Hot & Sour Stir Fry with Baked Tofu

So I'm about half-way through reading the book that started this vegetarian kick, The China Study. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend giving it a shot. He has some pretty convincing arguments backed up by a crap-ton of actual scientific research. I'm still a fan of all good things in moderation, and will probably always eat some animal protein, so long as I know where it came from. I mean, I had some pretty awesome bacon chocolate chip (yes, seriously) pancakes this weekend. However, if I can make our kitchen mostly meatless during the week, I'm keen on that idea.

In any case, this stir fry is super delicious, and super quick to whip up. We used fresh green beans from the farmers market which were awesome. I also used to not be much for tofu, however, baking it with the marinade makes it mighty tasty.

Hot & Sour Stir Fry with Baked Tofu
Adapted fromMoosewood Restaurant, Simple Suppers for the Weeknight Table

For the Tofu:
1 package firm tofu (about 16 oz)
1 TBS canola oil
1 TBS sesame oil
3 TBS soy sauce
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grate
1 garlic clove, finely minced

Slice the tofu into thin rectangles and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Whisk the other ingredients together and then brush over the tofu. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

Stir Fry:
1/2 pound green beans (use fresh green beans!)
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes (I used cherry tomatoes as that's what I had)
4 cups grated cabbage
1 grated carrot
1/2 bell pepper sliced thinly
1 TBS grated ginger root
1.5 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp Chinese chile paste
1/2 tsp spicy chile sauce
2 TBS soy sauce
1 TBS white vinegar
1 tsp corn starch
canola oil for frying

Have everything prepped and ready to go before you start to stir fry. In a small bowl combine the ginger, sugar, chile sauce and paste, soy sauce and vinegar, then stir in the corn starch and a 1 TBS of water.

Heat a TBS or 2 of oil in a wok over high heat. Through in the cabbage, carrots and green beans. Fry for 1-2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and pepper, stir fry a few more minutes. Pour in the sauce and stir fry another minute or so to coat the veggies.

Serve over rice or noodles. Top with baked tofu.

Enjoy!

Fiddlehead Pasta!

It officially feels like summer (well almost) here in NYC! All of the vendors are back at the greenmarket and two weeks ago we had our first sightings of ramps and asparagus!

Wednesdays are the best days with the most vendors and the least amount of craziness, so I was excited to see what I would find as I went out for my lunch break. I had heard that strawberries were out, but clearly missed those by a few hours. (Which really is ok as the first day of strawberries are always SUPER expensive, and irresistible.)

What I did find though were fiddleheads! Funnily enough, there were more people taking photos of the pile of them then actually buying them. I don't think too many people actually know what to do with them.



I tried these for the first time last year, and was super excited to see them again. These little guys are SO tasty and are a treat as they're only available a few weeks a year. I thought for a minute and then also grabbed a bunch of fresh green garlic and some turkey sausage from the turkey stand and knew I had a tasty dinner in the making.


Baby green garlic.

This pasta dish was super easy to prepare and the results were delicious! Enjoy the harvest while it lasts!

Fiddlehead Linguine with Turkey Sausage
Serves 2-3

1 pint of fiddleheads
1/2 pound of linguine
1/2 large yellow onion, chopped
1/2 lb loose mild turkey sausage
1 small bunch green garlic, finely chopped
1-2 large shallots, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil
unsalted butter
healthy pinch of truffle salt (or regular sea salt)
1/4 cup (approx) dry white wine

Cook pasta to package directions. Drain and save just a bit of pasta water.

Brown the sausage with onion and 4 cloves minced garlic.

In a large frying pan, add chopped shallots and a pat of butter and sautee until softened. Add in the chopped green garlic and a splash of wine. Add in the fiddleheads, a splash of olive oil, another bit of wine and sautee 1-2 minutes.



The fiddleheads should be bright green, be careful not to overcook them. Add a dash of salt. Add in the sausage, mix well. Add in the cooked pasta and toss with olive oil. Serve topped with fresh grated parmigiana.

ENJOY!

Ostrich on Christmas?

When I found out my in-laws were going to be visiting over the Christmas holiday and were requesting something "non-traditional" for Christmas dinner I had no idea what to make. Traditional, not a problem, I can whip up a turkey dinner in a jiffy. But the request for something more "exotic" threw me for a loop.

Since Alex and I are taking a trip to Morocco over New Years, I decided to peruse the cookbook Alex got me for my birthday, Moroccan Modern.



This cookbook has some really tasty dishes, but also really beautiful food photography (a must for any cookbook!). One of the dishes looked particularly interesting, Ostrich Filets with Triple Mash.

This one piqued my interest for a few reasons, but the main one being that I had seen the ostrich vendor at the farmer's market for months now and had always been curious. The other being that this dish suddenly seemed perfect in that, aside from the sauce, everything was in season and local, score!

On Wednesday I headed out to the greenmarket to pick up supplies and the awesome ostrich guy was super friendly, making sure I knew how to cook things and answering all my questions. I also scored a bonus in that I got beautiful filets for the price of plain steaks since he'd had a restaurant change their order last minute. For those curious, ostrich is a red meat like beef. So I basically got filet mignon.

I ended up changing the recipe a bit to meet what I had in the kitchen and my own tastes, but have to say I was SO proud at how pretty this turned out.



And it was DELICIOUS! It was almost exactly like a fine steak, and the sweet parsnips with the mash and the berry wine sauce went together perfectly. One of the more fine dine dishes I've ever crafted, this was an amazing holiday meal!


Ostrich Filet with Triple Mash and Caramelized Parsnip
Based on Moroccan Modern by Hassan M'Souli

(I made 4 filets, so increased everything slightly. We did have leftover sauce. This recipe is for 2 steaks)

2 Ostrich Filets (Ours were 4 oz, since the meat has no fat, these were plenty big)

Marinade
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp lemon juice
2 TBS olive oil
pinch saffron threads
1 tsp dried thyme

Mix all the ingredients in a shallow baking dish. Add ostrich filets and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours.

Parsnips
2 medium parsnips quartered length-wise. (Peeled and washed)
3 TBS butter
3 TBS brown sugar
1 TBS lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Combine the butter, sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan and stir gently over medium heat. Once the sugar is dissolved, pour the mixture over the parsnips in a shallow baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes at 400. Turn every 10 minutes or so to coat in the sugar mixture.


Triple Mash
I made Garlic Mash, Sweet Potato Mash, and Broccoli Mash. The original recipe called for a green mash with frozen peas and artichokes, frozen peas gross me out, I thought Broccoli sounded MUCH better, and it was really good!

Garlic Mash: peel potatoes, boil until soft. Mash with butter, cream, milk, and a few pressed cloves of garlic and salt.

Sweet Potato Mash: The same as above, but minus the garlic and add a few herbs like thyme and a bit of rosemary.

Broccoli Mash: Steam a few florets of broccoli. Once steamed, add a scoop of garlic mash to the broccoli and then blend either with an immersion blender or food processor with a bit of stock and some salt.


Ostrich Filets and Sauce

Sauce
1/2 Cup red wine
1 Cup chicken stock
1/2 Cup pomegranate seeds
1/2 Cup blackberries (the original recipe called for raspberries)
1 TBS butter

Take the filets out of the marinade and set them aside. Pour the rest of the marinade into a sauce pan over high heat. Bring to a sizzle then add the merlot and the stock. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes until reduced. Lower the heat and add the pomegranate seeds and berries. Cook for 5 minutes and then take off the heat and cool slightly. Process with a blender (I tried a food processor, note: hot liquids in a food processor will explode in your kitchen opps!), I ended up using my immersion blender, until smooth-ish. Drain through a sieve back into a sauce pan. Place over medium heat and add the butter, reduce a further 5 minutes. Cover and keep warm.

Heat a little oil in a frying pan for the filets. Toss them in the pan over high heat and cook only 2-3 minutes a side. Ostrich should be eaten rare to medium rare.

To serve:

Place the filets in the center of the plate. Top with a layer of each mash. Stand parsnips around the side. Finish by pouring the sauce around the filet.

Enjoy!

Fun with New Food: Spaghetti Squash

I had heard of this mysterious vegetable called spaghetti squash but have never actually tried it before. When I saw it pop up at the farmers market last week, I was curious enough to give it a try.

All the recipes I had read seemed to treat it exactly like pasta. I found this a little suspicious. I mean, it was squash right?

However, I forged ahead, and Alex promised to eat whatever I came up with. He's an exceptional husband that way for building confidence in the kitchen. :-)

Spaghetti Squash with the last of Summer Veggies and Shrimp

1 spaghetti squash
1 bell pepper
1 small-medium zucchini
1 small yellow onion
4-6 cloves of garlic
3/4 pint of cherry tomatoes
1 shallot
1/2 lb medium shrimp, tails off
olive oil
1 lime
crushed red pepper
parsley
basil
feta cheese
salt to taste

Hack the squash in half with your biggest knife. Please use caution. Drizzle the flesh of the squash with olive oil then place cut side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.



When the squash has a few minutes left in the oven, fry up the shrimp with olive oil, 1 chopped shallot, a few cloves of minced garlic, the juice of one lime and crushed red pepper flakes and parsley. Strain and set aside.

In a large skillet saute the chopped onion and a few garlic cloves with olive oil until the onions are softened. Add chopped bell pepper, zucchini and halved cherry tomatoes. Saute 2-3 minutes, the vegetables should still be nice and crisp. Add the shrimp back in remove from heat and cover until the squash is complete.

When the squash is done you should be able to insert a fork with little resistance. Let it cool a few minutes until it is easier to handle. Once it's cooled slightly, remove the seeds and use a fork to scrape out the insides into a pot or large bowl.

It should come out just like spaghetti! This was one of the coolest things ever!



When all the squash has been removed, add the vegetables and shrimp and toss with a handful of fresh chopped parsley, basil, salt to taste, crumbled feta cheese and a swirl of olive oil.



Delicious!

Alex and I were both amazed and a little weirded out at how tasty this was! We both really enjoyed it. The spaghetti squash really was almost like al dente pasta and is really easy to cook. I am super excited to try more fun recipes with this crazy vegetable!

Tomato Almond Pesto Pasta

I saw this recipe pop up in my google reader from Smitten Kitchen the other day, and with the mounds of tomatoes at the market, I figured it would be an easy dinner to try.



It was super easy, though I had to make it in batches due to the size of my mini food processor. We also added in a few handfuls of shrimp to add some protein to the mix and subbed in spaghetti as that's what we had in the house. Yum!

We served it with a nice green salad with some fun rainbow carrots and cherry tomatoes.





Overall, if you're looking for a delicious light pasta dish that's easy for a weeknight, you've found your dinner!



Linguine with Tomato-Almond Pesto [Pesto Trapenese]
From Smitten Kitchen
Adapted from Gourmet

3/4 cup slivered almonds
1 large handful fresh basil leaves
1 to 2 large garlic cloves
Several sprinkles of sea salt
6 ripe plum tomatoes, quartered
1/2 cup grated Pecorino or Parmesan
1/4 to 1/3 cup olive oil
1 pound linguine

In a large skillet, sauté the almonds in a little olive oil until toasted. Let cool, then blend them in a food processor or blender until they are in coarse pieces. (“The size of orzo,” the original recipe suggests.) Scoop them out of the processor and set them aside.

Put the basil, garlic and a few pinches of sea salt into the food processor and chop. Add the almonds back to the food processor (keeping them separate will keep them from getting too finely chopped as you get the basil and garlic to the right texture) with the tomatoes, cheese and olive oil and whirl briefly. Season it with freshly ground black pepper.

Cook your linguine until it is al dente and could use another minute of cooking time. Reserve one cup of pasta cooking water and drain the rest. Immediately toss the hot linguine with the pesto and mix quickly so that it drinks the sauce up a bit. Add more pasta water if needed.

Reason #234

Beautiful Bread.



One of the things I loved when I lived in Spain was the fresh bread. Every day my host mother would be sure to bring home a fresh loaf of delicious crusty bread to have with our lunch.

New York allows us to have a piece of that, as we often find ourselves shopping for food on a near daily basis. I always am picking something up, and with the market so close to work and the little shops in the neighborhood, we've become accustomed to having lots of stuff fresh!

However, the best part of the market along with the beautiful food are the people that stand behind the produce. I think it's so important to know where your money is going, and in the case of Hot Bread Kitchen, I couldn't be happier with the cause I'm contributing to. On their website, their mission states:

"Hot Bread Kitchen is a non-profit social enterprise that creates better lives for low-income women and their families. We do this by paying women while they learn the skills necessary to launch food businesses and achieve management track positions in food manufacturing.

To help offset the cost of our training and to build esteem in the contribution of immigrants, we sell delicious multi-ethnic breads that are inspired by our bakers and the many countries that they come from. We make it a priority to use local and organic ingredients."

How cool is that? I just got the ciabatta and a few little rolls for today, but I'm excited to try all the fun different kinds as well.

Here's to knowing where your food comes from, and using your dollar to make a difference.

Fun with Color!

So in perusing my google reader yesterday I came across this post on 101 Cookbooks for a golden tomato sauce. As it was a gloomy day outside, I thought having virtual sunshine on a plate sounded like a fabulous idea. Luckily Monday has loads of tomato vendors at the greenmarket, so I decided to see what I could come up with.





In retrospect, I probably should have gone for more yellow then orange-y heirlooms, but these were just so delicious looking, I couldn't help myself. I used the smaller two for the sauce with a bit of the other one that had gotten a little mashed in my bag.

This recipe turned out so simple and easy, and was so delicious. I love having a gourmet feeling on a rainy Monday!

Sunshine Tomato Sauce with Summer Pasta

Two good size golden tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
3 good size cloves of garlic, finely chopped
a small handful of chopped parsley
1/4 tsp or more to taste crushed red pepper flakes
sea salt to taste
A few good slugs of olive oil

Put your shallot and garlic in a sauce pan with olive oil. Simmer a bit until things start to soften. Add the tomatoes and parsley. Stir in more olive oil and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally as the tomatoes begin to break down. Cover and let simmer 5-10 minutes. Blend to desired smoothness with an immersion blender.

Summer Pasta
1/2 package of pasta of your liking, we used penne
1 summer squash sliced thinly and chopped (we used a lovely asian heirloom version of avocado squash whose name I can't remember from the greenmarket, but zucchini or other summer squash would be fine. )
2 garlic cloves, chopped
olive oil
fresh basil
Prosciutto (I had pancetta in my head, but ended up with prosciutto, and I know you really shouldn't cook it if you're a food purist, but whatever)
Fresh parmigiana for serving.

Cook your pasta to package directions. Drain, set aside. Add your garlic to a pan with olive oil, saute. Add the squash, saute just a few minutes, add prosciutto if you like, though this could certainly just be with vegetables.

Mix the pasta with the veggies with a bit more olive oil so things aren't sticking together. Add torn fresh basil leaves after you take it off the heat. Serve topped with your golden sauce and freshly grated cheese. YUM.

Reason #732

Why I love the farmer's market.







The season's first juicy tomatoes and fiddleheads!

I'd heard of fiddleheads, but hadn't ever seen them before, much less tried them. When they showed up at the market, I figured I had to give them a shot. They'd been pretty expensive until recently, when the maple syrup guys from Vermont, of all vendors, had them cheap, I got a nice little bag for a $1.25.

We had them roasted with olive oil and a bit of sea salt. Then tossed with pasta with other fresh sauteed veggies and local turkey sausage. They tasted a bit like asparagus, and were mighty tasty.

Here's to new delicious local food!