What to Eat Now

A new food show on BBC 2 featuring Valentine Warner. The man has taste! He calls rabbits "bunnies", has a name that sounds all Victoriana chick-lit and a premise that's hip, seasonal and earthy. I suspect great things ...

Cheese cake at the Oxford Gloucester Farmers Market

Korean Spicy Miso Soup

2 1/2 cups of water
1 ts Mrs Parks' dried mix (ground -- dried anchovies, mushroom, seaweed, shrimp)
2 green onions, chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and cubed
1 TB of dengjang (Korean miso)
tofu, cubed

add (optionally):
chili paste (for spicy version)
edamame
string beans
potatoes (optionally)

Boil dried mix, green onions and and other vegetables in water for five minutes or until vegetables are tender. Reduce heat to low. Take out a 1/2 cup of broth in a mug, and mix in the miso really well until dissolved. Add back to pot, stir, dissolve, heat for 1 min, and take off the heat and serve.

This traditional Korean miso soup is typically served with a bowl of rice and one or two vegetable side dishes. Depending on how sensitive your taste is, you may need to add more or less miso, so taste as you go.

Optional ingredients include tofu cubes, string beans, or edamame- all can be added a minute or two before you add the miso.For a spicy version, add chili flakes or spicy chilli paste.

Korean Cinnamon Honey Drink

This is a popular drink in Korea, to drink chilled after a meal. People swear it it good for digestion and keeps you young. Well, it tastes pretty good!

The ginger root is washed and sliced without peeling. The sliced ginger root is stored with honey for a few weeks. To make the drink, cook the ginger with a cinnamon stick for 2 hours, and then chill, and serve cold. It can be sweetened with more honey.

Another version is Saenggang cha s a tea made from ginger root. The ginger root is washed and sliced without peeling. The sliced ginger root is stored with honey for a few weeks. To make the tea, boil the ginger hot water.

How to make Korean Sushi (Gimbap)

Preparations:



Cut up cucumbers into long stripes



Make thin layers of scrambled egg, mixed with salt. Then, cool slightly and slice in long strips.



Saute fresh-grated carrots in oil and some salt.



Saute ground beef with salt, pepper and sesame oil.



So, here is carrots, sauteed beef, sliced egg omelette, cucumber, and daikon.



Make sticky rice with a salt, vinegar, sugar mixture (an art in itself)



Prepare a salted, cooked egg yolk mixture (mixed with some rice)



Cut up nori sheet, add rice layer, cucumbers, more nori sheets, and make sophisticated patterns (for experts)



or make simple pattern, with adding egg slice, cucumber, carrot, imitation crab,....



Roll up the sushi, slice it up and serve!

Panettone French Toast with Strawberries

1/2 of mini panettone (italian brioche with raisins, etc)
2 TB eggbeaters
1/2 capful of vanilla extract
1/4 capful of almond extract
dash of cinnamon
2 TB ff coolwhip
1 cup fresh strawberries
1 TB sugarfree Torani Raspberry syrup
1/2 ts brown splenda

Slice strawberry, and marinade in a bowl with raspberry syrup and brown splenda while preparing the french toast. Slice the panettone into 2-3 slices. Combine eggbeaters, vanilla, almond extract and cinnamon, and let panettone soak up the egg beaters. In a non-stick skillet. heat a few sprays of ICNBINB spray, and keep on medium heat. Brown panettone slices from both sides, and serve with whipped cream and strawberries!

Apple Cake with Walnuts And Maple Syrup

1 apple (peeled and sliced thin)
⅛ tsp nutmeg
2 Tbsp Heart Smart Bisquick
1 Tbsp soy flour
1 Tbsp Splenda brown sugar
2 Tbsp FF milk
¼ Tbsp Promise FF butter spread
¼ cup + 1 Tbsp egg beaters
1/2 ts real maple syrup
1/4 ts vanilla extract
1 Tbsp candied, chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray tart form. Place apple slices in a star pattern on bottom of tart pan. Stir together Bisquick, soy flour, and Splenda brown sugar. Add milk, butter spread, egg beaters and maple syrup to dry mix and beat until smooth. Pour over apples. Distributed candied walnuts on top, and bake 20 min in preheated toaster oven, or until golden and ”set".

Upside Cherry Cheese Cake

Cake base layer:
1/3 cup Krusteaz pancake mix
⅓ cp butter milk
1 Tbsp egg beaters
¼ ts vanilla
¼ ts baking soda

Cheese cake filling
4 TB lf quark (or lf ricotta)
1/2 ts vanilla
1 TB eggbeaters
1 TB splenda
1 TB Krusteaz pancake mix

Cherry filling:
2/3 cp cherry pie filling, canned, splenda
1/2 ts vanilla
1 TB Torani SF Raspberry syrup

Make the batter and the fillings in separate bowls. For the cheese cake filling, mix quark and other ingredients until it is a really smooth, creamy texture. Mix the cherry pie filling with the vanilla and the raspberry syrup.

Fill batter in a small, sprayed spring form, and bake at 400F for 5 min. Take out of oven, pour cherry mix over solid surface of the cake base, and pour cheese filling on top of cherries. Bake for another 20-25 min at 400F. Let cool to room temperature before serving.

Note: if you use cream cheese instead of quark, use 3 TB, and mix them with 1-2 TB ff sour cream and 2 TB eggbeaters to get a smooth, creamy consistency. The cheese cake might look too liquid when finished baking, but it will set once it cools down.

Here is a simple way of how I make my own quark.

My kitchen

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

1/2 red onion, finely diced
2 roasted peppers, from a jar, rinsed, and diced
1 diced fresh tomato
2 anchovy fillets
1 TB meyer lemon olive oil
1/4 white wine
1/2 can Hunts Tomato Sauce, No Sugar Added
1/2 cup tomato or vegetable broth
1 TB Agave nectar
1 handful fresh basil
5 springs of fresh thyme
1 garlic clove, grated


Sautee onion, roasted red pepper and anchovy fillets in Meyer lemon olive oil, until slightly liquid is evaporate. Add white wine, and cook until liquid evaporated. Add tomato sauce, broth, agave nectar and herbs garlic. Heat up till cooking, and then turn off the heat, cover with a lid and let cook with the rest heat.

Optionally: add 1 TB ff sour cream.

Naked Lemons?

It must be the time for limoncello....



Limoncello:
the simple version: buy in a store, Caravella
home-made version:

Take the peel off of 1 pound of lemons
Place in masson jar
Fill up with 1 bottle of vodka
Let sit on kitchen counter for 1 week (for the lemon peel essential oils to flavor the vodka)
On day 8, make a simple syrup (1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, water heated and sugar dissolved)
Strain contents of masson jar, and only keep vodka (now with a yellow color) and mix with simple syrup.

Fill in a bottle and chill. It will freeze solid in the freezer, but keep in fridge.

Serve with a glass of champagne or chilled, by itself.

Mexican Beach Fruits

Mexican beach snacks: papaya, mango and cucumber stripes in a banana leaf with lime, chili powder and salt



Jicama, cucumber and pinneapple spears with dipping chili powder and cucumber sour cream

Smoked Sea Scallops and Steelhead Trout

A new adventure: stove top smoking. Cooking and smoking is one process, and for fish or seafood it only takes about ten minutes. Place 2 TB wood chips (alder, applewood, etc) under the grill pan. The smoker is placed on the stove top, and initially heated on high to incinerate the wood chips. At the beginning, leave open a small vent until smoke develops. Then, close it and the clock starts (10 min).

Season scallops and steelhead trout with salt and pepper, and some lemon slices. Serve with a spicy remoulade. Enjoy!

Vegan Banana Bread

Equipment:
small spring form

Ingredients
1/4 cup splenda brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/4 cups pastry flour
¾ cp whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-3 TB semi-sweat mini chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped, toasted pecans
1/4 cup vanilla soy milk, mixed with
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 TB earth balance no-transfat margarine, melted
¼ cp apple sauce, optionally
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 very ripe bananas, mashed well

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 8x4 bread pan with non stick cooking spray, or lightly coat with margarine.
Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and dry spices.
Cream together the soy milk, apple cider vinegar, margarine and vanilla.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and add the bananas. Mix well. Pour batter into pan. Bake for an hour to an hour 10 minutes.

Mini Pizza with Gorgonzola and Caramelized Acorn Squash

1/4 acorn squash
1 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon salt, plus 1/4 teaspoon
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus 1/4 teaspoon
2 oz fresh pizza dough
1/4 cup shredded ff mozzarella or soy cheese, shredded
1 TB crumbled Gorgonzola
1/2 cup arugula
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Slice the squash in half from top to bottom, then quarter it. Scoop out the seeds. Slice a quarter of the squash into 1/2 to 3/4-inch wide half moons and place in a medium bowl. Toss the squash with the syrup, olive oil, red pepper flakes, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Place the squash on a alu foil-lined baking sheet. Bake the squash until tender and golden, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Keep the temperature on the oven at 375 degrees F. Roll out the pizza dough on a flour dusted surface. Place the pizza on a perforated baking sheet. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese and the Gorgonzola on the pizza dough. Bake in the oven until golden and cooked through, about 20 minutes.

Peel the skins off the squash. During the last 5 minutes, top the cooked pizza with the cooked squash. Top with arugula and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper. Slice and serve.

This is a small-sized version of Giada di Laurentiis's EVERYDAY ITALIAN pizza.

Rich Chocolate Cake with Raspberries

This is not necessarily skinny, but it is vegan (no eggs, no butter, no sugar), so quite light and just a divine rich chocolate taste, and light cake texture.

Ingredients for a small spring form:
1/3 cp whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
1 ts baking powder
1/2 ts baking soda
1/3 cp cocoa powder
1/4 ts salt
1/2 cp soy milk
1/4 cp canola oil
3/4 cp pure organic maple syrup
1/2 ts apple cidre vinegar
1 ts vanilla extract

Raspberry Sauce (for a small cake):
1 cp frozen raspberries, thawed
1/2 ts maple syrup
1/2 ts vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 9 inch springform pan with non stick cooking spray. Sift together flours and baking powder and baking soda. In a saucepan, heat the soymilk on low-medium heat. When it is slightly bubbling, add the cocoa powder and whisk well until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Combine the other liquid ingredients in a bowl and whisk well. Add the cocoa mixture and combine. Add the wet ingredients to the dry.

Pour batter into prepared pan, bake at 350 F for 25 minutes until a toothpick or butter knife comes out clean. Let cool completely and frost with your favorite frosting.

Wholewheat Soba Noodles with Sesame Vinaigrette

2 oz somen noodles
1/4 cucumber
1 scallion, sliced
1 TB soy sauce
1 ts sesame oil
1 ts rice vinegar
1 ts sake
1 ts white miso
½ inch ginger, grated

Cook noodles in hot water for 3 min. drain and rise in cold water. Place in the serving bowl. In another bowl, whisk soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, sake, miso and sesame seeds. Toss over noodles. Toss with green onions and cucumber. Serve!

In addition: Korean marinated cucumber (Oi Moochim)

½ cup distilled vinegar or rice vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Dash of dashida (dried soup stock made from essence of seafood or beef)
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons gochuchang paste, plus more to taste, or thai hot sauce
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
½ English cucumbers, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted

Whisk together the vinegar, soy, dashida, sugar, spicy hot sauce, and sesame oil in a large bowl. Add the cucumber and stir until combined. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and let marinate at least 1 hour before eating.

BBQ Steelhead Trout with Pineapple Salsa

It undeniably felt like spring today, despite a lingering 1 foot of snow on the deck, so the BBQ season had to be started. Here we go....

Steelhead Trout:
1 steelhead trout filet, with skin on
salt, pepper
fresh squeezed lemon juice (1/2 lemon)
a few fresh springs of thyme

Pineapple Salsa:
2 slices of fresh pineapple, grilled on high for 4 min on each side
1/2 red hot pepper
1/2 red onion, finely diced
salt
fresh squeezed lime juice, 1/2 lime
a few thyme leaves for color

First, grill the pineapple. While grilling, prepare the steelhead trout. Spray a piece of aluminium foil with oil olive and place the trout filet, skin-side down, on the foil. Season with salt and pepper, and lemon juice. Place thyme springs on top of filet, and fold foil up like a steaming tent.

Remove pineapple from BBQ, and place trout on. Prepare salsa by dicing pineapple, hot pepper and onion. Mix with lime juice and seasonings. The trout takes about 12 min. Enjoy!

Here is a photo of the preparation before folding up the aluminum foil like a tent:

Orecchiette with Fireroasted Tomatoes and Tapenade

2 oz orecchiette
1 cp fire-roasted tomatoes
1/3 red onion, diced
1 ts olive oil
1 ts fresh thyme
1 TB tapenade

Tapenade:
1 cp marinated kalamata olives
2 TB cured kalamata olives
2 TB capers
1/4 cp fruity olive oil
2 garlic cloves
1 TB dried oregano
fresh ground pepper
optionally: 1 ts anchovy paste

Mix all tapenade ingredients in a food processor.

Cook pasta in a pot of boiling water. In a saute pan, heat olive oil and saute onions slightly. After 3 min, add the diced fire roasted tomatoes and fresh thyme. Sautee for 3 min. Add 1/2 cp of hot pasta water, and simmer the sauce. Once the orecchiette is al dente, add it to the pasta sause. Mix in the tapenade, and serve!

This is inspired by Vegan with a Vengence.

Vegan Mini Pizza

Use a mini pizza (see post below) and add tomato sauce, 2 TB shredded vegan mozzarella, 1 soy hot dog cut into slices, red onion slices and a dash of fresh ground black pepper.
Bake at 450F for 12 min. Serve with kalamata olives and red pepper flakes sprinkles.

Tomato sauce (makes more than 1 serving):
2 TB ketchup
1 TB hot sauce
1/2 grated garlic clove
1 cup fired roasted canned tomatoes, diced

Pre-Baked Mini Pizzas

This is the simplified version: buy ready-to-bake pizza dough in your frozen food section. Once thawed, divide the dough into 16 portions, and roll each portion into a tennis ball sized shape. Roll out with a floured rolling pin on a floured surface into round mini pizzas. Pre-baked individual pizzas at 450F for 5 min. Freeze, and use when in need of a pizza!

Black Eyed Pea Chili

¼ cp black eyed peas, rinsed
¼ cp split peas, rinsed
2 garlic cloves
2 bay leaves

1 ts garlic olive oil
½ onion, diced
2 oz soy breakfast meat
1 carrot, diced
½ cp frozen corn
½ cp frozen edamame
1 small red bell pepper, diced
½ small can fire-roasted tomatoes
1 TB tomato paste
½ liquid veggie broth
1/2 cp water
1 ts agave nectar
1 TB chili
1 TB cumin
1 ts red chili flakes
½ TB smoked sweet paprika
salt, pepper

Bring black eyed peas and lentils to a boil in a pan with water, garlic and bay leaves. Remove from heat, and let soak for 1 hour. Drain, discard water and bay leaves, but reserve garlic for chili.

In a dutch oven, sauté the onion in the garlic flavored olive oil. Add the carrot, and sautee slightly (1 min). Add the breakfast soy meat, break it up with a spatula and brown it with the onions for 2 min. Add the corn, the black-eyed peas and the lentils. Simmer for 2 min. Add the salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin and the chili flakes. Stir well, and add the fire roasted canned tomatoes. In a separate bowl, mix the tomato paste and the veggie broth concentrate in with a 1/2 cup of hot water. Add the mix to the chili. Cook the chili for about 10 min. Now, add the corn, the diced bell pepper and the edamame. Simmer for another 5 min until black-eyed peas are tender and bell pepper slightly tender, but still with a crunch. Add smoked paprika to taste.

Serve with greek yoghurt, cilantro and corn bread or baguette!

The chili has a wonderful meaty flavor and a slightly crunchy texture.

Butternut Squash Risotto

1/2 medium-sized butternut squash
Salt
1/2 tablespoon clarified butter
1 small garlic clove, grated
1 shallot, minced
2 oz Aborrio rice
1 TB dry white wine
2 cups chicken stock, heated
1/2 tablespoons Parmesan

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Place 1/2 butternut squash in oven, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast until browned and soft. Puree in food processor.

Heat clarified butter in pan. Add shallots, and sweat. Add garlic, and slightly sauce. Add rice and toast in clarified butter mix for 2 min. Add dry white wine, and saute until liquid is evaporated. Slowly add stock, 1/2 cp at a time, until absorbed. Once rice is fully cooked fold squash puree. Mix well, and add freshly grated Parmesan.

This is so good, it will make you break into a happy dance, just like Jamie Oliver in "Jamie at home".

Seared Scallops with Mango Salsa

Mango Salsa:
½ mango, diced
1 scallion, diced on an angle
parsley
1/2 jalapeno, diced
1/2 garlic clove, grated
2TB lime juice
olive oil
salt, pepper

Optional:
red, green and or yellow bell pepper, sliced
black beans

Mix all ingredients.

Moroccan Spiced Haddock

Spices:
2 ts ground coriander
1 ts dried oregano
1 ts dried ginger
½ ts red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper for more heat
½ ts black pepper
¼ ts cinnamon
½ ts cumin

1 haddock fillet
white wine
salt, pepper
⅓ red bell pepper, sliced

Mix spice rub on a plate, and dredge both sides of haddock in spice rub. Heat olive oil, and sautee haddock on first side for 2 min. Turn haddock, add sliced bell peppers, and white wine, salt and pepper. Sautee for another 3-4 min.

Serve with greens, vinaigrette, a dullop of avajar.