The Humble Kitchen

I found this beautiful broccoli rabe at the Berkeley Farmer’s Market yesterday. I can find almost everything I need there and it’s almost all organic and pasture raised. There are delightfully different products there, like banana leaves and I even found Union-picked broccoli and strawberries yesterday. Amazing!

While I was washing it, I wondered if we could eat the stems, you know, like broccoli. In walked the neighbor so I asked him the question. He replied, “dunno,” took some over to his place and started messing with it. What came back was this…

My daughter eating raw broccoli rabe like a banana (sorry about the cat hindquarters and tail, she never moves from that location except to eat)

What my neighbor found was a tough exterior, similar to the very end of the asparagus and broccoli stems, that revealed a softer, totally edible interior. So I peeled and added the stems to the dish as well. It was a very simple dish and quick too. Only olive oil, salt, pepper, two cloves of garlic, the broccoli rabe, a little Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and a few slices of sausages on the side.

Gluten free penne with broccoli rabe

While we were eating dinner, my son asked, “Which is more healthier, broccoli or red bell peppers?” He has been interested in nutritional facts lately, for whatever reason. So we looked it up in Laurel’s Kitchen. We were amazed to learn that 1c of broccoli has 324 mg of potassium and 3880 iu of vitamin A. One red bell pepper, by contrast, has 148 mg of potassium and 3295 iu of vitamin A! Healthy indeed.

~Sarah

Roasted bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, spinach and slow roasted tomatoes on gluten-free french bread

You might not believe this, but my 5-year old said that this sandwich was “SO GOOD!” He even wanted the leftovers the next day. I was a little stunned myself.  I honestly thought this eat-most-things attitude would wear off, but it hasn’t. Despite their willingness now, I am still emotionally ready for the day they will only eat pizza.

This sandwich was made with Carol Fenster’s French Bread recipe and some fresh, green bell peppers from my Uncle’s garden. The peppers were wonderfully sweet, not having that weird, acidic edge I find in some supermarket peppers (what is that from? Is it because they are old?). I roasted them for a few minutes on each side and then combined them with some slow-roasted tomatoes and thinly sliced onions from the Berkeley Farmer’s Market. I threw in some mushrooms and spinach at the very end for additional texture and color. Seasoned with only salt and pepper, it made for a lovely weeknight dinner.

~Sarah

Last time Sarah came to visit we made this flourless chocolate cake that I’d seen Jacques Pepin prepare on the PBS show Julia and Jacques. It intrigued me because I’d never seen a cake made with ganache and egg whites, and also because the recipe requires no flour. This is the sort of cake that the French would make into a bûche de Noël, but the batter can also go into ramekins for little chocolate soufflés.

You’ll need a half sheet pan (or a 11 x 17 jelly roll pan) and the following ingredients:

For the soufflé

1 cup heavy cream

8 oz bittersweet chocolate, cut into small pieces

7 egg whites, at room temperature

2 Tbs granulated sugar

For the filling

1 cup heavy cream, well chilled

½ tsp vanilla

1½ Tbs granulated sugar (optional)

1 Tbs cognac (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350º and line the pan with buttered parchment.

To make the soufflé, heat one cup of cream to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Add the chocolate pieces, lower the heat and whisk to melt the chocolate thoroughly. Once smooth and well combined, remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

Whip the egg whites and 2 tablespoons of sugar until they have formed stiff peaks with a glossy sheen.

Scoop about a quarter of the beaten egg whites into the pan with the ganache, and whisk to combine. Now pour the lightened ganache into the egg whites and use a rubber spatula to gently fold the mixture. Do not over mix. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth into an even layer.

Place the pan in the middle rack of the preheated oven and bake for 10-12 minutes. When done the cake should be set and puffy. Allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack until room temperature.

Once the cake is cool make your whipped cream.

Lift the parchment lined cake from the pan, long side facing you. The recipe says to dust the cake with cocoa powder at this point, but honestly we forgot, and it was still good.

Lift cake, still on the parchment,  out of the pan.

Spread on whipped cream.

Start to roll.

Lift up the near edge of the cake and parchment and start to fold it away from you. Begin to peel the parchment off the cake. Roll another few inches, pressing the parchment to make a tight spiral.

Keep rolling.

Keep it snug.

The cake should still be sitting on the parchment paper, and at this point you can wrap the parchment around it and either transfer it to a platter to serve immediately, or refrigerate for up to 4 hours.

Trim the edges.

Enjoy.

-Jennifer (and Sarah)

Trader Joe’s had organic, red quinoa on sale so I bought some. I had halfheartedly been looking for it, just for a dash of color in my dishes. Most grains are tan or creme so this is a lovely change. I keep having ideas for gratins because I really am on the quest for different and healthy breakfast options that still allow for some creativity.

Because of this new book I purchased titled Nourishing Traditions, I first soaked 1c. of the quinoa overnight in 1c. of water with 2T liquid whey. It definitely zaps some of the bitter taste from the quinoa and supposedly, some of the anti-nutrients as well. All I know is the kids and I eat it and it tastes yummy. To this soaked quinoa I added  an additional cup of hemp milk and some salt. I simmered it, covered, for around fifteen minutes and when the water was almost absorbed, I stirred it and shut off the heat.

Since I was keeping this as close to vegan as possible (in all honesty I forgot about the whey), I made a vegan chocolate pudding as a second layer:

In my saucepan that I have now decided I totally and completely DISLIKE and want to throw out a window, I whisked 2T of Green and Black’s cocoa powder with 2T maple syrup and a few grains of salt. When that was mixed well, I added 1c of hemp milk. In a little cup I dissolved about 2t of cornstarch and 1/3c of hemp milk and added it to the pot. I brought this mix to a boil in the evil saucepan and simmered until slightly thickened.

In the bottom of the ramekins, I placed about 1t of maple syrup and then filled it 2/3 full of quinoa (despite this photo not reflecting that amount).

A thin layer of pudding sauce was added next and then I topped it with pistachios that I had lightly toasted hoping that they’d get, well, toasty. (Never did, they did burn the first time in the other evil pan)

After my son declaring that he only “likes chocolate pudding without nuts” and deeming whipped cream a necessary  condiment, the resulting gratin was a HUGE success. Spider-Man approved even.

I brought it to work to share with my pals MEM and EM and they both really liked it. MEM and I usually sit around contemplating my next creation and also brainstorming how the one at hand could be made better (EM usually leaves at this point or drifts in and out of the conversation). She and I agreed that this needed fruit of some sort and a crunchy layer would have been welcome. I agreed wholeheartedly, but said that I was tired of putting almonds in everything.

I then suggested “hazelnut and apple compote with a fun spice on the bottom” to which MEM chimed in “and orange zest.”

This, my friends, is the next gratin creation…Red quinoa and chocolate pudding gratin with apple-hazelnut compote. I can’t wait.

~Sarah

I am not sure how this keeps happening, but for whatever reason people keep giving me old bananas.

First, I gave myself old bananas by not eating them, then my Mother drove them 150 miles to me, then my neighbor, then the ex when he brought the kids back. All of them alluded to the fact that I “could make banana bread or something” to which I replied, “There is only so much banana bread a person can eat you know.” But, not wanting to waste the food, I had to find another use for all these poor, unloved bananas.

Enter banana and rice gratin with coconut and cardamon.

I had my little pods of green cardamom, split them open and revealed their sweet-spiciness. The littlest chef lent her tiny hands to help to grind them with the mortar and pestle.

After some work with the spice and the reminder talk about sneezing into food one cooks, she determined the work would make her sneeze too much so she set off in search of something more princess-like to do. I continued on.

I made these with my friend Miriam in mind, but I also wanted the kids to have something different for breakfast. As much as we all love pancakes, one should not eat them everyday. Same goes for eggs, oatmeal, cold cereal, it all gets old after awhile…

This was a neat detour. Ultimately this gratin was based on two recipes from Gluten Free French Desserts and Baked Goods.

In a small pot, cook 1/3c of rice semolina with 1c of hemp milk over low heat for about 7 minutes. Distribute evenly on the bottom of your ramekins or bowls.

Coarsely chop about a cup of almonds and make a layer of those in the ramekin, reserving some for the banana mixture and the top of the finished gratin.

In a medium bowl, coarsely mash up four bananas and add about 6T of coconut cream. Mix well.

In a small saucepan over low heat, combine 4T of rice flour with 2/3c of hemp milk and heat until thick. Then add 4T maple syrup. Pour this into your banana-coconut mix and add about 2-3t of ground cardamom, depending upon your preference and 3T of chopped almonds.

This is the third layer of your gratin. Sprinkle with almonds and cardamom and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes or so. Alternatively you could use the broiler, I just happened to already have the oven on. Enjoy while they’re warm.

~Sarah

I had every intention of posting my sourdough trials, but the reality is that it took up too much time and was a little depressing. However, I did get it going again and I am feeling pretty good about the results despite the last few loaves being almost devoid of flavor.

Today’s loaf turned out a little better on all fronts as I think the starter is really coming into it’s own. This loaf does not contain oil or eggs which is great for my mom and anyone else who is looking for a lower calorie gluten free loaf or can’t have eggs.

I had to mix this by hand as my trusty stand mixer is doing something weird. It is getting this gray, ugly streak all over anything slightly acidic. I can see the bottom of the bowl is worn-  I suspect it’s out of alignment, but I have not investigated how one gets their huge stand mixer re-aligned. It’s probably referred to as “buy a new one.”

1c white bean flour

3/4 c millet flour

1/4 c millet groats

1c tapioca starch

1 1/2 t salt (iodized please for bread, you don’t want to end up with thyroid problems)

2 1/2 t xanthan gum

1 T sugar

1c of starter

About 2c of water

I just mixed everything together by hand and let it rise for about 45 minutes in the bowl. (It was, after all, 4:30 in the morning so I had a little time to kill). Then I put it in the parchment lined 9×5 loaf pan, sprayed it with a bit of oil and let it rise some more, probably about 40 minutes.

Into a 375 degree oven it went. 10 minutes uncovered, 20 covered, 10 more uncovered seemed to work out well for my oven. Do what time feels right to you though. If you’ve ever undercooked your gluten free loaf, you learn quickly never to do that again. This one turned out well though. The crust is wonderful! ~Sarah

I can’t help but be reminded of that wonderful and short lived tv show Pushing Daisies. It was an ideal blend of fantasy, word play and pie. I am reminded of it because I have a fridge full of cheese, just like the former synchronized swimming aunts of Chuck, who referred to the fridge as a cheese box.

So what does one do with all those oddly shaped remains of cheese? The dried up ends and fuzzy bits, the mystery cheese whose label is long gone, the warehouse store buy that seemed too good to pass up despite the fact that you have no use for a block of cheese the size of your head. Look no further. Here is your answer.

• 1 pound of various leftover cheeses
• ¼-½ cup dry white wine or vegetable broth, or a combination of both
• 1 clove garlic, or more to taste
• handful of parsley (optional)
• freshly ground black pepper

Assemble your cheese. Just about any cheese will do. Here I’ve used Fontina, Gruyere, Manchego, Monterey Jack, Chévre, and Gouda, because that is what was in my cheese box. Once you’ve trimmed all the scary bits off that cheese, you must leave it at room temperature to soften up a bit. If you’re using hard cheese it’s best to grate it, or at least cut it into a fine dice. Softer cheeses can be rough chopped. In a food processor finely mince the garlic. Place your cheese in and pulse a few times to mix. Add the torn parsley and a few grindings of pepper and pulse again.

Now pour in about ¼ cup of your wine or stock. Pulse a few times and add more if the mixture seems too dry. What you want is a chunky yet creamy mixture. Be careful not to over mix, you don’t want a paste. Taste and if it seems lacking in salt you can add a pinch, but most likely you won’t need any.



Place into the vessel of your choosing and refrigerate. It will taste better once it’s had some time to mellow. Eat it with crackers, apple slices, crusty bread. Put it on some toast under the broiler for a moment until warm and oozing. Deliciously frugal.

-Jennifer

Sometimes baking is the best thing I can do when coming down off a migraine. As my neighbor says, “It must be doing something creative that helps.”

Being the kind person she is, she made dinner for the kids and I and I told her I felt up to making a skillet apple pie. I have never made a skillet pie of any kind, much less an apple one. The only  interesting dish I’ve ever made in a skillet is Potatoes Anna, but that’s not really a pie.

Aesthetically, the results were stunning, but the filling had a bit too much apple cider vinegar for us. Don’t get me wrong, we ate it all, just in the future I’ll cut back some. The recipe below has it cut back to an amount that I think would be ideal. It was almost a refreshing pie, if there was such a thing. The apple cider vinegar really gave it a crisp, spicy taste that kept the ungodly sweetness of most apple pies at bay. I will definitely keep the acv in future pies.

This was one of the easiest crusts to work with. I combined two recipes to make one and of course de-glutinized it.

Crust

1c of gluten free flour mix. (I suspect almost any mix will work in this recipe but I used rice, tapioca, potato and a bit of cocount flour)

1 T sugar

1/4 tea xanthan gum

1/2 tea salt

2 T shortening, cold

6T frozen butter

2T vodka (I actually only had tequila on hand because, well, that’s a longer story)

2 or 3 T water

In the bowl of your food processor, pulse the dry ingredients until well mixed.Then pulse the butter and shortening until the mix gets crumbly looking. Then add the liquid  and mix until it comes together some. Turn it out onto a flour dusted cutting board and push it together with your hands. Then flatten into a disc and refrigerate until you are ready to use it.

Filling (based on a recipe from Cook’s Illustrated magazine)

1/4c apple cider vinegar

2T maple syrup

1/4c brown sugar

2 T lemon juice

2 tea cornstarch

1/8 tea cinnamon

2T unsalted butter

5 medium apples, cut into 1/2 in thick wedges

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. Over medium high heat, melt the butter in an oven-proof skillet and add the apples, cooking about 5 minutes. While they are cooking, whisk the cornstarch with the cider, syrup, lemon juice and sugar. Take the apples off heat and stir in the cornstarch mix.

Roll out the dough and place it over the top, scoring in a pattern of your choosing.  Bake until brown.

~Sarah

I turn to The Best American Classics book from Cook’s Illustrated time and time again for everything from chicken to pie. I love to hear about the trials, errors, techniques and science. It’s to me what a trashy romance novel is to others.

Today I made the gluten free version of “Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies.” I made the variation with coconut and toasted almonds. The ex-chef neighbor and the picky cookie neighbor (he works at Donsuemor) both loved them.

I made these with coconut flour which, if you have never baked with it before is a very interesting flour. It is absurdly high in fiber and has a lot of protein to boot. I haven’t done the nutritional analysis on these cookies, but at minimum they have 8 grams of protein and 24 grams of fiber and that is solely because of the coconut flour. When was the last time your delicious cookie had a minimum of 24 grams of fiber? It imparts a lovely sweetness to the finished product, but also absorbs a ton of liquid (something I always forget for whatever reason) so be sure to add a little extra fat or water. It works in these cookies without extra liquid or fat, but it is a thicker cookie as a result.

***Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.***

My flour mix was as follows:

1/2 c.organic coconut flour

1/2 c. tapioca flour

1/2 c. potato starch

1/2 c. brown rice flour

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/2 t. salt

1 c. unsweetened organic coconut

In the bowl of my stand mixer I combined:

1 1/2 sticks of melted butter

1/2 c of granulated sugar

1 c. of golden brown sugar

I mixed it until well combined and added:

1 whole egg

1 egg yolk

2 t of vanilla.

Then I mixed in about 1 c of sliced, toasted almond and 1c of chocolate chips.

I then placed them on the sheet as tiny little gems. The recipe says to make ‘em huge, but I am a fan of the tiny temptation…the one no one can resist.

I cooked them for about 15 minutes, turning the pan halfway through. Now I have a heap of cookies to share.

~Sarah

Well maybe this bun’s not for you.

The problem with this bun and pretty much every other bun I have ever made (and I’ve probably made at least 15 versions) is that it that the texture is unlike any gluten filled bun. They are just a stand-in so we can try to feel like we are eating a real burger or whatever we happen to be eating that requires a bun.

These happen to be Carol Fenster’s version from her book, 1000 Gluten Free Recipes. Carol Fenster managed to do something similar to those items we can purchase in the store- she made them dry, not gummy and with more flavor. The problem for me lies in something I’ve mentioned before, I do not prefer this dry, almost foam-like texture. I can eat them, but it needs to be moment they come out of the oven and then I still just feel like they are too dry. My Mom loves them though and Ms. Fenster is a saint for those people who long for the dryness usually lacking in gluten free bread. The other great thing about Ms. Fenster’s recipes is that they are generally easy and almost always turn out, like the buns above.

There’s a lot to be said for being able to produce something that looks great.

~Sarah