. [80 ml.] sugar) 1/4 c. (60 ml.) orange juice 1/4 c. (60 ml.) waterDirections:
Cut up kumquats. Remove some seeds, if you like, but you don’t have to get all of them (they’re not hard, like in lemons).
Place cut up fruit in a medium saucepan. Pour sugar over fruit and let sit for 15 minutes.
Stir fruit. Add juice and water and stir through again. Cook on medium until just coming up to the boil. Simmer gently, uncovered, over medium-low heat (you want to see small bubble action). Using a wooden spoon, stir occasionally, and cook for about 20 minutes or until the juices begin to thicken. You want to see the juices coating the wooden spoon when you lift it out of the fruit.
Remove from heat and let cool uncovered.
Place in clean glass jar or small jars. This is a great reason to save cool glass jars. This makes a great gift if you’re inclined to share….
Variations:
Use all juice or all water.
Try adding 1/2 t. (2.5 ml.) cinnamon or 1/2 t. (2.5 ml.) vanilla.
Suggestions? I’d love to hear from you!
P.S. My cousin Udi in Israel told me on the phone (in his characteristically deep voice that I enjoy imitating) that he’ll try my recipes if I write them in Hebrew. Well, I’m uhhh, not quite at that level. But we managed a compromise when I offered to include metric equivalents. Bear with me readers, I may not always get exactly right, but this post initiates my going metric. OK, Udi, get cooking!
Well, here I am, dear readers, sitting in an airport terminal, posting this blog to you. Guilt is a great motivator. It’s been 10 days (now 14 days, actually) since I last posted and all the ideas are waiting in line like a well-behaved boy scout troupe. There was another post that was at the head of the line, but the previous week was filled with lots of cooking and baking for out-of-town family. It was a downright Novio Family Marathon. And the next day, we were set to visit our good friends in Santa Fe – on a nice direct flight, mind you. I thought it would be much more expedient than flying into Albuquerque.
But this happened and that happened, and one little unforeseen glitch after another, and an unexpected shuttle to a different terminal, and, oh, did I mention? I’m using a wheelchair, finally healing, from quite a little break in my leg. Not exactly in an airport-sprinting way. So, my Novio and I both experienced a first. We missed the flight to Santa Fe. The darn plane decided (when does this happen?) to close its doors a few minutes early and start down the runway. I tried my best to appeal to the agent’s higher self but that self had apparently garnered a seat on the aforementioned airplane.
We plan, and God laughs. Not going directly to Santa Fe, instead going through Albuquerque. And instead of the preplanned post, I’m writing a post on our good friend Frank’s favorite dessert – mandelbread Don’t tell him, but there’s a plastic container filled with the good stuff, nestled between the T-shirts in the carry-on…
… It seems that forces of nature banded together to prevent me from writing this post at the time I wanted. Everything from a missed flight to a fantastic visit with dear friends, from lost mandelbread photos to lost drivers’ licenses.
I found the mandelbread photos. So here we go…
Mandelbread, whose name is actually mandelbrot, means almond bread. It’s a Jewish Eastern European toasted cookie whose not-so-distant relative is the Italian biscotti. There are many variations on this theme, from anise flavored, to one with dried cherries and white chocolate. Just try Googling it. You will be deluged with a plethora of mandlebread variations.
This a simply delicious version, flavored with the essence of lemon and orange along with sliced almonds. I love the recipe offered in The Book of Jewish Food, by Claudia Roden. I tweaked the baking procedure a bit, by turning off the oven for the second part of the baking.
To begin, have 3 eggs out of the fridge and at room temperature.
I like using ultra-fine sugar, also called Baker’s Sugar. Not essential, but I think it incorporates a bit better.
lemon and orange zest are ready
Zesting up the batter
I’m attached to this attachment.
The plot batter thickens
My dear friend Glenda helped me with this batch. She likes order. Can you tell?
I assure you – the loaves look different depending on who shapes them but they all taste delicious.
The broken one is mine.
Mandelbread
slightly adapted from Claudia Roden’s, The Book of Jewish Food
Ingredients:
3 eggs ¾ c. sugar 1 c. canola or safflower oil grated zest of 1 lemon grated zest of 1 orange 1 t. vanilla extract a pinch of salt 1 T. baking powder 3 ¼ c. flour 1 c. sliced almondsDirections:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Beat eggs with sugar to a pale thick cream in stand mixer or by hand.
Add oil, lemon and orange zest, vanilla, salt, and baking powder, and beat until light.
Slowly blend in flour and then almonds.
Place parchment paper in a large rectangular baking pan (aka jelly roll pan). Lightly grease parchment paper.
Oil your hands so that they don’t stick, shape dough into 2 long slim logs about 3” on baking pan.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Let mandelbread cool, and then cut into diagonal slices, about ½” thick. Arrange slices, cut side up, on pan (if you have no room, get out a second sheet for the extra slices.)
Turn off oven and place mandelbread on their sides and place back in oven for 10 minutes, or until lightly brown. (The original recipe calls for keeping oven temperature on – that will create a harder version -try it different ways to see what you like.)
They keep well in a plastic container, or in a tin box. They also keep even longer in the fridge or freezer in a plastic container.
Excellent to serve unexpected company, if you can manage to keep them around.
Optional: Replace ½ c. to 1 c. of the flour with whole-wheat pastry flour. I used ½ c. of whole-wheat pastry flour, and they were excellent—not too crumbly and not too hard.
ps My Novio just found the drivers’ licenses at the bottom of the tote bag. I think I’ll keep him.
Added March 8, 2013:
I chose Mandelbread to bring to my monthly Food Bloggers LA meeting. the theme being foods from our roots. As always, great food, interesting people, stimulating discussion. If you’re of Jewish Eastern European roots, it’s safe to say that you know mandelbread.
No two batches come out exactly the same.
march mandelbread
Passover is less than 3 weeks away (breathe, nice and slow… that’s it). For those celebrating the Jewish festival commemorating the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt and their freedom from slavery, I will be posting a few selected recipes over the next few weeks. In the spirit of the bumbleberry breeze philosophy, these recipes are not just helpful, but are designed to keep you from being a slave in your own kitchen (whether you’re doing Passover or not). We want to bring you in and breeze you out.
My Novio has early Seder memories of him and his brother looking on as his grandfather and father held court over the Seder table. In the meantime, his Mom, Grandma and aunts scurried around in the kitchen, frantic with last minute preparations for the Festive Meal that lay ahead. I want you at the Seder table and not slaving in the kitchen with last-minute dishes. Do-ahead recipes are definitely the way to go, especially for Seder night.
Here’s a recipe that you can make a few days ahead, perhaps even freeze (though I didn’t try that).
So many people now make turkey breast as an alternative for roasting an entire turkey. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting a little tired of all this turkey breast. And, is it just me that finds turkey breast, oh, how can I put this delicately, a tad binding? And with all the matzoh, heavy with its own binding properties, you want to do what you can to maintain, ahem, good traffic flow.
Ask your friendly butcher to prepare turkey thigh meat that is boneless and skinless. That will cut down on the fat significantly and give you a tasty alternative for your table.
Diced carrots always add a depth of flavor in combination with onions and tomato.
How many times have you used a recipe that called for 1 or 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, and you took that amount out of one of those small cans of tomato paste thinking, “I’m sure I’ll find something to do with the rest of this can”, putting a little piece of aluminum foil over the top of the can and sticking it in the refrigerator. That little can of tomato paste has now applied for permanent residency in your fridge. Let’s face it, I know for me, I’m not going to do anything with the rest of that tomato paste!! One day, I read about tomato paste that comes in a tube, allowing you to use a small amount and put the rest in for easy access later, without it going bad any time soon. Brilliant! Inspired! A stroke of genius!
I love this stuff!
Tomato paste is a wonderful way to enrich a sauce or braise, especially when used in combination with red wine.
Once the sauce is cooked through, pour over the meat to bake. By doing this method with skinless chicken or turkey, you are replacing the unwanted fat from the skin with very-much-wanted and needed veggies.
TURKEY THIGHS IN RED WINE GARLIC SAUCE
Ingredients:
2 lbs. turkey thighs, skinless and boneless 1 T. olive oil 1 small onion, chopped 2 small carrots, diced 4 cloves garlic, minced 3/4 c. red wine 1 T. tomato paste 1 T. fresh thyme OR 1/2 t. dried thyme salt and pepper 2 T. Italian flat-leaf parsley, roughly choppedDirections:
Preheat oven to 375°.
Rinse the turkey pieces and pat dry. Grease a roasting pan large enough to lay the meat out flat without overlapping. Generously season the turkey with salt and pepper.
Heat oil in skillet, saute onions and carrot for 5-8 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Add garlic and saute for another 1/2 minute.
Add red wine, tomato paste and thyme to skillet. Bring wine up to a simmer and cook until the liquid is reduced by half.
Pour mixture over turkey.
Bake, uncovered, for 1 hour, or until meat is cooked through. Baste every 20 minutes. Tent with foil for 10 minutes after removing from oven.
Garnish with chopped parsley and slice thickly to serve.
Serves 4-6.
Hearty and delicious!
And here’s a link to a delicious treat for Passover that I posted a year ago: Judy Zeidler’s Passover Chocolate Matzoh Farfel Nut Clusters. They’re awesomely good! Check out my post here. 
and dairy-free and get this… no added sugar either! Well, what do these cookies have, you may ask and ask you should… these cookies are positively packed with flavor. They are chewy and filling, yet surprisingly light. The sweetness comes naturally from dried fruit and mashed banana. The cookie is highly versatile and allows you to try different seeds, nuts or fruit. For this version, I used dried sour cherries and golden raisins. Have fun varying the ingredients – think of color and flavor and texture. Try using dates, raisins, cranberries, or figs for the fruit.
Exhibit A
Exhibit B
Basically the cookie is a really delicious granola bar in cookie shape.
Who can resist a good cookie?
It has no trace of that cloyingly sweet flavor you find in store-bought granola bars. But I’d like to get something straight right here-right now.
I, Judy, creator of bumbleberry breeze, by no means profess to live a sugar-free existence. Nor is this a sugar-free blog. I feel that excellent, really-worth-it desserts are essential to a life well-lived (in my own very humble opinion… did that go without saying? alright I won’t bring it up again). For me, that includes homemade brownies, chocolate chip cookies, blondies, apple crisps, bumbleberry coffee cakes, chocolate, coffee ice cream… and can anyone in LA direct me to the best eclair-filled with the most seriously excellent custard- this city has to offer?
To think, years ago (in another chapter of life) when I was an over-worked teacher of hearing-impaired pre-schoolers, I didn’t see the point in spending a lot of time baking. Not when I enjoyed cooking. Wasn’t the meal the most important thing? Why waste time on the superfluous stuff? But seriously, who was I kidding? Myself, apparently. It took a few significant health hurdles, I’m actually totally serious here, to arrive at the profound realization that it is a VERY Important Thing to include DESSERT in my Activities of Daily Living. Of course, as the wise doctor Maimonides once said, “Moderation in all things.” OK, not so simple. But definitely a worthy goal.
Which brings us back to the issue at hand. Our granola cookies.
Granola Cookies line up for tanning session
Step this way, please…
oatmeal and coconut make friends
no sugar and some spice
How many of you out there are familiar with the concept of creative accounting? Move the funds from here where you don’t want them present, to over there where they make better sense! Same theory with sugar, guys. Why do we need a boatload of sugar in something like granola bars? It is so dopey that all the store-bought brands seem to use the word “healthy” at least once on their labels while they have the noive (Bronx pronunciation of “nerve”) to list sugar as a first or second ingredient.
granola cookie dough
So let’s make these very pleasing pick-me-up granola cookies for that middle-of-the-day slump and save the sugar for that special little dessert later on.
Gluten-Free Pick-Me-Up Granola Bars
with gratitude to Anja’s Food for Thought and her Banana Pecan Granola Bars (check out her site!!)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. old-fashioned oatmeal (aka regular rolled oats) 1 c. unsweetened coconut flakes 1/2 t. salt 1 t. cinnamon 1/2 t. allspice 1/4 c. almond flour 1/2 c. pecans, chopped (or walnuts or pistachios or almonds) 1 c. dried fruit (I used half dried tart cherries and half golden raisins) 3 ripe bananas, mashed 1/4 c. canola oil 1 t. pure vanillaDirections:
Preheat oven to 325°. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine oats with with nuts, almond flour and coconut flakes. Sprinkle in cinnamon, allspice and salt. Add dried fruit and mix until combined.
In a second bowl, mash bananas with oil and vanilla. Pour this mixture over oat/coconut/fruit & nut mixture. Stir thoroughly.
Lightly form balls with the palms of your hands (about golf ball-size), place on baking sheet and flatten slightly.
Bake for 20 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.
Makes about 14-16 cookies, depending on size.
Ideas:
Try using chopped apricots or dates or figs… or try dark raisins or cranberries
Swap the almond flour for sesame seeds or pumpkin seeds
Keep in a covered plastic container in the fridge OR wrap individual cookies in plastic and store in freezer for a quick and easy on-the-go snack or breakfast.
Freeze us and grab us for quick & energy-giving snacks
Poppies, Poppies… Remember the Wicked Witch of the West stroking her crystal ball as she cast a spell over Dorothy and Company? Their hurried steps got slower and slower as they crossed that lush field of red poppies.
Poppy Seeds, also known as muhn (moon) in Yiddish, are very popular in cakes, danishes and this time of year, in hamentashen.
Hamentashen are triangle-shaped cookies that have all types of fillings and are enjoyed during the Jewish festival of Purim to recall the story of Queen Esther. I didn’t fully appreciate poppy seeds as a child because I always preferred hamentashen with apricot or cherry fillings. But all that’s changed.
This week, my Hebrew class had a Purim celebration. My classmate, Judy, signed up for the hamentashen-making duties. I had poppy seeds on the brain and in my pantry.
Poppy seeds have a lovely delicate flavor and aroma. And the lemon-poppy seed combination is terrific.
You see it in all manner of cakes, loaves and muffins.
Sometimes lemon zest has a tendency to clump a bit. Christopher Kimball, of Cook’s Illustrated and America’s Test Kitchen, has a solution. He is a wonderful food investigator, always coming up with just the right ratio and problem-solving his way through a gazillion cooking and baking situations. He finds that a few quick pulses of the zest and sugar in the food processor help permeate the fantastic aroma of the zest throughout the batter. And he’s right. I used my mini-processor and it didn’t take much time at all.
A fine-mesh sieve works just as well as a traditional sifter. Sometimes I skip this step but I wanted to ensure a light batter.
Whisk the yogurt with other wet ingredients.
Get the lemon syrup ready.
Poke little holes all over the loaf.
Shiny and Oh-So Aromatic
So what if a little seed or two gets stuck between your teeth? Consider it a reminder to floss! So, enjoy this cake…and floss away my friends!
Happy Purim!
Recipe barely adapted from Deb’s Lemon-Blueberry Yogurt Loaf of Smitten Kitchen (SK), which she adapted from Ina Garten. (I am a huge fan of going to Ina and then adapting her creations to my style. Smitten Kitchen is another excellent resource that I refer to, especially when baking.)
Lemon Yogurt Poppy Seed Cake
Ingredients:
1 1/2 c.+ 1 T. all-purpose flour (if you’re skipping the poppy seeds or fruit, you can also skip the last tablespoon of flour)2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. kosher salt or sea salt
1 c. 2% Greek yogurt (SK uses plain whole-milk yogurt)
1 scant c. plus 1 t. sugar
3 large eggs
2 t. grated lemon zest (approximately 2 lemons)
1/2 t. pure vanilla extract
1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil 1/3 c. poppy seeds 1/4 c. freshly squeezed lemon juice
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. (I used a 9 1/4″ loaf pan and it came out fine).
If you have a mini-food processor, use it to do a few quick pulses of the lemon zest with the sugar. Or, you can haul out your large food processor. This step does a lot to evenly distribute the zest throughout the batter. But if time is short, or you’re opposed to washing food processor parts, simply use a fork to separate the strands of zest throughout the wet ingredients.
Sift together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt into one bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar with lemon zest, eggs, vanilla and oil. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Mix the poppy seeds with the remaining tablespoon of flour, and fold them into the batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a toothpick placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.
When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before flipping out onto a cooling rack. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, use a toothpick to poke holes all over the top and sides of the cake. Use a pastry brush to coat the cake with the lemon-sugar mixture. Allow a little time for it to soak into the cake. Cool.
Smitten Kitchen offers these additional ideas:
- Swapping all of the olive oil with canola oil
- Swapping a few tablespoons of the vegetable oil with a nut or coconut oil
- Swapping orange, blood orange or lime for the lemon
- Using 1 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen, thawed and rinsed (miniature wild blueberries are great for this, and pose the least risk of sinking) instead of poppy seeds
- Swapping blackberries or raspberries for the blueberries
- Adding 1/2 cup of toasted, chopped walnuts or pecans
- Swapping almond extract for the vanilla
- Covering the cake, once completely cooled, with a glaze of 1 cup of powdered sugar whisked with 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- This recipe will also yield about 12 standard muffins or 36 miniature muffins, baking time adjusted (OR it may be baked in an 8″ square or 9″ round, yielding a thin cake [about 1 1/2″ tall], with baking time adjusted).
- It could be doubled and baked in a well-greased and floured bundt pan, baking time adjusted.
MORE inspiration for this cake came from:
- My new food bloggy friend, Liz The Chef, who recently posted a delicious Lemon Yogurt Cake.
- Her site led me to another wonderful find, Winnie of Healthy Food Kitchen, where I discovered her Meyer Lemon Olive Oil Cake.
A tree grows in Brooklyn, The Bronx, Brentwood. Back in my looking-out-the-window days as a little girl in the Bronx, there was a sight that always captured my imagination, and it kept me coming back to revisit it time and time again. Unlike the visuals you may have about what the Bronx looks like, there were dense trees everywhere–pine trees, birch trees, ash trees (okay, maybe not all over the Bronx).
And some very tall trees. Across the street and beyond, I could see the trees from my upstairs bedroom window, towering over the rooftops of the houses in the neighborhood. And every twenty minutes, a train came speeding out of the trees and off to the right. It took several years for me to finally get that the train didn’t have a nest in the trees. The train, in fact, was gliding along the tracks of the El (elevated), the number 5 Lexington Ave., to be exact, and speeding toward its destination–59th Street–basement level of Bloomingdale’s.
I’ve always loved trees. Novio and I are blessed to have inherited three gorgeous fruit trees. One of them bears kumquats.
And she’s a-bearin’ a lot of kumquats right about now. What do I know from kumquats? Since “not a whole lot” is the answer, and since I like to use seasonal food, and it’s right here, I ‘d better figure this out. Marmalade, chutney, salads, muffins, chicken–okay, I’ll begin with a chicken dish, and be inspired by the wonderful Mediterranean tradition of mixing fruit with meat.
I began by quickly browning the chicken breasts in a hot greased pan for a couple of minutes per side. Chicken thighs or cut-up chicken would work well for this recipe, adjusting cooking times.
Remove chicken to a platter and get busy sauteing veggies and fruit.
Return chicken to pan to simmer everything together until veggies are tender and just until chicken is no longer pink.
If there’s a lot of liquid left in pan, remove chicken and veggie/fruit mixture. Bring liquid up to boil and down to medium-high, scraping up bits with a wooden spoon. Continue until you’ve reduced the juices to about half. Pour over chicken. If you like, add chopped Italian parsley to serve.
KUMQUAT CHICKEN
Ingredients:
1 T. olive oil 2 lbs. chicken breasts, skinless and boneless 1 large onion, chopped 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 cups kumquats, cut in half, lengthwise 2 medium zucchini, sliced lengthwise in quarters and sliced in 1/2″ little chunks 1 T. plum preserves (can also use fig or apricot preserves or orange marmalade) 1 T. honey 1/2 c. white wine 1/2 t. cinnamon 1/2 t. cumin 1/4 t. coriander 1 T. Italian parsley, choppedDirections:
Rinse chicken and thoroughly pat dry with paper towels to prevent lots of spattering (safety FIRST!). Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.
Heat large skillet. Add oil and heat until oil just begins to shimmer. Quickly brown chicken in one layer for two minutes on one side and one minute on the other. Brown in batches if necessary. Remove chicken to a large plate.
Add chopped onion to hot oil and saute on medium-high heat for two minutes or until just tender. Add garlic and cook for a half-minute.
Add kumquats and zucchini and stir well. Add in preserves, honey and wine. Stir, then cook, covered for 10 minutes.
Return chicken to pan and simmer, covered, for about 10 more minutes, or until fruit and veggies are tender and chicken is no longer pink inside (thicker breasts will need a few more minutes. I usually cut a breast in half -across its width – to check. In any case, I end up cutting all the chicken in half to serve.
Taste sauce and add salt and pepper if needed. Remove to serving platter.
If the sauce in pan is liquidy, remove just chicken and veggie/fruit mixture. Bring liquid up to boil and down to medium-high, scraping up bits with a wooden spoon. Continue until you’ve reduced the juices by about half. Pour over chicken. Sprinkle chopped Italian parsley over chicken to serve. Delicious with rice, couscous, barley or a short pasta.
Serves 6
More possibilities:
- Add 1/2 cup pitted green olives when adding the veggies and fruit.
- Add 1/4 cup capers during last 5 minutes of cooking time.
- Include 1 T. chopped fresh rosemary or 1 t. dried rosemary in pan with the kumquats.
- Substitute zucchini for 1 cup of raw 3/4″ cubed butternut squash – cook with rest of the ingredients until tender.
Let’s face it – nothing beats homemade chicken stock to build other soups with. When there’s a bit leftover in the fridge, excellent! But I never have a quart tucked away in my freezer. It’s just too delicious! I’d make some fine egg noodles and heat it up in my soup, if nothing else.
Processed foods with gobs of salt and who-knows-what-kind of preservatives that our bodies don’t have a clue what to do with are barred from this home but there are a few things that make the cut. One is a soup base called Better Than Bouillon that has a jam-like consistency with a short list of ingredients and without a truckload of salt. I use a much smaller amount than recommended to further reduce the salt. If we need more, then we can add it. Take back the control!
Soup builders
Very handy
Another option are better soups sold in cardboard containers. One brand I really like is Imagine. It’s fat-free, has no MSG (Y-U-C-K), the list of ingredients is recognizable, and though there’s salt, again, not as much as others. Also, I NEVER use full-strength broth but do a 1-part broth to 2-parts water ratio (1:2) or a 1-part broth to 3-parts water ratio (1:3 broth to water). Hey, where did you go? Have I lost you? Come back – math is highly useful in the kitchen.
I love to use fresh herbs when making soups of all kinds. I usually toss them in whole but then find myself taking forever to fish them out of the pot. Duh. It seems I’ve forgotten two important words involving one important item that should have a home in every kitchen. Are you ready? Bouquet garni.
What a Lovely Bouquet!
And for that you need to have kitchen twine. For me, Italian parsley is a mainstay. Add to that some dill, thyme, cilantro, oregano or whatever your soup (or stew) wants. Take your little flavor bundle of herbs AKA bouquet garni. Cut a section of twine long enough to tie it up with a little bit left to hang over the pot so that you can fish it out when your soup is done (but not so long that it catches fire – no, no no -NOT good).
I can hear you callin’
… to get in the pot
… hold on
(sung to the music of “In The Air Tonight”; bb’s apologies to Phil Collins)
We’re cooking now
When your soup is done, use a big spoon to squeeze every bit of goodness out of the bundle and toss. Voila! Pat yourself on the back for being highly efficient. Sing a happy tune to celebrate.
Soup’s on
Yellow Split-Pea Soup with Veggies
Ingredients:
8 c. water 1 c. dried yellow split-peas 1 large onion, diced 4 cloves garlic, minced 2 stalks celery, thinly sliced 3 medium carrots (or 2 large), cut in half length-wise and sliced in half rounds 1/2 small bunch Italian parsley 4 sprigs fresh thyme 2 bay leaves 1 t. Better Than Bouillon (or equivalent amount of a healthier soup base) 2 small white potatoes (or 1 medium), diced 1 zucchini or Mexican squash, diced 1/4 c. small pasta, like orzo salt & pepper to tasteDirections:
Prepare bouquet garni by tying parsley and thyme together in a little bundle with kitchen twine – you’ll place the bouquet garni in the pot after the initial veggies are in so that it floats on top with a small amount of excess string hanging outside of pot for easy removal later.
Bring water up to a boil with next eight ingredients (split peas to bay leaves and bouquet garni last).
Lower to simmer. Skim soup. Add bouillon. Cover (with lid slightly askew) and cook for 1 hour.
Add potatoes and stir. Continue cooking for 1/2 hour. Remove bouquet garni and squeeze it with a spoon against the side of the pot to keep every bit of broth in your pot (and not on your counter/floor/shirt).
Add squash and pasta and cook for 10-15 more minutes until pasta and squash are tender. Season with salt & pepper. Remove bay leaves before serving. Garnish with chopped parsley, chopped chives, or the green part of a green onion.
bb tips:
Omit the bouillon and use 2 cups broth and 6 cups of water. Add more water if needed.
Optional: Substitute a handful of cut-up green beans for the squash. Other veggie possibilities: 1 diced turnip added at the start; 1 cup of chopped spinach or 1 cup of roughly chopped kale (this powerhouse of a veggie is insanely popular!) at the finish.
Pasta Notes: Any short pasta works – orzo, riso, farfalline (baby bow ties) or angel-hair pasta, broken up.
Pasta possibilities
and we have a winner
Yellow Split-Pea Soup Revisited for Food Bloggers Los Angeles Spotlight on SOUPS
February 2013
I brought this soup with turnips and kale added to the mix… 8 veggies in all!
Fresh Italian parsley, fresh thyme and a bay leaf were added and to round out the flavor, a few shakes of cumin.
Thank you, my FBLA friends, for a fulfilling time!
I didn’t see my mom much growing up. A demanding career? You could say that. She and my dad owned a clothing store in the Bronx. And that’s where they were six long days a week. They came home well after I had eaten dinner. Just worn out. A quick supper, a little TV or the newspaper, and that was it for them. Many nights, I would sit on my favorite kitchen stepstool and eat a few bites of chopped steak hamburger off my mother’s plate when they finally sat down to eat. It always tasted better than the one I had eaten a few hours earlier.
I remember her getting ready to leave in the morning with me standing there in the front hallway watching her put on her coat. Her presence was kinda magical to me. I could never get enough of it. I felt like she was the best special treat I could ever want. She would turn to me with all this love in her eyes. She’d hug and kiss me, murmuring all these sweet tender endearments to me in Yiddish. Mama shayna, getreiyener, ketzeleh, oytzer, neshumkeleh meine. I’d lift up my hand and she’d gently kiss it… I’d stare at the imprint of her red lipstick on my hand through the day until it disappeared.
People ask me if I’ve always had an interest in food and cooking. I suppose I have. I’m asked if my mom taught me. I know the basics from her. That is, the basics that she had time to do. What I do know is that my Sundays revolved around going food shopping with her, from the bakery, to the butcher, to the fruit and vegetable market. Her lifting me up into the cart at the market and her handing me things to place in our cart as she wheeled me up and down the aisles. Sunday was the day that we stocked up for the week. And then home we walked,the bounty in the metal shopping cart rolling behind us, to make a main dish or two that would last for a few days. Things like soups, stews, roasts, chicken-in-the-pot, meat loaf, meatballs, stuffed peppers and this pepper steak. Well, sort of this pepper steak. I’m known to tweak things in my family. Back then it was green peppers and onions, and of course garlic. But the smell of sauteing onion remains the same as the beginning of wonderful things to come. Makes me feel as warm inside today as it did then.
There were two kinds of steaks stocked in our freezer then- minute steaks and rib steaks with the bone in. Also, a pile of individual burgers made from chopped steak that my mom packed for my sister to make for us during the week.
I used skirt steak for the pepper steak and know you’ll achieve equally good results with minute steak, hanger steak, or London Broil. My mom didn’t have the time/patience/inclination to cut the steaks. She just plopped them into the pan to brown them and then added the onions and garlic and peppers. I go for cutting the steaks into strips beforehand. This way you can get a lot more veggies in and if you’ve been following my blog, you know that’s what I like to do.
The beautiful green peppers are the last of the peppers grown in my raised bed vegetable container… thank you Joe… for our season.
If you forget to rub the garlic on the steaks (ahem), simply add it to the veggies!
Veggies tossed with lightly browned steak strips.
Doesn’t look like much but a wine reduction is a powerful flavor enhancer when poured over the dish.
Hit It Maestro:
Just a sprinklin’ of parsley helps the colorin’ go pop … in a most delightful way!
Thanks, Mom…
SKIRT STEAK WITH RED AND GREEN PEPPERS
Ingredients:
1 lb. skirt steak, cut into 1/2″‘ wide strips salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 garlic cloves, minced 3 T. grape seed or safflower or canola oil, divided 1 onion, sliced lengthwise, top to root 2 peppers, 1 red and 1 green (I used 3 small peppers instead of 1), cut into 1/2 ” strips 1/2 c. red wine 1 t. soy sauce 2 T. Italian parsley, choppedVariations:
- Add 1 dozen cherry tomatoes, cut in half, and add at the end of cooking.
- Replace the peppers with broccoli, snow peas or a combination of the two- about 2 cups total. Cook vegetables until just barely tender, about 3-4 minutes.
- Replace peppers with sliced mushrooms or mushrooms and peas – about 2 cups total. Generously sprinkle with parsley at the end of cooking.
- Substitute chopped cilantro for parsley.
- Add a finely chopped 1/2″ piece of ginger to garlic and and later, 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seed oil at end of cooking.
- You can also use London Broil or minute steaks. If using 2 thicker cuts of steak, carefully slice horizontally – through the center from one end to the other – so that the steaks are half as thick.
Directions:
Season steaks with salt and pepper. Rub minced garlic over meat (and ginger, if using). Allow meat to rest for 10 minutes. Cut into strips.
Heat 2 T. oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add sliced onions and peppers (or other vegetables), stirring for 2-4 minutes or until just tender. Remove vegetables to a bowl and keep warm.
Heat the third tablespoon of oil (remember I listed 3 T. in the ingredients?) in the skillet on high heat, until the oil just begins to shimmer. Carefully place the steak strips in the pan (tongs work well here, I know, I tend to burn myself). Allow the meat to brown on one side for a minute without stirring. Think of 1 minute browning time for medium-rare and 2 minutes for medium; you want the meat to retain some natural juices. Stir it up, put heat on medium, return vegetables to pan, adding wine and soy sauce. Heat through for 1 minute.
Remove vegetables and meat to serving dish. Scrape up bits in pan. Turn heat up to high and reduce wine, soy sauce mixture by about half. Pour over meat, and generously sprinkle with parsley.
Makes 4 servings. Serve with steamed rice, Israeli couscous or alone.
I served it over brown rice with roasted chunks of butternut squash. Mighty good.
Snippet of conversation in which I was a participant:
-There’s something funny about this red cabbage.
-It’s not funny. It’s cooked.
-Why would you cook cole slaw?
-It’s not cole slaw.
-I don’t know why you cooked the red cabbage.
Yes, dear readers, I have been known to do something out of the normal bounds. I have a tendency to rock the boat. Like cook red cabbage. I know. I know. The typical red cabbage that appears on our family table is a slaw simply dressed with vinegar and a bit of sugar. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s quite good, actually. Especially with brisket. Do I detect some head-nodding out there? I thought so.
But the weather’s a bit chilly and I felt like cooking my cabbage. With an apple. It’s a very popular German side dish. Goes well with roast chicken. Not particularly earth-shaking. But you’d be surprised. It stirred things up a bit.
Celery seed is under-appreciated. It has natural sodium. Rub it between your palms as you sprinkle it on. Great with egg salad. I used it here as a flavor boost. No need to use as much salt when there’s celery seed in the dish.
Juice a blood orange, if you have one around. And it’s a good idea to keep a few around when they’re in season.
It’s sweet and sour.
It’s red cabbage.
It’s cooked.
Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage with Apple
Ingredients:
1 small red cabbage, cut in half, core removed and thinly sliced 2 T. safflower/canola oil 1 onion, chopped 1 tart apple, peeled and thinly sliced (grating works well too) 1 small blood orange, juiced 1/2 lemon, juiced 1 T. cider vinegar 2 t. sugar 1/2 t. celery seed 1/2 c. red wine (white wine can be substituted) salt and pepper to tasteDirections:
Remove outer leaves and cut cabbage in four pieces through the core. Cut away the core and shred the cabbage.
Thinly slice (or grate) the apple and mix with lemon juice.
Heat large skillet (with lid) and heat oil. Add chopped onion and saute for 3 minutes.
Add cabbage and apples in small batches, stirring as you go, until all the cabbage is in the pan.
Add juices, vinegar, wine, sugar, salt, pepper and celery seed. Mix well. Cook until cabbage is very soft, about 20 minutes.
Serves 4 – can be eaten hot or cold.
Optional: Add 2 T. raisins to the mix. Can omit orange juice and add another teaspoon sugar if needed.
One of the words that describes my style in the kitchen is frugal. Peering into the fridge is a very fun challenge when I’m creating a dish. And if I happen to have a welcome surplus of a seasonal something sitting on the counter, then all the better. I’m still benefiting from the wonderful gathering of Food Bloggers Los Angeles where Nancy of Melissa’s Produce was on hand to distribute lovely and fragrant blood oranges to delighted attendees.
I later asked my mom if she knew about blood oranges from growing up in Romania and she replied, “Sure I do! They’re delicious!” Not a moment’s hesitation there. A little sleuthing revealed (click here) that they first appeared on the scene in Italy. In fact, if you order a glass of orange juice in Rome today, you’re likely to have a beautiful ruby-red juice placed before you.
I had a lonely little fennel bulb sitting in the veggie drawer. If this fennel was bigger, I might have prepared a fennel orange salad. Since it wasn’t, the blood oranges got star billing!
We received anise honey as part of a gift basket last year. I’ve been using it sparingly and enjoying its rich, fragrant goodness throughout the past few months. Anise. Fennel. Perfect.
This was a serendipitous pairing. Don’t go running all over town if it’s not in your cupboard. Use the honey you’ve got, honey.
Why is this sliced fennel taking a bath in ice water? In the middle of winter? No I am not chillin’ my fennel or my fingers for no good reason. I read a tip somewhere in my reading travels that suggests this move for crispier sliced fennel. I think the fennel would have been better even more thinly sliced, even shaved, and the ice water trick would have been more effective in that case. Alas, there was only so much thin slicing going on that day.
Don’t throw away those little jars… they make great salad dressing shakers.
Pre-Dressing
All Dressed Up and Headed To Table
A good thing those blood oranges got star billing – the salad was a big hit with the audience, okay, with me and Novio.
BLOOD ORANGE AND FENNEL SALAD
Ingredients:
3 blood oranges – 2 for salad, peeled and segmented, and 1 for dressing, both the zest and juice) 1 small fennel bulb, very thinly sliced or shaved, plus a few little green wisps from the frond for garnish 1 small or medium apple (sweet or tart), unpeeled, sliced and cut into bite-sized pieces, about 1/2 cup 1 scallion (green onion), thinly sliced 2 T. lemon juice 2 T. olive oil 2 t. honey 1/4 t. fennel seed (also called anise seed) freshly ground black pepper sea salt or kosher salt, a sprinkling to tasteDirections:
Cut fennel bulb in half lengthwise (remove fronds) and cut away the core at the bottom. Discard outer leaves. Slice as thinly as you can (or you can use one of those gadgets that I prefer to keep my fingers away from, like a guillotine mandoline). Plunge sliced fennel into a bowl of ice water. This little trick will help crisp the fennel even more. Not an absolute necessity, but a nice touch. Set fennel aside.
Peel and segment 2 blood oranges and place in bowl along with sliced scallion.
Prepare dressing by zesting and juicing the third blood orange. Add the lemon juice, olive oil, and honey. Whisk or shake up in a small jar.
Remove fennel from ice water and pat dry on paper towels. Add to oranges and scallion. Cut up apple and add to salad.
Pour half the dressing over the salad and toss very lightly. Rub fennel seed between the palms of your hand over the salad. Add salt and pepper. Taste and add remainder of dressing or a bit less. Garnish with a smidge of chopped up greens from the fennel frond.
Serves 2.
Salad Variations:
- Delete the apple and substitute a firm cubed avocado.
- If blood oranges are not around, substitute a navel orange in bite-sized pieces and adjust honey to taste.
- Instead of a green onion, mince 1/2 a shallot and add to dressing. Or thinly slice 1/4 of red onion and add to salad.
Actually taking notes instead of throwing it together and then squinting hard to re-create it.
bumbleberry breeze 