Long time ago: Greek Dinner for Columbae

I was recently going through some very old posts at a different web journal. I came across this collection of recipes, and I do not think I have posted the here. The following is from May 14, 2005.

At a recent bookstore sale, I picked up two vegetarian cookbooks, each for $6 (one normally goes for $13, the other for $28). The cheaper one looks especially like a keeper: called Vegetarian's A to Z Guide to Fruits & Vegetables, it provides a number of simple but yummy-looking recipes for each vegetable (the veggies are alphabetized by name), as well as nutrition information for each recipe and discussion of the vegetable's properties, time of year, location, storage, etc. I can imagine living near a local organic farm and subscribing to a weekly produce box that would provide me with seasonal produce with, at any given time, a small selection. In such a situation, a book like this would be a lifesaver: we're eating cucumbers for a week? Fine, let's see what we can do with cucumbers. The farmers decide to grow Batavian endive? We can look that up too.

In theory, Columbae would opperate that way, and we do try to keep to local seasonal produce. That said, I've been looking forward to preparing a traditional (well, with vegan modificaitons) Greek feast tomorrow, and although we did get baby spinach from the local organic supplier, I wanted celery, cucumber, grapes, all of which are seasonal in mid- to late summer. Our produce manager, however, is currently my most favoritest person in the world: she got me a couple heads of celery, a big box of grapes, and a big box of cucumbers, all conventional. So I'll have to wash everything, and the cucumbers are probably waxed, which is a shame, because the skins are the healthiest part, but still.

I have filo dough, which I need to remember to move to the fridge tonight to defrost, and I have my veggies and recipes. I need to soak the beans, too, and look up the spices suggested for apple rather than pear filling for the desert (pears aren't in season, whereas we have a hella lot of apples, but apples aren't as delicate, so require more spicing). I don't get olives --- dry goods and dairy came through for me with the feta but not with everything --- but oh, well. It will be good.


Soup: Fassolada me Spanaki Serves 6-8

Soak for 4 hrs, drain, boil, and drain

• 1.5 cup dried cannellini

or open

• 2 cans beans

In a large saucepan on medium heat, saute in plenty of olive oil for 30 minutes

• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 4 medium carrots, finely diced
• 2 sticks celery, finely diced

Add, and bring to poin, cover, and simmer

• 4 sprigs celery leaves (optional)
• 2 large cloves garlid, finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp dried thyme (and/or greek oregano)
• 1/2 a medium bunch of fresh parsely, coarsely chopped
• the beans, if used dried
• 8 cups water or light vegetable stock
• 1 large can diced tomatos (or skin and dice three large tomatoes and let sit salted 15 minutes)
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste diluted in 3 Tbsp water
• 8 oz spinach, cut in thin ribbons

Simmer perhaps 20-30 minutes, adding the tomato paste and spinach in the last 5-10 minutes. Stir in

• another 1/2 bunch of parsely
• a little more oil

Serve hot, with

• 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar

sprinkled over each bowl.


Bulgari Pilafi Serves 4

Heat gently in large saucepan

• 3 Tbsp olive oil

and saute until translucent

• 1 large onion

Break up with fingers into roughly 2-inch pieces

1/4 cup thin spaghetti, vermicelli, or angel's hair

and add to onion. Continue stirring until pasta is pale golden and arromatic, 2-3 minutes.
Soak for a few minutes to enlarge, then rinse in a fine sieve under running water

• 2 1/4 cup coarse bulgar, picked clean

and add to pan, stirring, and add

• 1 1/2 cup vegetable stock (scale sublinearly)

Cover and simmer gently 7-8 minutes, until mixture looks almost dry. Cover with cloth, replace lid, and let stand off heat at least 10-15 minutes, or up to 1 hr.


Spanakopita Fills 13x15 lasagna pan, enough for 8 people as a main course

Make sure to have left the filo dough out to defrost to room temp 5 hrs before use.
Chop into uniform 1/4-1/2 inch cubes

• 1 large onion

and saute until clead. Add

• 1 clove garlic, mashed
• 2 lbs fresh or frozen spinach

and saute until limp.
Mash to chunks less than 1/2 inch

• 16 oz firm water-packed tofu (frozen and defrosted if you have time)

and add to pan, along with

• 2 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp black pepper
• 2 Tpsp oregano

Remove from heat and drain excess water. Let cool slightly.
Preheat oven 350°F, oil a large lasagna pan, and get ready to work with filo dough: as the dough will dry quickly, don't open the package until everything is ready. Have 3-4 people working. Each sheet should be lightly oiled (so keep a brush and a bowl of oil handy) after it's placed in the the pan, and someone should keep a clean, barely moist towel over the unused dough. Anyhoo, when ready, cut open

• 1 pound filo dough

and place individual oiled sheets, with edges hanging over edge of pan, in varying directions. Use a third of the dough (roughly 6 sheets), then fill in half the spinach, then a third of the dough, then the other half spinach, then the last third of the dough. Fold edges over or in, make sever slashes through the top of the pastry to the filling, and bake 45 minutes to 1 hr, until golden brown.


Apple filo strudel makes 3 rolls (?)

Preheat oven 350°F.
Wash, peel, core, and dice

• 10 medium apples

to get about 14 cups. Mix in

• 6 Tbsp lemon juice
• 8 tsp cinnamon
• 5 cups walnuts, chopped or cuised
• 2-3 Tpsb white sugar
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar

Prepare to work with filo dough (see above), and stack 4 sheets, individually oiled. Spoon some filling along one long edge, leaving a 2-inch boarder. Fold filo dough over filling, tuck in ends, and roll up. Brush with canola oil. Place rolls seam-side down on greased baking sheet at least 2 inches apart. Slice into 1.5 inch pieces half way through roll. Bake 20-30 minutes until golden brown.


Greek Salad

We will be using

• mixed greens
• celery
• onion
• shredded carrot
• grapes
• feta on the side

Traditionally a summer salad would also include

• kalamata olives or possibly capers
• tomato
• possibly bell pepper

whereas winter salads are normally cabbage-based. Dressing is always olive oil mixed with lemon juice; one would normally place slices of feta on top of the salad, sprinkle everything with dried oregano, and then pour the oild and lemon juice on top, but I'm going to use crumbled feta and mix the oregano into the dressing. Grapes wouldn't normally be in the salad, but I don't get olives, and it will be yummy.

Tofu pot-stickers

For our last night in Berkeley before taking the train to Oregon for Christmas, we made tofu wonton. The filling consisted of medium-soft tofu, diced fresh green shallots, grated fresh (frozen) ginger, grated fresh (frozen) lemon grass, a touch of soy sauce, and a little corn starch. We cooked them by frying on one side in canola-plus-sesame oil and then pouring boiling water over them to cook the other side. Very tasty.

Thai-Italian curry

Sauté onions and shitake mushrooms in olive oil with some salt. Add broccoli and tofu, cover, and steam until the broccoli is bright green. Add a can of coconut milk, some soy sauce, and a can of tomatoes. Bring to a boil, remove from the heat, and stir in one bunch purple basil. Serve over brown rice.

January 26: Pumpkin Curry

The important ingredients: winter squash, coconut milk, orange or lemon juice, spices. The rest is whatever is in the fridge.

27 October 2008

Tofu Reuben, with a side of sautéed beet greens and apples. I liked the reubens a lot, but my boyfriend didn't.

Fesenjan with tofu

Fesenjan is a traditional Persian dish made with walnuts and pomegranates, usually served with chicken or eggplant, and served over rice. Like the red sauces of Italy, there are as many fesenjan recipes as there are cooks. Fesenjan was one of the first recipes I put in my recipe book, and made a fantastic dinner last night. This recipe serves at least four.

For Persian-style rice, cook long-grain white rice in twice as much salted water uncovered ten minutes, then drain, rinse in cold water, and drain again. In a large saucepan, melt 1 Tbsp butter per cup of (dry) rice, add the rice, and stir to coat. Wrap a lid in a clean cloth and secure with a rubber band; cover saucepan, and steam rice 40-45 minutes on low until bottom is golden and crusty.

Of course, I prefer brown rice, cooked my usual way: bring rice to boil with 1.5-times as much salted water, and simmer covered until water has evaporated/been absorbed (about 20-30 minutes). Then leave covered, but remove from heat, and let the rice steam itself another 20 minutes at least; rice will holds its heat for upwards of an hour.

In any case, the fesenjan:

In a large saucepan or dutch oven, sauté until wilted and translucent

• 1/4 cup oil (mix of olive and walnut)
• 2 onions (we just got half a dozen small red onions in our vegetable box), sliced thin.

Of course, I ended up burning the onions, but not badly. Anyway, add

• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• spices: 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1/4 tsp cardamom, 2 tsp pepper

After a minute or two, add

• 3 cups walnuts, finely processed in a food processor or blender
• 2/3 cup pomegranate concentrate
• 3 cup water or vegetable stock
• 1 large Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 1/2-1 pound frozen tofu, cubed
• 3 Tbsp lemon (should be lime) juice.

Bring to boil, reduce to simmer, and cook uncovered until foaming subsides and sauce darkens and thickens, about half an hour.

Squash and tofu curry

We still have squash in storage, but after this dish we are down to just two delicatas. Slicing tomatoes have just come into market. My recipe is based on this one, but there are others.

In a wok, combine, mix well, and heat:

• 1 can coconut milk
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp white vinegar
• 1 capful orange extract
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1 Tbsp ground coriander
• 1 Tbsp ground cumin
• salt

When sauce is simmering, add

• 1 butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed, and cubed

and allow to steam covered while preparing other ingredients. Cook awhile. Add

• 1 lb tofu, cubed, frozen, and defrosted (cube tofu when purchasing, and store in freezer; to defrost, bring to boil in water with soy sauce)
• 1/2 bunch purple carrots, cut into thick slices
• 1 bunch Red Russian kale, in thin slices

and allow ingredients to warm and soften. Mix with sauce. When squash is soft, add

• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 1/2 bunch basil leaves

. Mix everything together, and serve over rice.

Variations:

• The traditional Thai "pumpkin" curry is made with kabocha squash.
• You might prefer your curry spicier, and perhaps with cilantro. Curry powder is completely foreign to Thai cuisine.
• Orange juice and grated orange zest are good additions; subtract some lemon and the orange extract.
• Yellow pepper and potatoes are tasty veggies. Use little tomatoes in place of the big one.
• Try substituting 1/2 can garbanzo beans for the tofu.
• Onion.

Stir-fry with tofu noodles, mushrooms, and peas

At the Berkeley farmers' markets, and indeed at every farmers' market in the Bay Area, is a stand for Hodo Soy, which makes excellent tofu and tofu-based prepared products. (I cannot, however, recommend their soy milk. It is the dried and ground soy beans dissolved in water that will have calcium added to curdle. It tastes exactly like what it is: a step along the way and by-product of tofu manufacturing.)

One tasty ingredient available from Hodo Soy are their soy noodles: firm tofu pressed through a spaghetti maker. These are excellent in stir-fries. The tofu, made fresh daily, tastes good already, and the high surface area allows the tofu to pick up flavors from the sauce.

In the wok, we heated vegetable oil with a little sesame oil, and briefly sautéed green onion, sliced mushrooms, and chopped baby bok choy (mei ching choi), and the tofu noodles.



Then we added snap peas (tips and strings removed), soy sauce, and one can each of water chestnuts and bamboo shoots. After a few stirs, we covered the wok and let the mixture simmer and heat.

Aim for your stir fry to have a little liquid at the bottom. Right before serving, combine a Tablespoon of corn starch with enough soy sauce to dissolve, and maybe a little sesame oil. Remove stir-fry from heat, and, stirring constantly, add corn-starch mixture. A few tosses, since the pan is still hot, should be enough to create the sticky glaze on tasty stir-fries. Mix in some toasted sesame seeds for good measure, and serve.

We had our stir-fry over brown rice.

Salad with tofu

We don't eat a lot of salads around here. I grew up with salad every night at dinner, but my parents buy better vinegar than I do, and the available salad greens here (most often I see arugula, aka rocket or roquette, and baby lettuces) are often flavorful enough that they make better sandwich-filling than salad.

So I was very excited when our farmers' box last week included a large bag of the redundantly-named mesclun mix. The salad greens are sweet this winter, and looked like a lovely lunch.

I would like to make a pitch for frozen tofu. If you are going to be eating tofu raw, be sure to buy very good tofu; a local producer is absolutely the way to go. In Berkeley, a stand at Farmers' Market provides locally-made tofu. Soy beans do not grow in California; this producer imports beans from an organic farm in the midwest, where they are dried before shipping. Soy beans are ground and soaked to make a soy milk, and then calcium is added to curdle the milk. The tofu is made in presses, much like cheese.

In any case, fresh firm or extra-firm tofu is tasty as is, but for a more interesting texture, cut into half- to one-inch cubes, and freeze in a ziplock bag. Defrost by placing in an inch or two of water in a small saucepan and heating (with the lid on). Then cool off by running the boiled tofu under cold water, and over the sink squeeze out residual water. The spongy cubes are fantastic.

For my salad, I washed, cored, and diced a green apple, and combined it with a large bowl of mesclun and half a pound (minus the water) of frozen tofu. For a dressing, I combined olive oil with a touch of soy sauce and a splash of red wine, whisked with a fork, and then tossed into the salad with my fingers. Mmm good.

For salads larger than a single serving, mix the dressing before composing the salad. Add some of the salad to the large bowl, then cover with some dressing, and continue layering, mixing by hand occasionally. Be gentle: lettuces bruise easily. (As such, always use as sharp a knife as possible with fresh lettuces.) Salads should be dressed and tossed before serving; the diner technique of opening a bag of pre-washed supermarket salad and serving with a side of bottled dressing is tacky, and deprives the vegetables of the chance to soak up the dressing.

Tofu stir-fry with peanuts, leek, mushroom, and green cabbage

Before starting this blog, I would post recipes on various other sites on the internet. In the interest of compiling all my food postings on one site, I reprint them here. Originally posted 13 January 2008.


If you get very good tofu, it's worth eating plain, with soy sauce. Alternately, marinate in soy sauce mixed with water, but be careful not to make it too salty, and add right at the end to a stir-fry, just long enough to heat up.

Before adding the tofu, heat an inch or two of vegetable oil in a wok, along with peppercorns, whole cloves, star anise, and one dried hot chili. When spices start to darken, remove from heat and strain out spices. Discard spices, and toast unsalted peanuts in the spiced oil until they start to darken. Remove peanuts and set aside, leaving oil in wok. Toss peanuts with a little salt and some aniseed.

Add to the wok washed and finely chopped leeks (onions, garlic, shallots, etc.), and cook a little bit. Then add sliced mushrooms and drain some soy sauce from the marinating tofu. Toss briefly, and cover with lid of wok to steam (this helps preserve the mushroom flavor). When mushrooms are cooked, remove from wok, leaving as much liquid as possible in wok.

Slice a green cabbage in half, remove core, and slice thin from pole to pole, and half the slices along the equator. Add to wok, cover, and steam to reduce. When cabbage is soft, add and (re)heat leeks and mushrooms and tofu, but not the tofu marinade. Cook off as much liquid as possible, and toss in peanuts at the end.