Black beans with Sofrito

My darling husband loves black beans, and I just happened to have a ham bone left over from Easter, so this was perfect.  

• 2 green peppers, stemmed and seeded
• 10 garlic cloves
• 1 pound dried black beans, rinsed and picked over to remove any stones
• 1 smoked ham hock
• 2 bay leaves
• 5 teaspoons salt, or to taste
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 3 T  slices thick bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 1 jalapeño, stemmed and finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons Sherry vinegar
• 1 tablespoon turbinado or other brown sugar

Cut 1 green pepper into 1-inch squares. Smash and peel 4 of the garlic cloves. Put the green pepper and garlic into a large pot with the beans, ham hock, bay leaves and 1 tablespoon salt. Add 2 quarts water and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and simmer until the beans are tender, an hour or more.

Meanwhile, make a sofrito. Cut the remaining ½ green pepper into ¼-inch dice. Peel and finely chop the remaining garlic. Heat the olive oil in a very large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until it starts to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the green pepper and onion and cook, stirring, until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, jalapeño (leave out the seeds if you don’t want it too spicy), oregano, cumin, black pepper and 2 teaspoons salt and stir for another minute. Pour in the vinegar and scrape any browned bits from bottom of pan with a wooden spoon. This is your sofrito.

When the beans are cooked, discard the bay leaf. Remove and set aside the ham hock and let it cool. Transfer 2 cups of beans to the blender and puree them and return to the pot. Add the sofrito, then the sugar. Pull the meat from the ham hock, leaving behind any white sinew or gristle. Chop the ham into ½-inch pieces and return it to the bean pot.

Stir the beans well and bring to a boil over medium heat, then lower to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes or so, skimming any foam from the top. Taste for salt and serve.

Salmon for a crowd

This is my favorite way to cook salmon - it's especially nice for a crowd because it's easy to double or triple the sauce for as many fillets as you need and you can make everything in advance and just pop it in the oven for 12 minutes when everyone gets there.

For 4 4-oz salmon fillets

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees

2 Tbs Honey
1 1/2 Tbs Soy Sauce
1 1/2 Tbs Lime Juice
2 tsp Dijon Mustard
1 Tbs water
2 tsp oil
1 tsp grated ginger

Combine everything in a small bowl and set aside.

Dry fillets with a paper towel and place skin side down on a non-stick baking sheet about and inch apart.  I use a sheet of non-stick foil.  Spoon or brush the sauce mixture over the fillets and bake for 12 minutes.

That's it.  Honest.  It's that easy, and your guests will love it - family too.

Here's the recipe expanded for my book club - makes more than enough for 24 fillets.

3/4 c Honey
1/2 c + 1 Tbs Soy Sauce
1/2 c + 1 Tbs Lime Juice
1/4 c Dijon Mustard
1/4 c + 2 Tbs water
1/4 c oil
2 Tbs grated ginger

No need to increase the cooking time for 24 fillets - that's the beauty of this dish!

Pasta with Gorgonzola and Walnuts Farfalle con le noci e Gorgonzola

My friend, Linda, who knits with us Friday mornings, had just returned from an Italian vacation with her daughters.  One of the fun things she did was attend a cooking class at the home of a lovely Italian woman.  I guess they spent the day cooking and drinking wine and eating.  Pretty rough, huh.  

Linda said she was surprised to see a block of good old American Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese on the counter.  We all laughed, and Linda said that her instructor said she loved the stuff and used it in a pasta dish with blue cheese.  Linda said that because her girls are not blue cheese fans,the group opted to cook a different dish for the class.  We all went back to our knitting, and Linda told us all about the rest of her trip.  I'm sure I listened, and I'm sure I knit, but I could not get blue cheese pasta out of my mind.  

I decided that in fact I couldn't live without some blue cheese pasta, so I started scheming.  I didn't have a recipe, but I did know two key ingredients.  So, half a block (4 oz) of cream cheese and an equal amount of Gorgonzola went into a 3 quart saucepan.  

Since we're already pretty far down the high fat path, a little heavy cream seemed like the right choice to thin the sauce out.  Also, sherry is really great with blue cheese, so I added about a quarter cup of that too.  

When you heat that cream and sherry, it really helps the cheeses start to melt.  

I cooked a pound of farfalle in salted water and started dumping it into the melty cheese and cream mixture, stirring to coat the pasta.

It was totally delicious at this point. I tasted it several times to be sure.  But I thought it needed another dimension - a little crunch.   Walnuts are really nice with blue cheese, so I tossed a handful into a small iron skillet and gave them a quick toast and chopped a bit.

It's really as simple as that - turn the pasta into a nice warm bowl and top with the walnuts and serve.  A little freshly ground black pepper is a nice garnish.

I'll tell you, this is a delicious dish, but it is super rich.  This recipe easily serves 6 as a main dish and 8 or 10 as a first course.  Follow it up with a nice tossed salad and more wine.  Yum.

Best Indian Food

I love the site Vegetarian Recipes of India. It's where I got the killer recipe for most of my Palak Paneer, and I just can't help going there and browsing all the great things.  I thought I would like to try something a little different tonight.  I have a small head of cauliflower, and a bag of beautiful fresh green beans, and a couple of small potatoes, so I thought I might try just using those veggies in my standard cauliflower curry recipe.  I thought I'd peek over at my favorite Indian cooking site and next think you know, I'm off on a biryani tangent.

I don't have time to make this delicious looking biryani tonight, but it looks so good that I need to set aside some serious time and give it a try. Tell me that doesn't look amazing.

Palak Paneer

I love Indian food.  One of my new favorites is Palak Paneer - a rich green sauce with delicate cheese cubes.  I've never made cheese before, but it's always intrigued me.  The 1960's era Time Life book on Indian cooking my mother assured me it was simple.  It actually was.

The palak curry recipe is adapted from this one.that I found on Google.  It has great pictures of each step, and it actually tastes like the restaurant version.  I think the blanching of the spinach is really important to keep the color bright and appealing.  We all know how overcooked spinach can look.  My family loved this!  I can see making it at least once a month if not more frequently.  Even my picky 12 year old wiped his plate with his bread.  I didn't have naan, so i used flour tortillas quick toasted over the gas flame.

Ingredients
For the paneer
1 half gallon whole or 2% milk
1/2 c plain yogurt
2 T fresh lemon juice

For the Palak curry
9 oz fresh spinach - one large bag
1 long green hot chili
2 cloves garlic coarsely chopped
1/2 inch fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

2 T oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 small fresh tomatoes or 1 8-oz can diced tomatoes
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp cumin seed
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 bay leaf
2 T heavy cream
salt

Make  the paneer 
Line a medium strainer with a tea towel and place over an 8 cup measure or other large bowl.  Pour milk into 3 quart saucepan and bring to boil over high heat.  When foam begins to rise, remove pan from heat and stir in yogurt and lemon juice.  It will look awful, but it's okay.  Dump the mixture into the strainer and let it drain and cool a bit.  When the curds are cool enough to handle, gather up the tea towel and squeeze as much liquid out as you can  Place a bath towel on the counter, and put a chopping board on top.  Place the curds, still wrapped in the tea towel, on a chopping board.  Cover with another board or a heavy pot.  Pile as many heavy things on top as you can.  The goal is to flatten the curds (paneer) into a flat disk about 1/2 - 1 inch thick.  Leave it to sit a few hours.  You can do this up to two days ahead.  Cut the paneer into 1-inch cubes and set aside.



For the Palak Curry
Fill a large bowl with ice water and set aside. In a large pot, bring one quart of water to boil. Drop the spinach into the pot and turn it off.  Let it stand for 2 minutes, drain, and dump spinach into a bowl of ice water.  Drain, and place spinach into a blender.  Add the chopped garlic, hot pepper, and ginger, and blend until smooth.  It will smell heavenly.

In a large deep skillet, heat the oil to almost smoking, and add the cumin seeds.  They should fry and toast in the oil.  Add the bay leaf and onions, and cook until lightly golden.  Add the garlic and cook a minute more.  Add the tomatoes and cook another minute or so.  Add the turmeric and chili powder, stirring well.  Pour in the spinach and ginger mixture.  Add 1/4 -1/2 cup water to the blender to get every bit of that spinach, and add to the pan.  Reduce heat and cook about 5 minutes.  Add the paneer cubes and cook another 3 minutes.  Stir in the cream, and season with salt to taste.

Serve with Basmati rice or Naan or both!  Yum.

Summer Pasta

This quick and easy pasta is the perfect use for all those wonderful summer tomatoes you have hanging around.  

4 fresh ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped

1 shallot, minced

6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1/4 c extra virgin olive oil

1/4 c fresh basil sliced thinly (chiffonade, for you, Elizabeth)

8 oz fresh mozzarella diced

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Juice from 1/2 fresh lemon

salt and pepper to taste 

Grated Parmesan is optional 

1 lb pasta - I like gemilli, but penne works well too

Bring large pot of water to boil and add 2 T salt. Add pasta and cook till almost al dente.  While pasta is cooking, place garlic and olive oil in a heavy 6 quart pan, over low heat, and toast garlic very gently. Raise heat and add red pepper flakes and shallots and cook a minute or two.  Add tomatoes and cook for 3 minutes, season with salt and pepper.  When pasta almost al dente, drain, reserving 1 c cooking liquid.  Add pasta to pan with tomatoes and cook until al dente.  Fold in basil, lemon juice and mozzarella.  Serve immediately.  Season with fresh ground pepper.  Add Parmesan if you like. 

The best thing I ever baked

Cinnamon buns from this King Arthur Flour recipe.  Used the icing from this recipe.