Michelle Obama's Spinach

The time has come for us to enjoy a dish I've already blogged about. Alex asked me what I was going to do when I fixed portobello parmesan for supper the other night; of course I figure that unless I improve a recipe or have something new to say about it, I wouldn't post.

Let me tell you about the side dish we had with the portobellos, along with a green salad and some angel hair (of course prepared in my newfound quick-boil energy conserving method). I did a quick web search for "healthy creamed spinach." To my astonishment, the first several results were all about a recipe Michelle Obama shared with the New York Times last March. I have no idea why I'd not heard about this, as evidently it was quite a splash.


So, I tried it. This was very, very good. I've never made creamed spinach before, and I've never used shallots. I found a couple of variations on the web, but I just cooked two chopped garlic cloves and a couple of diced shallots in olive oil, then I added a bag of fresh spinach and cooked for about a minute, then covered it and turned off the burner. After it wilted, I put everything in the blender with a little salt and pureed. Of course it was a little watery, so I strained it.

Of note: spinach is on the "dirty dozen" list of foods most contaminated by pesticides, so take Mrs. Obama's advice to buy organic.

Tofu success! Stir fry with veggies

I know this is what you've been waiting for. I've certainly been waiting on an attempt to cook tofu that I wasn't embarrassed to share. I used to eat tofu when I was a new vegetarian, I'd crumble some in to other dishes, but I had no idea how to make it taste good. I was just trying to get some nutrients. Since then, I've had great tofu at restaurants (notably Thai and Chinese) but have never figured out how to cook it myself.

I've already posted my attempt at Thai Coconut soup with tofu and how to freeze tofu. Over the weekend Alex suggested we make a tofu stir fry at home. I had recently purchased a wok with a wedding gift certificate, and it's been sitting on top of our cabinets with the tags still on. So although his request was not unreasonable, I was certainly intimidated.

First, we cooked the cubed tofu in the wok with the teeniest bit of oil. The wok was nonstick and the pieces browned nicely after a good bit of time cooking.

Alex took charge of this because he has the patience to make sure each cube is turned evenly. Had he not wanted to leave the tofu in the wok after I told him to take it out, it never would have browned.

After the tofu was browned nicely, we took it out and put it in a separate bowl.






Then, cook the veggies in the wok. We used:

Onion
Broccoli
Baby corn (fresh)
Carrots
Baby bella mushrooms
Canned water chestnuts, added at the end

Cook the vegetables to the desired doneness, then add back in the tofu and any sauce you use. I used something called stirfry sauce, just a bottle I chose from the grocery aisle. It was mostly soy sauce, and pretty good, but I might look for something better next time. Let me know if you have any suggestions for making sauce or a brand/ type to purchase ready made.

I might still be getting used to the wok, because it seemed to take a while to cook all the veggies. I think next time we'll start by steaming the baby corn, or at least slicing it into thirds. But this was very, very good. I served with rice, which by now I am very comfortable cooking on the stovetop.

Experimentation Sunday: Freezing Tofu

Okay, this is why I love the Internet. You can find anything. I've been looking for information on how to cook tofu and came up with nothing on my favorite food websites (Allrecipes and FoodTV). Instead, I find a three-year-old blog post. I've read about freezing tofu but never could really figure out how to do it best. After her tutorial, I've found it to be a piece of cake.


Why freeze tofu? As I've learned first-hand in my attempt at Senegalese Tofu, it doesn't get firm just from cooking it. Freezing firm tofu changes the texture and makes it toothier, chewier, and better at soaking up flavors, a far cry from the squishy cheese texture you find in the tub.

First, you have to drain the tofu. Some people say to press it first, and I guess that would help, but you could also press it after. This is what I've done, and I'm inclined to say it doesn't matter when you do it as long as you do it.

If you want to divide it into serving portions, do so now.

Freeze in a baggy overnight, or as long as you desire. This is the time-consuming part; you have to plan ahead to freeze and thaw the tofu before you use it. I think I'm going to try to keep some on hand now that I know how tasty and easy this is.

Don't worry that the tofu turns yellow in the freezer. It'll change back as it thaws.

I thawed mine by leaving on the counter. You can also leave it in the fridge or place the block in hot water. Reviews are mixed on thawing it in the microwave; I've not tried that (yet). The thawing tofu will be watery if you didn't press it prior to freezing, but you can just pour the water out of the bag or press it between towels after it's thawed.

I'll be sharing the results of our frozen tofu dish shortly. I was very, very pleased.

Thai Coconut Soup

I was looking for a good coconut soup recipe and found this one, but I think it's always hardest the first time you try a recipe. The soup was tasty, but I really wish I'd added more carrots and mushrooms. I also had to double check whether the recipe says to cook this in a large stockpot, because that was just overkill.

I'm always torn about whether I should record my failed dishes, whether I should write about what I eat at restaurants, whether I should write about the things that everyone (probably) knows about. In the end, and maybe there should be some sort of mission statement to come from this, I decide to write about these anyway. This dish is far from a failure; in fact, it was so promising that I'm eager to try it again, with improvements. I may also, though, look for a coconut curry soup recipe. The good news, though, is that it's really easy, and the most challenging part was finding new ingredients. I suspect my supermarket lemongrass was not fresh, but I wasn't sure what to look for. I also have to figure out how to store the leftover ginger.


Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1/2 onion, sliced thin
1 carrot, sliced thin
1 cup sliced shiitake mushrooms
1 jalepeno pepper
1-1/2 cups vegetable broth
12 oz coconut milk (my can came in 14 oz, so I just used it all)
5-6 thin slices of fresh ginger
5-6 1-inch slices of lemongrass
Juice of 1 lime
1 package tofu, frozen and thawed, then cubed
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped

First, heat the oil in the pot and add the onion, garlic, carrots, and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook for an additional minute.

Add the rest of the ingredients (except cilantro) and cook over low heat for 15 minutes.

As for the ginger? You can wrap it in a towel and put it in a bag in the fridge, or else freeze it. Refrigerated ginger should keep 3 weeks, according to my search results.

Portobello and Black Bean Enchiladas

I love enchiladas. I love the texture the tortilla takes on when it's baked in sauce. I don't love eating a slab of cheese as my entree.

Doesn't that look good? Sure, it fell apart. Doesn't change the taste!

I found this recipe for enchiladas with vegetarian filling, with the bonus that they'll be just as tasty with no cheese added. I do put a little bit of shredded cheese in each enchilada and sprinkle some on top, but that's it. That's all it needs.

First, you'll want to chop all your veggies.

- 3 large portobellos, sliced
- 1/2 onion, diced
- Green or red bell pepper (I used a mix because I had the peppers already on hand)
- 1 large can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 small can green chiles

Cook the mushrooms for a few minutes in a little bit of oil, then add the remaining veggies and beans. Cook until tender. Add the green chiles last.




The remaining ingredients:
- 1 large can enchilada sauce
- Shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
- 6 flour tortillas

The recipe says to use cooking spray on the baking dish, and that would really help. My enchiladas fell apart when I tried to serve them.

Pour some enchilada sauce on the bottom of the dish. One at a time, dip both sides of the tortilla in a plate of enchilada sauce, add the veggie filling, cheese if desired, and then roll. I have luck pressing one enchilada against the side of the dish, then stacking the rest. Pour the remaining sauce over the top of the enchiladas.

Cover with foil and bake at 350F for 45 minutes. The foil helps keep in some steam to cook the enchiladas. Remove foil, top with cheese, and let sit in hot oven while cheese melts.

Glossary: Cincinnati Portion of Cheese

I've been toying with the idea of including definitions, mostly just to include any potential readers in terms that have become common between me and my eating partner. I think this is a more likely occurrence than my actually defining food products or cooking terms, and probably more entertaining as well. Although I'd like to tell you precisely what seitan is, you'll easily find a definition if you want one, and I'm no cooking expert to teach actual technique.

So we begin with a term I've already used a couple of times in the blog: the Cincinnati portion of cheese, plus the cheese layer and the cheese inspector.

source

Upon our arrival to the 'Nati, we embarked upon intense restaurant exploration. No, we never ate at Skyline, the chili restaurant whose signature dish is pictured above, but if you'd like to read about what it's like, take this outsider's view. Skyline even had an ad campaign telling people they can get 50% more cheese for free, just for asking for it.

We have run into our share of restaurant dishes that replace meat with cheese, and we've affectionately termed this the Cincinnati portion of cheese. We first encountered what we call the cheese layer at a Mexican restaurant that seemed to have melted an excessive of cheese beneath each of our entrees. Although we do include cheese in the meals we make at home, we don't use nearly that much. We make jokes about what would happen if the cheese inspector came to our house and didn't find enough cheese.

I'm going to round this out with a couple of photos of a recent night out to Covington's Keystone Bar (holla, Pennsylvania!). I'd wanted to go there for macaroni and cheese, and I was experiencing a severe cheese craving. Although my craving could well be satiated at any number of local eatieries, I tried the mac & cheese as well as the spinach and artichoke dip at Keystone. The dip was great; the macaroni was mediocre. There were jalapeno flecks throughout, which did not jive with my tomato and mozzarella topping. I was enthralled by the promise of macaroni and cheese with your choice of toppings, but mine was just weird. Alas, behold the cheese:

Another salad: Napa & Ramen

I've had a few variations of the napa cabbage and ramen noodles salad in my life, most recently as one of the sides at Salt of the Earth. I looked up some recipes online and of course made some adjustments. One that I found had you melt butter and toast the ramen in butter, but there was just too much butter, so here's my version, with a few variations. I took a few notes from this recipe, especially reducing the amount of oil and total amount of dressing. Maybe my head of cabbage was just too small; I didn't need all the dressing I made.


Ingredients:
1 head napa cabbage, shredded
6 green onions, chopped

2 Tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1 package (3 oz) ramen noodles, broken into pieces
2 Tablespoons sesame seeds
1/4 cup slivered almonds or cocktail peanuts

Dressing:
1/4 cup vinegar (I used regular white vinegar; other recipes call for rice or cider)
1/2 cup oil
1/3 cup white sugar
2 Tablespoons soy sauce

Combine the shredded cabbage and the green onions.

Melt the butter in a skillet and add the ramen, sesame seeds, and nuts. Toast lightly until the nuts are fragrant. Cool. In my photo I used the oven as one recipe instructed, but I'd go the skillet route next time. I think that gives the same effect with more control and less energy.

Mix all the dressing ingredients.

Combine the crunchy ingredients with the greens and dressing just prior to serving. I put leftovers in three separate containers in the refrigerator to combine and eat later and it was just perfect. Yum!