preserved lemons - manna from heaven

I had my first taste of preserved lemon when some delicate little curls of them were stationed atop a delicious spring risotto last year at Casbah. I am a lover of all things lemony, and these little bites bursting with salty, lemony brightness just rocked my world. But, it was one of the things I assumed was strictly the business of restaurants, and that I could never make something that ethereal in my own humble kitchen. But, then I stumbled across a very simple recipe for them, and undertook it--only about 20 minutes of kitchen time, and then a couple months of waiting, and voila: perfection!

I looked at a bunch of recipes online, and ultimately decided to forego any added seasonings because I wanted to be able to use them for a variety of purposes--although next time I might do them the Morroccan way because that sounds utterly heavenly, too. (David Lebovitz has some nice instructions and recipes here). So, next time you're at the market, grab a big bag of organic lemons (you definitely want organic here since you're going to be eating the skin), and some coarse sea salt, a jar, and you're ready to go.

Here's what I did:
Scrub 12 organic lemons (I preserved 8 of them, and used the others just for their juice). Here's another tip: whenever I'm juicing citrus, I always zest it first--whether or not I need it for the recipe--and keep it in the freezer. That way I always have some zest on hand when I need it. It's pretty great for sprinkling on lots of things.

Anyhow, I scrubbed my lemons, and juiced 4 of them. I got my jar ready, and made sure it and the lid were scrubbed clean. For the other eight lemons that were on their way to being preserved, I cut just the hard tip off of both ends, and then on one end I cut vertically twice in an X shape until about 1 1/2" from the other end (so, like you're quartering it lengthwise, but stopping shy of separating the quarters).

Now, you want to pack those babies with the salt--don't be shy, really pack it in there. And, throw about 1" of salt in the bottom of your jar. Now, start loading up the jar with the lemons, and really squish them in there tightly to get them to give up some juice. Keep doing this until all your lemons are packed in tightly, and squished. Throw another few tablespoons of salt over them, and then fill up the jar to the tippy-top with the lemon juice. Now, just set it on your kitchen counter, and admire it. And, also give it a few turns/shakes daily for about 4-6 weeks.

Now, open them up, and enjoy! You're going to use the rind here, so just slice it off, and discard the flesh. Use it in pretty much everything.

I used it to make a really fantastic risotto for Sunday Dinner. I just made a straight-up risotto: melt some butter, add some onion and garlic (1/2 an onion and 3 cloves of garlic), cook for a few minutes, add the aborio rice (2 cups), cook for a couple more minutes, and then start adding broth--and a couple glugs of marsala--1 cup at a time, stir, stir, stir while it soaks up each addition (adding about 3-4 cups of broth all told). It should take about 20-25 minutes. Then finish it with whatever goodness you want. For this one I added: 1/2 c. grated parmesan, some freshly ground pepper, some chopped chives and basil, and one of my preserved lemons (sliced off the skin of 1 lemon, and did a small dice). Sprinkle it with a little more of each of those things upon serving. I'd planned to also add some steamed asparagus and peas, but forgot. Ah well, still fantastic.

I served that as a main dish with some roasted green beans with onions, garlic, toasted walnuts and a drizzle of balsamic (from a Mollie Katzen recipe in The New Moosewood Cookbook), and some chive-parmesan popovers (from this month's Vegetarian Times magazine - April 2009). FYI - if you make those popovers, add a little more salt and pepper than the recipe calls for; and I made some in a proper popover pan, and the rest in a regular muffin tin. The ones in the popover pan turned out way better (the muffin tin ones were a little tough on the outer edge, as opposed to the popover pan ones that were perfectly crisp-ish).

It was a lovely meal, and tasted of spring--especially with the gorgeous weather (and then there's today - snow!? really?!). Here's a pic. See those lovely little flecks of preserved lemon in the risotto. Pure love.


Yum.

ps. stay tuned. Barbara and I are having dinner at Eleven on Friday for my birthday. I can't wait!

oh, life.

I've sure you're sick of reading me say it, but I've been so busy! Work is kicking my ass, there are always a million things to do around the house, a million things to do with family and friends and assorted obligations and responsibilities and the like. In sum, I'm tired and no end is in sight.

But, I have been eating and cooking a little along the way. Some highlights along the way have been...

1. this Zucchini Ricotta Cheesecake from (guess where!) 101cookbooks.com, Heidi Swanson's blog. Barbara and I, along with the E-dawg, went to dinner at some friends' house last week, and had a lovely evening with lovely food. One friend eats a gluten-free diet, so when I saw this recipe I knew it was the winner. Even those among us that hate goat cheese (I know! Blasphemy!) loved it. My photo of the cheesecake right out of the oven isn't as pretty as Heidi's, but it smelled so good I almost dug in right then.


2. While I was on a zucchini-grating bender for the cheesecake, I decided to play around with making some veggie pancakes with all my zucchini. I grated a few zucchini, drained them (and squeezed more moisture out for good measure) and a couple potatoes. Threw in some minced onion and herbs (dill, parsley, chives and basil), a couple beaten eggs, some freshly grated parmesan, salt and pepper and about 1.5 cups of flour. Mixed it all together, and dropped it by heaping spoonfuls into a skillet that was over medium-high heat with some olive oil. I served these with a drizzle of crema, and they were really tasty! And, they were so easy and nice, I have been thinking of all sorts of variations with different vegetable and herb/spice combinations.


3. Roasted Quinoa with Potatoes and Cheese from Mark Bittman's, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. He said that boiling and then roasting the quinoa would give it a crispy, nutty texture. Some of it on the edges was, but mostly it was just like quinoa when you just boil it. However, I did take it out halfway to go pick up Barbara (and loosely covered it with foil), and then put it back in the oven, so it definitely was user error. It was pretty and colorful (would've been more colorful if I'd had red bell pepper; I used green), and tasted really good. It was plain-ish, but nice in a stick-to-yer-ribs way. The cheese definitely made this. I just used a straight-up cheddar because my lady doesn't like smoked cheeses. I had some gorgeous baby purple potatoes from the farmers market, some red potatoes and a Hungarian hot wax pepper from my CSA, so I used all those.

Roasted quinoa with potatoes and cheese (from How To Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman)
(4-6 servings)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil
1 lb small waxy potatoes, like fingerling, new red, or Peruvian purple, peeled if you like, and cut lengthwise into wedges
3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled
salt
3/4 cup of quinoa
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup scallion, sliced
1 medium red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped
1-2 tbsp minced fresh chile (like jalapeno or Thai) or add hot red pepper flakes or cayenne to taste
6 oz cheese, preferably smoked like gouda, cheddar, or mozzarella, grated (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup minced parsley for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 400. Grease an 8 x 10 inch roasting pan with a tbsp or so of the olive oil.

2. Put the potato wedges and garlic into a large pot with water to cover, salt it, and turn the heat to high. When the water begins to boil, stir in the quinoa. Adjust the heat so that the water boils assertively and cook, stirring once or twice, for about 5 minutes.

3. Drain the quinoa, garlic, and potatoes in a strainer, but leave them fairly wet. Spread them into the prepared pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper, drizzle with the remaining olive oil, and gently toss with a spatula. Spread them out again. Roast, undisturbed, for 15 minutes. Gently toss again, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, and return the pan to the oven for another 10 minutes or so, until the potatoes are tender on the inside and golden on the outside.

4. Add the scallion, bell pepper, and chile and toss everything one last time. Taste and adjust the seasoning, keeping in mind that the cheese will add some saltiness. Spread the cheese over all and return to the oven for another 5-8 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbling. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

4. Peach ice cream. I'd already made some peach frozen yogurt, but last week we had a great scoop of peach ice cream at Kaya, and had been thinking of it since. So, I made some yesterday with the recipe from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop. Honestly, I was a little disappointed. I mean, it tasted good, the texture was nice, but with the sour cream in the recipe it just made it taste tangy like frozen yogurt. I wanted strictly sweet creaminess this time. I LOVE frozen yogurt, and the tanginess is the biggest selling point for me, but I wanted ice cream this time. In fact, I still do. I might have to do another batch this week because I made some delicious blackberry syrup that is crying out for ice cream.


6. Blackberry Soda. As I mentioned, I made some blackberry syrup yesterday. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but I got two pints of gorgeous blackberries from the farmers market, and had read some recipe for a fresh blackberry lemonade or cocktail or something a few weeks ago. So, I cooked them down with a little water, some sugar and a big squeeze of fresh lemon juice, and decided to make a blackberry soda. The syrup tastes fantastic on its own, but then I realized you can't just add that to perrier and expect a miracle. You have to add a lot more sugar to sweeten up mineral water. So I did. It was good. But, next time I'll just use a ginger ale or something. I'm having some friends over for drinks and a game of Foodie Fight on Wednesday. I'm going to make some kind of Blackberry Fizz.


And, after we have drinks and game fun, we're heading to the monthly Vegetarian Dinner at Kaya. The menu looks fab. I can't wait! (and will report back...).

more summery goodness

Last week a co-worker got to talk to Lynne Rosetto Caspar! He'd called in with a question, left a message, and then got a call back with a time to call in and speak to Lynne herself, to possibly be aired on The Splendid Table. So cool! He suggested I call in about my mint conundrum/fascination. Speaking of, I asked a farmer from Goose Creek Gardens (a local herb farm) at the Firehouse Farmers Market (where he was selling spearmint, peppermint and chocolate mint--and who'd supplied the spearmint in my CSA last week). He said that spearmint was his default, and he felt like it just went better with most things. So, the debate continues...

And, speaking of the Firehouse Farmers Market, I got some delicious stuff this week in the Strip:
-Next Life Farms: poona kheera cucumbers, a mix of baby tomatoes, a bunch of red and purple (I think Cherokee Purples?) tomatoes
-Blackberry Meadows: a big basket of white (?) potatoes with this odd peel-y skin (pretty starchy and really tasty, yellow-y flesh), a bunch of parsley, a bunch of Thai basil
-Goose Creek Gardens: some little greens that I was really excited about, and now can't remember what they are for the life of me
-Mushrooms For Life: chanterelles
-Najat's Cuisine: the best hummus EVER
-Puckerbrush Farms: some really fantastically sweet bread and butter corn and a small bag of fresh figs

And, not at the market, but also in the Strip:
-those unbelievable flour tortillas from Reyna
-some Cheddar-Onion bread still hot from the oven from Sunseri
-yummy coffee from 21st Street Coffee

In a word: Mmm.

So, beyond just hunks of bread, and thick slices of tomato, I did a little cooking this weekend. More from the vein of my summer cooking style--don't mess with it too much because it's hot in the kitchen and already pretty perfect the way it is.


D'oh, that dinner got rabbit ears!


dessert:


That dinner is potato taquitos--based on the Mad Mex version that I constantly crave, tomato salad, cucumbers with dill, Mexican street corn (Ellen calls this "goopy corn"), and carrots with a honey-dijon glaze. Fresh peach frozen yogurt with blueberries for dessert. And mint iced tea (spearmint, fyi).

The peach frozen yogurt is SO easy, and it's a peach party around here right now! To make yourself some...

4-5 ripe peaches
1 32oz container of your favorite organic plain whole-milk yogurt
about 1 cup of sugar (more or less depending on the sweetness of the fruit)
1/2 t. vanilla extract
a big squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Puree in a blender or food processor most of the peaches (save a couple for the end so you'll have some chunks) with all the rest of the ingredients. When the mixture is well blended and the sugar is dissolved, add in the last 1-2 peaches and puree for just a few seconds so you have some fruit chunks. If it's already well chilled, put it right into your ice cream maker, and follow your manufacturer's directions. (mine takes about 20 minutes!). If you don't have an ice cream maker, you can follow David Lebovitz's instructions here.

Wow. I was just looking around this site, and this recipe jumped out at me. Dang. (E-dawg--this sounds like one for you, too). Barbara got me his book (along with my fantastic ice cream maker--mine actually came with two freezer canisters. so awesome) for my birthday. It's so amazing. I need to make some ice creams--I've been fixated on frozen yogurt for months, but ice cream's good, too, right? I need to make this SOON.

Oh, and the corn that I mentioned above--in the style of Mexican Street Corn? I think I've mentioned this before (recently), because I'm obsessed with making corn this way, but here's what you do:

Boil some water (I put in a bit of salt and sugar in the water; I'm not sure why), and cook the shucked corn for about 5 minutes in boiling water. Remove it, and slather on some crema (Mexican sour cream. You can find it locally at Reyna--make sure to get the sour, not the sweet, kind), crumble or grate some cojita cheese (again, you can find this at Reyna--2031 Penn Ave in the Strip; don't forget to get some of their housemade tortillas while you're there), sprinkle with some kind of chili powder or cayenne (I've been using a chipotle chili powder), and serve it with wedges of fresh lime. Give it a squirt, and eat it up until you're too full to move. Such a wonderful flavor--the sweet corn, the sour, creamy crema, the saltiness of the cheese, and the bite of the lime. Perfection.

I had some great goopy corn at Kaya last week, too. The corn was roasted, and given a generation slather of chipotle aioli, sprinkled with Idiazabal cheese and served with lime. I'm going to (finally!) check out the Vegetarian Dinner at Kaya this month on the 20th. The menu has me drooling already.

so much stuff, so little time (to blog).

My birthday was super. It was nice to go the low-key route, especially since this sinus infection has pretty much Taken Over My Life. But, even though (on my birthday, last Thursday) it was just a leisurely dinner, and I didn't have anything stronger to drink than water and herbal tea, just being up until 1 a.m.-ish kicked my behind. I was exhausted the entire next day.

It is this way with those of us who are old(ish).

For the big night out, I'd asked around to some people for suggestions. I couldn't decide where to go, but I wanted somewhere off my regularly beaten path--somewhere festive, somewhere good, somewhere not crazy-ass expensive. And, a friend suggested we try The Melting Pot in Station Square. I have a long-time love for fondue, since my mom went through her Fondue Period in the mid-70s, so I thought it just might be wacky enough to work.

To start, it was just kind of surreal to be in Station Square. It's weird down there. I think it's for tourists who desire an inauthentic glimpse of Pittsburgh. Or, suburbanites who want a taste of the Big City, but to not get dirty. I'm not really sure. The Melting Pot is in the mall-type thing, which is also very bizarre. Any time I've been there I've wondered at all the odd shops and the nearly non-existent clientele. How do they stay afloat? But, anyway, back to dinner. It was fine, but not stellar, definitely designed for meat-eaters, but we had a great time nonetheless. Our group was a small foursome--just me, Barbara, Mags and the E-Dawg. We think our waiter may have been very, very stoned.

Afterwards, we met back at Barbara's. She'd made a strawberry jello cake (which I'd reminisced about several times). And, E-dawg complimented the cake with some Toasted Coconut ice cream. Yum!! The (figurative) icing on the cake, was that B got me some awesome cooking-themed gifts that I LOVE! A Cuisinart ice cream maker (electric! with an extra canister!), a copy of David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop, and a set of baking ramekins. So fun! (the next day I made some frozen yogurt--exactly how I like it, maybe better than Pinkberry).

We stretched the celebrating on out to the weekend, and had a little family party (I borrowed Barbara's family) on Saturday afternoon with her mom, sister, brother-in-law and niece. She and her sister, Sissy, made a snowball* cake!



*Now, it must be noted that Barbara broke the news to me several months ago that Hostess Snowballs are not vegetarian. I didn't realize this, and had long considered them to be my favorite of the snack cakes. I'd been missing them sorely. And, maybe, holding a grudge since Barbara ruined it all for me--as if she'd added the animal fat all by herself. All is forgiven now! It was SO good!!!

And, yesterday I concluded (?) my multi-day birthday extravaganza with my pal Maria. We had dinner at Casbah. It's been one of my favorite Pittsburgh eateries for years, but my pocketbook hasn't allowed for very frequent visits. But, now with my fantastic employee discount (and a generous friend celebrating my birthday), that has changed! We really had a beautiful meal--the food was gorgeous and delicious, the service was really nice, yet understated, the presentation divine.

I started out with a Parisienne Fizz to drink, which was a glass of champagne with a splash of an elderberry liquer. I love champagne and champagne cocktails, and this one didn't disappoint. It was light and floral and a little sweet, but in a good way, not cloyingly. And, I chose the Mixed Greens salad which was a mix of romaine, raddichio and spinach, with feta, crispy fried banana peppers, fried blue cheese stuffed olives (don't let the "fried" make you think this was heavy--it wasn't, but was extremely flavorful and interesting), tossed in a creamy red pepper dressing. Some fantastic bread on the side (I think it's the Mt Athos Fire Bread from Mediterra).

My entree was one of the best things EVER. I had the Sweet Pea Risotto, and it was like spring on a plate. It was the most perfectly creamy risotto I've ever had with tender little peas studding the rice, and it was accented by some wild forest mushrooms, julienned slices of preserved lemon, some beautiful al dente baby carrots, and topped off with a little shaved parmigiano reggiano. If I couldn't gotten away with it, I'd have licked the plate.

For dessert, I chose the Meyer lemon crepes. The crepes were filled with house-made ricotta and Meyer lemon curd, the plate was drizzled with a Meyer lemon-vanilla vinaigrette, and topping this lovely plate was a scoop of olive oil gelato. Woah. Wow. Geez. Gosh. It was amazing!!! (Thank you, Maria, for the lovely meal and the sparkling conversation!). Maria had the Arugula Salad, Orecchiette pasta, and the dark chocolate and raspberry bread pudding. She also loved her meal (I had a few mouthfuls here and there, and it was fantastic). I wish I had photos of my meal. It was truly stellar. [And, for work, I get to meet the chef (Chef Alanson Peet) tomorrow! I'm totally geeked about it. (Geek being the operative word)].

breakin' legs

Don't worry; it's the *good* kind of breakin' legs! I went to the audition yesterday, and it was really, really fun! I loved reading for the part, and I got to see a couple other people audition, and that was really interesting, too. The film project is for a pilot that a friend of mine is pitching to the premium networks (like hbo, showtime, etc.). I stuck around to do a complete read-through of the script afterwards so they could time it, and it's a great story. I'd totally watch it. I hope it gets picked up! I mean, I, obviously, wouldn't be in any kind of finished version that would actually air on the TV, but still. It's a great story, great characters (all the main characters are women), and I think it's going to be great. I volunteered to help out with whatever is needed because it's just super interesting and fun. Go, Dominga!

Before heading out for that adventure, I stopped by home and made a quick salad and an awesome salad dressing. The dressing was a raspberry vinaigrette, and I got the recipe at the raw foods "cooking" class at Whole Foods a couple of months ago. This is a recipe that Matt devised when he was trying to recreate the raspberry vinaigrette from Sand Hill Berry Farms. I haven't had theirs, and in general I'm just kinda over raspberry vinaigrettes, but this one is so amazing--in taste and appearance. Seriously. A show-stopper. And, really easy to make.

I should've taken the picture before I coated it in a fine layer of pepper, but you can still see the gorgeous color:


Here it is in its jar with an orange and lemon for color gauging:


Matt's Fresh Raspberry Vinaigrette
(keeps up to 2 weeks refrigerated)
1 c. raspberries (that have been frozen and thawed, so they're releasing their juices)
2-3 dates, pitted
4 1/2 t. apple cider vinegar or 3 T. lemon juice [ek-I used the lemon juice]
1/2 c. - 3/4 c. water
1/4 c. flax oil [ek-I used extra-virgin olive oil]
2-3 cloves of garlic [ek-I used 3, but I'd use 2 next time]
3/4 t. sea salt

Place all the ingredients except the oil into a blender and puree. Drizzle in the oil while the blender is running to emulsify the dressing. (per serving, cal: 27, carbs: 2, fat: 2, protein: 0)

Yum. I'm going to take this to the beach with me.

And, after returning home last night I was craving some vanilla frozen yogurt. I'd read a post on Heidi's blog about a recipe for vanilla fro-yo from David Lebovitz's book The Perfect Scoop (which is right now, at this very moment, waiting for me to pick it up from the library). This is the most simple recipe ever. And, freakin' delicious! I used Fage Total (full fat) because I kept reading that you couldn't make it with the fat-free (not sure why. maybe the texture doesn't freeze well?). Next time I'll try it with the Fage 2%. I think that'd be fine.

I just used 2 containers of Fage Total greek strained yogurt, 3/4 c. organic sugar, 1 t. pure vanilla extract. Mix it all together until the sugar dissolves, and throw it in your ice cream maker. It's done in about ten minutes. I ate half my bowl of it before I remembered to snap a picture, which didn't come out too well, but here it is. You should look at the photo on Heidi's site. That is what made me Have To Have It.


So, at the end of the day I stayed in my nutrition ranges. I ended up at:
Cal: 1273 (range 1200-1550)
Carbs: 194 (range 135-252)
Fat: 45 (range 27-60)
Protein: 43 (range 30-136)
Water: 7 (goal 8+)

And, I wasn't hungry at all, and didn't really think about it that much.

It's CSA Day! I love CSA Day! Ellen picks hers up on Tuesdays so I get a little preview. She said it was lots of greens, strawberries!, pea shoots, herbs (oregano, thyme, sage), garlic scapes, lettuce. Yummy freshness!

Here's today's breakfast-n-lunch pack:


From the top, clockwise:
-salad with romaine lettuce, red onion, avocado, hardboiled egg, orange bell pepper, bac'uns, and raspberry vinaigrette (cal: 298, carb: 17, fat: 21, protein: 11)
-grape nuts, Fage Total 0% yogurt, strawberries and 1 T. honey (cal: 335, carb: 72, fat: 1, protein: 13)
-otsu (cal: 186, carb: 25, fat: 7, protein: 9)

And, three glasses of water so far.