Bruschetta with Artichoke Hearts and Parmesan

I mean toast with artichoke and cheese spread. 


Here is a trick for making food that people seem to really enjoy. First, find a reliably good cookbook or cooking magazine, and then, do what it says. One such reliably good magazine is Cook's Illustrated. They do all the work of experimenting with and perfecting a recipe and the reader just follows directions. This recipe from the September/October 2010 edition seemed to be a hit on memorial day. 


Artichoke Hearts and Parmesan 
1 14-ounce can of artichoke hearts, rinsed and patted dry with paper towels
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 medium garlic clove, minced or pressed through garlic press
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp. finely shredded fresh basil (1 Tbsp. for garnish, if desired)
Table salt and ground black pepper
2 ounces Parmesan cheese, 1 ounce graded, one once shaved with a vegetable peeler 
1 recipe Toasted Bread for Bruschetta (see below)
Directions: Pulse artichoke hearts, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, basil, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper in food processor until coarse puree forms. Add grated Parmesan and pulse to combine. Divide artichoke mixture among toasts and spread to edges. Top with shaved Parmesan (I also added some shredded basil  on top of the Parmesan).


Toasted Bread for Bruschetta
Adjust oven rack so it is about 4 inches from heating element and heat broiler. Slice 1 loaf crusty country bread (about 10 by 5 inches, ends discarded) cross-wise into 3/4 inch thick pieces and place on foil-lined baking sheet. Broil until bread is deep golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip and repeat on second side. Lightly rub 1 side of slices with 1/2 medium peeled garlic clove and brush with extra-virgin olive oil. (You will need 1/4 cup oil; I used carmelized garlic oil instead of rubbing with garlic since I had it on hand.)


The burnt batch turned out to be more desirable than the "perfect" batch. I like it when people surprise me.

Indian dinner for my father's 60th birthday

My father recently turned 60 and all of his children collected in the midwest to throw him a birthday party. My oldest sister successfully prepped, cooked, and coordinated a Mexican feast for a group of 25, consisting of our family and some of our father's closest friends. I took on the less onerous task of cooking for the immediate family on our father's actual birthday. Because I have made at least two disastrous meals for my family in the past, the details of which I cringe to report here, I chose to stick with two Indian dishes that I have made before; Palak (Spinach) Panir and Gobhi Aloo Sabji (Curried Cauliflower and Potatoes). Everything I know about Indian cooking I have learned from my mother and Yamuni Devi's Lord Krishna's Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking. This is a great cookbook as it not only includes several hundred recipes, but it also provides descriptions of Indian ingredients and traditional cooking techniques. 


Palak panir includes copious amounts of spinach, spices, and fresh unripened Indian cheese, called panir. Devi describes panir as the equivalent of tofu for India's vegetarians. While making fresh cheese may sound like a daunting task, it is actually remarkably easy. The trick is to know what you are looking for. You will need whole milk, a curdling agent (e.g., lemon juice), a heat source, and supplies to drain the whey from the curds (e.g., colander and cheesecloth or new handkerchief). For this palak panir recipe you will need 11-12 oz. of panir. The recipe for this amount is as follows:


Panir
10 cups whole milk
5 1/2 Tbs. strained fresh lemon juice 
(note: depending on the the milk, you may need to use more or less curdling agent)
Directions:
1. Pour the milk into a heavy-bottomed pan with plenty of room for milk to rise. Heat on high and bring milk to a foaming boil, stirring often to prevent sticking or burning. Reduce the heat to low, and when boiling subsides, drizzle in the lemon juice. After 10 to 15 seconds, remove from heat, and slowly push mixing spoon back and forth through the milk until large lumps of curd separate from the yellow whey. This step should be obvious, if you are wondering whether the curds have separated, they probably haven't. Here is a picture:

Cover, and set aside for 10 minutes until the cheese has settled under the whey. 
2. Line colander with 4 layers of cheese cloth and place in the sink. Gently poor the whey and curds into colander, collecting the curds while the whey drains into the sink. The whey can also be collected and used as a curdling agent for tomorrow's fresh cheese or added instead of water to many recipes. 

3. Gather up the corners of the cheese cloth and twist 1-2 times. Hold cheese under running water for 5 to 10 seconds to wash away curdling agent. Continue to gently twist the cloth to help squeeze out excess whey. I've attached the following slightly vulgar photo to show how little cheese comes from 10 cups of whole milk. 

4. Now you want to allow the whey to continue to drain from the cheese. This can be done by hanging the cheesecloth from a hook to allow the curd to compact under its own weight. To speed up this process  you may also leave cheese in a colander with a weight on top. Drain for 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours. 

6. Unwrap the cheese and use as directed in recipe. 


Palak Panir
The recipe I used for the palak panir is one I adapted when out of town and making this dish for my sister. I didn't have my Indian cookbook with me, so I put together this recipe based on what I remembered from Devi's recipe and recipes I found online. This recipe creates a very rich and creamy palak panir. I don't fry the panir cubes before combining with the spinach, as called for in many recipes, so if you would like the cheese cubes to hold their shape in the spinach, fry them in hot oil and remove with slotted spoon and set aside before adding the panir to the spinach mixture. 
2 green chillies
1 small onion
1 inch piece of ginger
2 garlic cloves
3 Tbs. ghee (clarified butter) or nut oil
4 Tbs. water or panir whey
2 tsp. coriander powder
2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. gram masala
1 lb. spinach (in the future I will use 2 lbs. for this recipe)
3/4 cups sour cream
cubed panir
Directions: 
1. Combine chilies, onion, ginger, and garlic in food processor to make paste. If needed, add water to thin. 
2. Add paste to hot ghee on stove and cook until soft and fragrant. Add coriander powder, cumin, turmeric, and garam masala. Fry for 1 minute. 
3. Add spinach and cook until wilted. Fold in 3/4 cups sour cream and cubed panir. 

As I indicated in the ingredients, I will use two lbs. of spinach when making this dish in the future. I'd also like to experiment with methods of getting the panir cubes to hold their shape without frying them.


Gobhi Aloo Sabji (Curried Cauliflower and Potatoes)
From The Art of Vegetarian Indian Cooking (Pgs. 180-181)
2 hot green chillies, stemmed, seeded and cut lengthwise into long slivers
1/2 inch ginger, cut into thin julienne
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1/2 tsp. black mustard seeds
4 Tbs. ghee or mixture of vegetable oil and unsalted butter

1 medium-sized cauliflower (about 2 lbs.), trimmed, cored, and cut into florets (2 1/2 x 1/2 x 1/2 inches long)
2 medium-sized red or green tomatoes, quartered
1/2 tsp. turmeric
2 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. garam masala
1 tsp. brown sugar
1 1/4 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. fresh cilantro or parsley, chopped
Directions: 
1. Combine the chilies, ginger, cumin seeds, and mustard seeds in a small bowl. Heat the ghee in a large nonstick saucepan over moderately high heat. When hot, but not smoking, pour in the combined seasonings and fry until the mustard seeds turn gray, sputter, and pop. Add the potatoes and cauliflower and stir-fry for 4 to 5 minutes or until lightly browned.
2. Add the tomatoes, turmeric, coriander, garam masala, sugar, salt, and half of the fresh herb. Combine, cover and gently cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. You may want to add a few tablespoons of water if the vegetables begin sticking to the bottom of the pan, as you want to be able to stir gently and avoid mashing or breaking the vegetables. Serve with remaining fresh herb. 

Serve all dishes with basmati rice. For this meal I also ordered appetizers and naan (flatbread cooked in a tandoori clay oven) from a local Indian restaurant to supplement the meal.  

Here is a picture of the "tablescape."

Expanding my previous note on the most important ingredient being family and friends to share with, I would also like to add that serious eaters are incredibly rewarding to cook for. Lucky for me, several of my family members take the task of eating very seriously. 

Pops

 Lisa

 Chuck

Mom and Mike

Coming Soon!

I received the following message from an anonymous reader who may or may not be one of my witty siblings: 


    Dear Molly, editor of Cardamom & Tea foodblog

    It has been 18 days since your last post, entitled "Sushi Party." As a devoted follower of 
    Cardamom & Tea foodblog, I must declare that the wait has been long enough. I cannot 
    speak for other C&T subscribers, but please deliver a fresh, new and exciting blog post 
    sometime soon. We know how busy you are with your other commitments, so thank you 
    in advance for your consideration in this matter.

    Thank you and have an amazing and delicious day.

    Best wishes and savory smiles,

    Anonymous 

I'm on it anonymous reader. Coming soon... Indian dinner for my father's 60th birthday. I appreciate your loyal readership and will try to be more timely in my future posts. 

Sushi Party

Gretchen's visit landed the weekend before finals and we stayed up late the first night at a concert in Cleveland. While I wanted to host a dinner party to introduce her to some of my nearest and dearest on the second night, I didn't want to exhaust myself with a day's worth of prepping and cooking. Therefore, I decided on a sushi party. You can easily host a sushi party at the drop of a hat if you have the following ingredients on hand: miso (fermented soybean paste), tofu, nori (dried seaweed used for wrapping sushi), and rice vinegar. Just make the miso soup and sushi rice and request that your guests each bring one julienned sushi filling. It's so easy and super impressive!     


When I think of my favorite childhood foods, several Japanese dishes top the list. Different variations on dishes using sushi rice (white rice with sugar and rice vinegar) are very popular party foods. The ones I remember are chirashizushi (sushi toppings are placed directly on top of the sushi rice) and temakizushi (sushi rice and toppings are placed in a small piece of nori and rolled). Temakizushi is fun because you create your own rolls, making it a favorite for children's parties. Last Christmas I asked my mom for a traditional Japanese cookbook and lucky me, I got it! I use The Essentials of Japanese Cooking by Tokiko Suzuki (2002). The recipes for my sushi party were from this book.

A note on Japanese rice: Get a rice cooker. Period. In addition, while I will extoll on the health benefits of brown rice at a later time, sushi rice requires white rice. Period.

Tofu and Leek Miso Soup

1 block of tofu

1 leek 

7 cups dashi (fish) stock

6 Tbsp miso 

Directions: To make the dashi stock, bring 7 cups of water to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and then add about 2 teaspoons of concentrated fish stock (I use Hon-Dashi Bonito Fish Soup Stock). While the water is coming to a boil I add in any vegetables that take time to cook (I added chopped carrots to this recipe since I had some in my fridge). After adding the fish soup stock, stir in the miso paste. This can take a while. Then add the tofu and leeks and keep warm until time to serve. 

Sushi Rice

4 cups uncooked rice

1/2 cup rice vinegar

1 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp salt

Directions: Rinse the rice several times to release excess starch (until water is clear) and place in rice cooker. For every 4 parts rice, add 5 parts water. Let rice soak for 30 minutes to an hour before you turn on the rice cooker. When rice is done, place in a large serving bowl. Combine vinegar, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl. The next step requires the use of a handheld fan and a helper. Slowly pour the vinegar mixture over the rice a little at a time, using a rice paddle to mix in the vinegar "swiftly and gently," while the helper vigorously fans the rice (my job as a child). This step gives a "better flavor."

Ideas for sushi fillings: You can add whatever sushi fillings you and your guests dream up. We had cucumber, avocado, carrots, asparagus, flaked tuna fish, and mango. 

Sushi sauces and condiments: As is customary for sushi, you will need soy sauce, wasabe paste, and pickled ginger. We also had eel sauce, rice topping mix, and sesame seeds. 

Most IMPORTANT ingredient: Fabulous friends to share it with. 

Overall directions: Take a piece of the hand sized nori and place a small amount of sushi rice in it. Then add any filling, sauces, and condiments. Roll. The finished product should look something like this (see below) and is eaten kind of like a taco. 

Oat Tea

My dear friend Gretchen came to visit last weekend! She's the star chef in one of my favorite food memories. I remember arriving at her old apartment near 39th Street in Kansas City, starving and craving junk food. In a matter of what seemed like minutes she fixed up a steaming plate of broiled brussel sprouts and mushrooms with parmesan cheese. This was before I started cooking in earnest and was amazed that something so satisfying could be both healthy and easy to prepare. In preparing for Gretchen's visit, I of course, stalked up on brussel sprouts and mushrooms. 


When looking through my cookbooks she immediately pulled out Tosca Reno's Eat Clean (2009). This seems to be a favorite among my health conscious women friends. Gretchen wrote down the recipe for oat tea, which is apparently good for strengthening immunity and fighting cold symptoms. Good thing, considering I woke up with sinus troubles the morning we made it! It tasted like home. 

Oat Tea

2 Tbsp oats

1 cinnamon stick

4 cups water

1 tsp honey

Dash best-quality vanilla extract 

Directions: Simmer oats, cinnamon stick and water in a small saucepan for 30 minutes. Remove from heat, add honey and vanilla extract, and strain the liquid. You can eat the leftover oatmeal the next morning for breakfast!