Quinoa Potato Cakes

I  was served these simple potato pancakes at Mount Madonna, a retreat center where I attend a biannual yoga retreat. The food is always simple and usually tasty (sorry, I can be a bit of a snob). These pancakes were so delicious and satisfying, I could hardly believe they had only two main ingredients.

I just made a large batch and froze them just the other day, some we had for dinner, some will come with us on our big road trip this week and the rest will await our return as a simple addition to a future dinner.

You can get as fancy or a simple as you like with these cakes. 

Quinoa Potato Cakes

Ingredients

2 cups cooked mashed potatoes

2 cups cooked quinoa

olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

 optional:  1 teaspoon cumin powder or some sauteed leaks or ...whatever strikes your fancy.

1) Preheat the oven to 350 F. Make your favorite mashed potatoes and allow to cool enough to handle or use leftovers from the night before.

2) Same with the quinoa, we often use it in place of rice with a stir fry, in fact I cook it in the rice cookers.

3) Mix equal part in a bowl, add salt, pepper, cumin etc... to taste.

4) Form into patties.

5) Place on a well oiled baking sheet or into a cast iron skillet. I use the spray olive oil, you can brush them with olive oil or melted butter.

6) Bake for 15 minutes then carefully flip them and brush or spray with more olive oil. Bake for another 15 minutes.

7) They should be nicely browned. If you use a skillet, they will take less time, cook on medium heat, flipping them after 5 minutes. Cook for another 5-10 minutes.

8) Serve with as a side dish with  steamed greens, or a big salad, with a pork chop or sausages. They are great by themselves or try any of your favorite condiments, we like them with my tomato chutney.

They are great the next day heated up for breakfast or lunch !!

Kolhrabi !!

How many different ways can they modify the mustard plant ?? What ?? Cole crops or those that belong to the Cruciferae family come in so many different forms:  Brussels sprout, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, mustard, broccoli, turnips, watercress AND kolhrabi, the subject of this post.

I have seen kohlrabi in the farmer's markets for years but was never brave or interested enough to try them. My brother grew them and raved about them ( actually his wife did the raving), nope still didn't try them. It took a friendly  and enthusiastic farmer at the nearby u-pick garden and offer of free samples to convert me.

Here's what they look like in the ground.

They are amazing, sweet and crisp and very versatile. I love to eat them raw, they remind me of jicama although they are unrelated. They are a great addition to any salad or veggie platter.

To prepare kolhrabi for eating raw or cooked, after removing the leaves, you must first peel off the fibrous outer layer.

Grilling them is my favorite way to eat them cooked, so far.
I slice them in thick slices ( 1/4 to 1/2 inch), coat them with olive oil, then dust with salt, pepper and the dried herbs of your choice.

I grilled them for 4-5 minutes each side depending on the heat of your grill. Yum !!

I have also added them to Laurie's Potatoes,

 

 my kale and white bean soup, 

and to our stir fried veggies.

Give kolhrabi a try !

Spaetzle! What ? Spaetzle, spaetzle, spaetzle !!

I just love to say the word, spaetzle. There seem to be different ways to spell and pronounce this "small dumpling cooked by running batter through a colander into boiling water". You can find it in the cuisine of Alsace where my great grandfather was born, also in German, Swiss and Hungarian cooking.

I first had spaetzle at a restaurant on Christmas day, it was served with prime rib. Both Genna and I fell in love with it. Within a few days we were trying to make our own.

While the dough is simple, we had trouble with "running the batter through a colander into boiling water". Turns out the key is to grease the colander and have a large enough pot, but I am getting ahead of myself...why do I like it, you may be asking. It's soft, quick to make and soaks up whatever you toss on it. So far that has mostly been butter, garlic and herbs. Bob wants to try it with pesto. In fact he says we should never have to buy pasta again, he says stuff like that when he likes something new.

In my second attempt to make spaetzle for Gina and Taylor, I had yet to read about greasing the colander. The results were rather comical, as I tried to squeeze the dough through the colander and not get burned by the boiling water below. At this point I discovered that there was a tool just for making spaetzle. I know, I know, single purpose tool and all, it sure makes it easy, and it was cheap, less than $10.

Basic Spaetzle


Ingredients
1 cup unbleached flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons  butter
2 tablespoons minced fresh herbs
1 clove minced garlic



1) In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

2) In another mixing bowl or measuring cup, whisk the eggs and milk together.

3) Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. I never really understood the whole "make a well" concept. Mine doesn't really seem to work well, haha, so don't stress about it.

4) Pour in the egg-milk mixture. Gradually draw in the flour from the sides and combine well; the dough should be smooth and thick.

5) Let the dough rest for 10 to 15 minutes.

6) Bring 3 quarts of salted water to a boil in a large pot, then reduce to a simmer.
7) Spray oil onto a large holed colander or spaetzle maker.
8 a) Hold your colander over the simmering water and push the dough through the holes with a spatula or spoon.

A bigger pot and a greased colander would have made this first attempt easier.

8b) If you are using the spaetzle maker, fill the basket with dough and slide it across the metal grate.

9) Do this in batches so you don't overcrowd the pot. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until the spaetzle floats to the surface, stirring gently to prevent sticking. Dump the spaetzle into a bowl.

10) Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat with the garlic and fresh herbs.

 11) Add the spaetzle; tossing to coat. Cook the spaetzle for 1 to 2 minutes to give the noodles some color, season with salt and pepper before serving.

Now comes the fun part, what to serve it with !! Here it is with a slow cooked venison shank.

I have also used sauteed mushrooms & onions. Or this lovely deconstructed Beef Stroganoff, which used the mushrooms, onions and small strips of beef sauteed with a dollop of horseradish sour cream on top.

Fresh grated cheese would suffice, as I mentioned we plan to try it with pesto and perhaps a red sauce. Adding herbs and other ingredients to the dough seems be a natural next step. And what about pumpkin spaetzle or vegan spaetzle ?? I will keep you posted.

Great Stuffing: the last Thanksgiving post...

I know almost a week has past since that exquisite meal...
I do promise this will be the last post concerning Thanksgiving.

This year we decided to cut down and only do one stuffing, usually we do a cornbread stuffing and a bread stuffing, so we made up this hybrid version.

It was so good, I needed to preserve it here for posterity and next year's meal.
I may not be able to wait that long to make this stuffing again. It would be a nice addition to any roasted chicken dinner.

Laurie & Genna's Best of Both Stuffing

Ingredients

1 8X8 pan of cornbread, cubed and staled
1/2 loaf of sourdough whole wheat bread, cubed and staled
3 cups broth, vegetable or fowl
6 tablespoons melted butter
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 chopped red bell pepper
small onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fennel bulb ( optional)
3/4 cup chopped tart apple, Granny Smith or Pippin
1 1/2 cups chopped mushrooms
fresh sage and thyme sprigs
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

1) Make an 8 X 8 pan of cornbread, cool, cut into cubes and allow to become stale. Or to speed that up heat the cubes in a low ( 225 F) oven for an hour or so.

2) Cube the whole wheat sourdough bread and allow to become stale or add it to the cornbread cubes in the oven.

3) Preheat the oven to 350 F and butter a 13 X 9 inch glass baking dish.

4) In skillet, saute the onions, fennel and fresh herbs in the olive oil until soft.

5) Add the chopped pepper, celery and apple, continue to saute until the whole mixture is soft. Set aside in a large bowl.

6) Saute the mushrooms in the same pan with a little more olive oil until most of the moisture has cooked out of them. Add them to the bowl.

7) Toss the bread cubes into the bowl with all the cooked vegetables, add the broth,melted butter, salt and pepper and toss to combine. Make sure all the bread is moistened, feel free to add more broth if it looks dry.

8) Fill the glass baking dish with stuffing.

9) Cover with foil, bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil cover and bake for another 15 minutes.

Serve with roasted bird or just by itself.

Laurie's Potatoes

That's what Bob said I should call my latest creation. It's a play off my brother's dish which we call Taylor's potatoes.

This is a super simple, easy to adapt roasted potato dish that works well as a dinner side dish or main course or as great breakfast potatoes.

Laurie's Potatoes

Ingredients

4-6 large yukon gold or other interesting potatoes, use more if they are small
1 red bell pepper
1 red or yellow onion
1 zucchini
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

1) Preheat the oven to 400 F. Cover a large baking sheet with foil or parchment paper, spray or brush lightly with olive oil.

2) Chop all the vegetables into small size chunks.

3) Toss together in a bowl with a tablespoon olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4) Spread evenly on the prepared baking sheet.

5) Bake at 400 F for 35 to 50 minutes, until the vegetables start to brown on the edges. I like to stir them around every 15 minutes or so to prevent sticking. The time with vary with the size of your chunks and how crispy you like them.

6) Serve immediately and hope you made enough for leftover !!

I served them with grilled salmon and my favorite preserved lemon yogurt sauce.

Feel free to add any vegetable you have on hand, add fresh herbs, garnish with fresh tomatoes and black olives or sour cream.

Asian Peanut Slaw

 The other day I was shopping at Trader Joe's, the "taste of the day" was this Asian peanut slaw, of course it used all kinds of pre-packaged veggies and sauce. It was tasty but I knew I could make it better !! I was lucky enough to have my very favorite sous-chef around to help with this creation.

Laurie's Asian Peanut Slaw

Ingredients

Slaw

8 cups finely chopped or shredded cabbage ( about 1 medium size cabbage)
2 cup grated carrots ( 4 medium size carrots)
1 1/2 cups peanuts
1 cup dried cranberries or golden raisins( my sous-chef hates raisins)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro ( optional but recommended).

Dressing*

1/2 cup peanut sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/4 cup canola oil
1 clove finely minced garlic
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper ( more if you want it very spicy)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

*Note: I made my own. You can use 1 cup of Trader Joe's Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette or something similar.

1) Finely chop or shred the 8 cups of cabbage.

2) Grate the carrots.

3) Mix the cabbage, carrots, peanuts and cranberries together in a bowl .

4) Finely mince the garlic and grate the ginger for the dressing.

5) In a small bowl add the rest of the ingredients for the dressing.

6) Toss the salad with the dressing and serve.

My extremely talented sous-chef pronounced this salad even better the next day when we served it with roll you own sushi.

Tabouli Quinoa Salad

 I was making the stuffed flat breads for dinner last night and wanted some kind of salad to go with it. In my usual fashion I looked int the fridge to see what needed using up.
There was a lonely bowl of cooked quinoa...leftover from some meal a few days ago.
This being the summer season, I had some beautiful red tomatoes and a cucumber as well.
Inspiration hit me, how would it be to make the traditional Middle Eastern tabouli with quinoa to replace the the cracked bulgur wheat ??

It was an amazing success.

Here's the recipe.

Tabouli  Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

2-3 cups cooked quinoa
1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes
1 cup peeled and chopped cucumber
1 sprig chopped fresh mint
1/4- 1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley
1 clove minced garlic
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion.

1/4 cup vinaigrette dressing ( use whatever you have around or make your own).

1) Prepare all the vegetables.
2) Toss into cooked quinoa.
3) Mix the dressing into the salad and add salt and pepper to taste.

This is before I mixed it all together. I would have taken more photos if I had know how well this would turn out.

In my quickie version, I didn't use the garlic, onions or all that parsley but it was still so good. Bob couldn't stop eating it.