Multigrain Struan

Peter Reinhart's Multigrain Struan. Get the recipe here. I made mine with brown rice, cornmeal, oatmeal, wheat germ, and sourdough starter (which is optional). Enjoy!

Red Lentil Chipotle Spread

It's football season, and some of you have been sitting around the TV eating chips n' salsa. Well, why not spice it up a bit? And add some protein to that snack? Try this. It's got just enough kick to clear your sinuses and not give you heartburn.

(You're going to have to trust me on this one...it's hard to make this dish look pretty)...

Red Lentil Chipotle Spread

1 1/2 c diced yellow onion
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 T olive oil (I had 1 T oil leftover from roasting garlic, I used it and it was great)
4 cloves garlic, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 tsp cumin
1 c red lentils
3 1/2 veggie or chicken stock
2 T canned chipotle peppers, diced
1 T lemon juice (fresh if possible)
1 1/2 c toasted walnuts
sunflower seeds (opt.)

In a heavy bottomed pot saute onion in oil and salt on med/high heat until translucent.  Add garlic, carrot, and cumin, cook for a minute or two, just to toast the cumin. Stir in lentils, stock, and chipotle peppers and bring to a boil. Once mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer. Stir occasionally (every 10 min or so) to make sure the lentils are not sticking to the bottom of the pan. Simmer until the lentils are cooked and the stock has been absorbed (20 - 30 min), you want the consistency to be pretty thick (think bean dip). When finished cooking, stir in lemon juice. 

Blend walnuts in Cuisinart until finely chopped. Stir into lentil mixture. Sprinkle with toasted sunflower seeds if desired. Serve with crackers, tortilla chips or baguettes. Enjoy! 

This spread is also great inside a quesadilla...

Winter Kale Salad

Winter Kale Salad, inspired by NY Times

12 c (loosely packed) kale or chard (about 1 large bunch)
2 pears, diced
1/2 c toasted sunflower seeds, or walnuts
1 c crumbled sharp cheddar, white cheddar is best, but here I used yellow Tillamook Extra Sharp Cheddar
1/4 c olive oil
1/8 c fresh (if possible) lemon juice
1 rounded tsp finely diced garlic
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Finely chop greens and dice pears. Crumble cheddar and toast nuts. Put greens, pears, cheese, nuts in large bowl. Put lemon juice in small bowl or mason jar with minced garlic, salt and pepper, whisk in olive oil and emulsify. Pour over greens, let sit for 30 min (not necessary, but helps wilt the greens a little) and enjoy!

Guest Post: White Bean Soup with Cheddar & Chive Biscuits!

It was cold when I got back to Logan after spending the holidays in the Northeast. Like, negative double digits cold. When it’s that cold out, there’s only one thing to do: make soup. Still reeling a bit from all the holiday eating – particularly lots of regional microbrews and an epic five course dinner on New Years Eve – I was in the mood for a soup that was on the lighter side but wouldn’t leave me hungry a couple hours after eating. I found some inspiration in my 500 Soups cookbook, and headed out to the grocery store. While at the store I saw that cast iron Dutch ovens were on sale for almost 40% off. I’d wanted one for a while, so I quickly grabbed a box and put it in the cart. It was a sign: I was meant to make soup tonight.

Now, I’m not going to lie: even though it was cold, my real motivation for making soup traveled over 2,000 miles to get here. Tucked in my suitcase were some very special souvenirs from a quick visit to Burlington, Vermont: two 2-pound blocks of Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar cheese. Best. Cheese. Ever. It even wears Lumberjack plaid!

This really is, in my humble opinion, the best cheddar cheese out there. I miss having it in my life since moving away from the Northeast. So before heading out of town, I stopped at the City Market Co-op in Burlington (another thing I miss from VT). The cheese was all I bought. The cashier made a comment about it being a lot of cheese, but understood after I explained that I now live in Utah and can’t get this variety out there. So now, at least until this 4 pounds runs out, this wonderful, crumbly, sharp cheddar is back in my life.

All the way back to Logan all I could think of was incorporating this cheese into a batch of hot, flaky biscuits. So really, I didn’t make the biscuits to go with the soup: I made the soup to go with the biscuits. It was fun playing in the kitchen after a couple weeks away, and the soup and biscuits made the perfect dinner for this cold, snowy evening. The soup is simple but flavorful, and filling without being heavy. And the biscuits? Tender, flaky,  cheesy, and just the right bit of salty. I may never make a plain biscuit again.

White Bean Soup

2 14-oz cans Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed

4 cups chicken stock (substitute vegetable stock for vegetarian/vegan version)

1 14-oz can diced tomatoes

1 large onion, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

4 carrots, chopped

1 Tbsp tomato paste

1/3 cup plus 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, separated

2 tsp dried oregano

salt and pepper to taste

3 Tbsp fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped

8 oz smoked turkey sausage, sliced (can substitute kielbasa, salami, or other smoked sausage, or omit for vegetarian version)

In 6-quart Dutch oven or large pot, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil on medium heat. Add onion and stir. Cook until onions begin to turn translucent, about 2 minutes. 

Add beans, chicken stock, tomatoes (with liquid), celery, carrots, tomato paste, 1/3 cup olive oil, oregano, and sausage to pot. Add ground pepper and salt to taste. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer about 45 minutes. Garnish with chopped parsley. Serves 6-8.

Biscuit Recipe HERE!

Guest Post: Cheddar and Chive Biscuits!

Cheddar and Chive Biscuits (adapted from Joy the Baker Cookbook)

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp granulated sugar

3 ½ tsp baking powder (4 ½ if at lower altitude)

¾ tsp cream of tartar

¾ tsp salt

¾ cup cold buttermilk, plus more for topping

1 egg

¾ cups cheddar cheese, crumbled or cut into small cubes*

4 Tbsp fresh chives, finely chopped

¾ cups (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small cubes

Coarse sea salt for topping

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt.

In small bowl, whisk together buttermilk and egg.

Add butter to flour mixture. With pastry blender or your fingers, work the butter into the flour, breaking up the small cubes into smaller bits. Once the butter is well incorporated into the flour mixture, the flour will resemble coarse meal. Some chunks will be the size of small pebbles, other will be the size of oat flakes.

Add chives and cheese to flour mixture and toss with a fork. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the buttermilk-egg mixture. Toss together with a fork, making sure all the flour bits are moistened by the buttermilk. Mixture will be shaggy.

Dump the biscuit dough onto a lightly floured counter and knead for about 3 to 5 minutes, bringing it together into a 1 ½ inch thick circle. Cut biscuits into squares or use a 2 ½ inch circle biscuit cutter to cut rounds. If you don’t have a biscuit cutter, a glass also works – just don’t get your dough stuck!

Gather dough scraps, knead lightly, and cut out more biscuits until dough is gone. Place biscuits on prepared baking sheet, brush with buttermilk, and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake 15 to 20 minutes. Biscuits are best the day they are made (especially hot out of the oven!), but can be wrapped, stored at room temperature, and served the next day as well.

*(Best cheese ever...try to find this one, if unavailable, substitute an extra sharp white cheddar)

This soup goes very well with White Bean Soup

Lemon Bars

This recipe is really cool because you use the WHOLE lemon. Maybe I'm the last one to have heard of this trend, but it works, and the result is a super delicious lemon bar - and you only have to get 2 kitchen tools get dirty! (Blender and mixing bowl)

Adapted from David Lebovitz's recipe. 

Crust:

3 oz butter

1 T canola oil

3 T water

1 T sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1/3 c whole wheat flour

1/2 c plus 1 T all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 375. Place all the ingredients except the flour(s) into an oven-safe bowl. I know this is weird. Put the bowl in the oven for about 15 minutes, when the butter starts to brown around the edges, remove bowl from oven, - be careful, the bowl is hot! - and add flours. Stir until dough gathers into a ball. Let cool for a couple minutes, then press into a parchment or foil lined 8 x 8 pan (don't pay attention to my tart pan below, that was a bad decision as the filling oozed under the crust because it didn't come up high enough on the sides of the pan.) Prick about 10x with a fork and bake for 10 (ish) minutes - until light brown. If you like a thick crust, you can 1 1/2 x this recipe. It makes a relatively thin crust as is.

Filling: Adapted from David Lebovitz, again. 

1 organic lemon, (2 if the lemons are small)

1 c sugar

3 T orange juice

3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk

1/2 tsp salt

4 tsp cornstarch

3 T melted butter

Preheat oven to 300. Dice lemon and remove seeds, place all lemon pieces in blender with the sugar and orange juice. Blend it up, don't be alarmed if a few lemon pieces remain. Add the rest of the ingredients and pour into the hot crust shell. Bake 25 min.