Beet hummus

We hit the market this morning (man, it was cold)
and bought some beets for this dish. I roasted the beets in some foil for an hour or a bit more until they were tender (400 degrees). I reserved two of them for a salad for tomorrow's dinner and then peeled and chunked the remaining two (last time the food processor missed one piece so I wanted to begin with the pieces a little smaller this time.

Roasted Beet Hummus

from www.erinsfoodfiles.com (with a couple of minor adjustments)

Ingredients:

1-2 medium beets
1 can of chickpeas
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 small yellow or white onion, chopped finely
3 cloves chopped garlic
1/2 cup tahini or sesame paste
1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup olive oil

2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

The onions can be sauteed first, but I added them raw.

Whisk together the lemon juice and olive oil in a small bowl.

In a food processor, chop the beets, onions, garlic, and chickpeas together until smooth. Add the tahini and cumin, and process again. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, then replace the lid. While the blades are running, slowly add the lemon juice and olive oil mixture until the hummus is at your desired consistency.

Makes 2-3 cups hummus - excellent stuff.

Real men eat quiche - they really really do.

OK, I cheated on this one - this has crab meat in it. But that is easy to swap out if your wife chooses to eat dinner with you. Possible fillings include: mushroom and spinach, asparagus and fake bacon (some weird soy type product), broccoli and roasted red pepper - infinite choices.

Begin with a real crust - whoa, people will be impressed. Most folks consider that to be an art form that is more mystical than they are prepared for, so they do a store bought crust. Boo. Make your own and then in the middle of the meal, just briefly mention how easily the crust came together - "Must be the humidity." People will swoon at your talents.
The crust is Better Homes and Gardens all the way:

1 and 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 shortening
5 tablespoons ice water

Sift dry, cut in shortening with pastry blender and add water one Tb. at a time tossing with fork. Form into a ball and roll with floured rolling pin or empty wine bottle (emptying it while cooking adds to the excitement). I do enjoy doing the fluted edge with one index finger pushing between the other index finger and thumb. It is artwork. The key is cutting the crust an inch too big around the edges and then folding that excess under to create a thick edge that allows the fluting to occur without breaking the crust during the process.
Once your dough is in the pie plate create your quiche and its filling.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup mayo ------- 1 cup filling (again we used crab meat)
2 Tb. flour ----------- 1 cup diced swiss cheese
2 beaten eggs-------- 1/2 chopped green onion
1/2 cup milk

Recipe from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Crab-Quiche-I/Detail.aspx, thanks to ChristyJ.

Beat eggs first then add mayo, flour, and milk and continuing the beating and lastly stir in the filling, cheese and onions. Dump into uncooked pie crust.Bake 50 minutes to one hour or until tester comes out clean.

A glass of chardonnay and you are ready to go.

Sarah and Mollie's Cauliflower Cheese Pie

This one you two showed us one trip to the left coast. It is from Mollie Katzen's The New Moosewood Cookbook. This time I used Mollie's suggestion for the crust and while it is very flavorful you can't cut it and serve it as well as you can a regular pastry crust which I have also used for this recipe. The potato crust falls apart as it leaves the pie dish but it is delicious so make the call based on how good you want it to look.

I won't repeat the recipe here, besides being in the book, it is all over the internet so just Bing it. My alterations are based on the fact that while cauliflower and cheese are yummy, it looks a little bland so I add some mushrooms (baby portabellas here) and a big bag of baby spinach - we like it.

Soften an onion in some olive oil and then add the mushrooms and saute until they too are softened up. I then add the spinach and heat it until it is wilted. At this point, I head back to Mollie's recipe and add the cauliflower to get the cooking begun before it enters the crust. Lot's of opportunities for spices here - salt, pepper, paprika, Herbs de Provence, whatever floats your boat. When I use the regular pie crust the filling (cauliflower mix) goes in the uncooked crust so I would start the veggies first and then add them to the finished crust. But if you choose the potato, that crust needs to be cooked for 40 minutes so do the veggie mix on the stovetop while the crust is in the oven.

Good flavors - it just needs a small green salad and you are there.

Calzones

Hey, it's Friday night - time for dinner and a movie. Get some pizza dough started and let's make a calzone for dinner.

Ingredients
flour
yeast
sugar
salt
sweet peppers - red and green
mushrooms
onions
ricotta and mozzarella cheeses
sauce
olives ?
hot peppers ?

Yeast, warm water and a tablespoon of sugar kick things off. Once the yeast is awake, I work the a teaspoon of salt and the flour in and knead it for a couple of minutes and set it aside in a warm location. While it is rising, I get to work on the vegetables. Tonight we have baby portabellas, onions, and green and red peppers. I saute them in a couple tablespoons of butter to soften them up. Once the dough has doubled in size (an hour or so) I roll it out on a floured bread board (I don't want it sticking to the board). This could be done by hand but I don't want the dough to be too thin or my fillings will leak out so I prefer a rolling pin for consistency of thickness. I start the fillings with about one half cup of ricotta cheese (evenly spread in the middle of the dough), then my vegetables, some mozzarella cheese (grated), and a healthy dollop of spaghetti sauce. I then fold the dough over and lock the seam with the rounded edge of a spoon so the guts don't leak. I set it on a sheet or pizza pan and slide it into a 400 degree oven till the dough browns evenly (about 15 to 20 minutes).
















Tonight - Up In the Air with George. Enjoy!

Bread basics from pizza dough - Sweet Potato and Chive bread

OK, so you're a pizza expert -but let's face it, how much pizza can you eat? So let's fool around with that dough.

Ingredients -
flour
yeast
brown sugar
a sweet potato
chives (a good bunch or two)
salt

Let's start with a basic pizza dough add some cool stuff and make a nice lookin' loaf of Sweet Potato and Chive bread.


Yeasting
First let's wake up the yeast by proofing it. Take two cups of warm water, add a quarter cup of brown sugar to feed the little nasties and then sprinkle two and a half teaspoons of yeast on top. While they are awakening, let's peel one good sized sweet potato and then cube it so it can be cooked relatively rapidly. Boil the tater while you cut some fresh chives into thin slices. This photo is from Michael Ruhlman's food blog - the guy writes beautifully about foods and the people who cook (and his wife takes some nice photos) http://blog.ruhlman.com/

Once you have the potatoes nice and soft (check 'em with a knife), drain them and let them cool, we are going to add them to our dough, but we don't want to kill the yeast by adding them while they are too hot. While they are cooling you can play with Will for ten minutes.

Now that tater has cooled down to just warm and not hot, add it to the yeast - sugar mixture. They will get mashed as you add flour and do your kneading. Add two teaspoons of salt (Mom always thinks there is too little salt), your chives and some flour (start with a couple of cups). No sense in measuring the flour, just start dumping it in and stir the dough until it begins to thicken up. Take the dough out of the bowl and place it onto a floured bread board.


Kneading
Knead it for 4 to 5 minutes. Enjoy the bread - people who look for no knead recipes are wimps - this is what breadmaking is all about - roll it under the heels of your hands, fold it over on itself and rotate the dough 90 degrees and roll it and fold it under the heels again. Keep working it to allow the gluten to form - the gluten will catch the carbon dioxide and allow the bread to rise. You will be adding flour the whole time you are kneading it so don't worry about measuring it during this stage, just keep the flour container next to you and grab a handful every twenty seconds or so. When the dough is nice and stretchy and you are tired (and the dough isn't sticking to your hands any longer), grab the dough ball in your two hands, thumbs on top and stretch the dough from the top around to the bottom as if you were plumping up a pillow. Stretch the area under your thumbs and tuck it underneath with your fingers. Hide all those seams on the bottom of the loaf. Set it back into the original bowl that you have now sprayed with oil so the dough will pop out a little easier after the rising process. Cover with a dish towel and set somewhere comfy for an hour or two - no big deal, you can go to Safeway, mow the lawn (har, har), send an email to your son, whatever - it will be there whenever you are ready.

Baking - once the dough has doubled in size let's bake it. Place a casserole dish that you have sprayed with oil inside the oven and fire the oven up to 450 degrees . We want the dish to be nice and hot when we place the dough inside. When the oven is ready, use your hand to scoop the dough out of the bowl. I snake my fingers down the edge into the area where I sprayed the oil and gently try to get under the dough. I don't want to beat it up too much and lose all of my rising. Hold the dough ball in your two hands and again stretch the dough from the top to the bottom as if you were smoothing out that pillow. Stretch the area under your thumbs and tuck it underneath with your fingers. Do that a couple of times till the top of the dough ball is tight and smooth and it is ready to enter the oven. Remove the casserole dish and set the dough ball inside. Sprinkle a half teaspoon of flour over the top for aesthetic reasons and then with a nice sharp knife make an "X" in the top of the dough ball. The x should be about 3 inches by 3 inches across and about a quarter inch deep.

Place dish and dough back into oven for 10 minutes (set your timer) at the 450 setting and then lower temperature to 350 degrees for about 30 more minutes (again don't forget timer). A large loaf may not be cooked enough in the center of the loaf, so I usually shut the oven down and let the bread remain inside as the oven cools. To be sure, before you turn off the oven check the bread interior with a cake tester or toothpick - does it come out clean? If yes, you are ready to roll, any gooey dough inside and you need some more cooking time. A big loaf can fool you with a nice crust that is browning beautifully but it may still need 15 more minutes. Check to be sure.

Eat while warm with butter.