Category: Side Dish

Posted on » by Michael » Theme:

Crisp Quinoa Cakes With Cilantro, Scallions and Sriracha

quina

INGREDIENTS

Red = my own modifications

  • 1 cup quinoa
  • Salt
  • ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro (I probably added 1 1/4 cup)
  • ¼ cup chopped scallions (I probably added closer to 1/2 cup)
  • 1 tablespoon sriracha (I added a little extra)
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • Lime wedges for serving
  • I added 1/2 onion and a green pepper

PREPARATION

  1.  Chopped onion and pepper finely chopped then fried in a little oil then set aside
  2. Put the quinoa, a large pinch of salt and 2 1/4 cups water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, and then adjust the heat so that the mixture bubbles gently. Cover, and cook, stirring once, until the grains are very tender and begin to burst, 25 to 30 minutes. When they are starchy and thick, transfer them to a large bowl to cool for a few minutes.
  3. Heat the oven to 200. Fold the cilantro, scallions, and sriracha (also pepper and onion if you added them) into the quinoa, and add a (very) generous sprinkle of salt and pepper. With your hands, form the mixture into 8 patties.
  4. Put 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When the oil is warm, cook 4 cakes at a time until the bottoms are nicely browned and crisp, about 4 minutes. Flip, and brown on the other side, another 4 minutes. Transfer the cakes to the oven to keep warm while you cook the second batch with another tablespoon of oil. Serve with lime wedges.
Posted on » by Michael » Theme:

Brussels Sprout Salad with Warm Brown Butter Vinaigrette

salad

From Cook’s Illustrated | November/December 2015

Why this recipe works:

Our Brussels sprout salad is dressed in a warm bacon (side note, no bacon in the original recipe either so I’m not sure about this comment) vinaigrette that gently tenderizes the sprouts while letting them retain their fresh, mustardy flavor. Bites of quick-pickled shallot add pop to the salad. We dress the salad in the skillet before transferring it to a serving bowl.

Serves 6

A food processor’s slicing blade can be used to slice the Brussels sprouts, but the salad will be less tender.

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 shallot, halved through root end and sliced thin crosswise
  • 1/4 cup dried cranberries
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1/3 cup hazelnuts, toasted, skinned, and chopped
  • 1 1/2 pounds Brussels sprouts, trimmed, halved, and sliced thin
  • 1 1/2 cups baby arugula, chopped
  • 4 ounces Manchego cheese, shaved into thin strips using vegetable peeler

 

Instructions

  1.  Whisk lemon juice, mustard, sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt together in bowl. Add shallot and cranberries, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and microwave until steaming, 30 to 60 seconds. Stir briefly to submerge shallot and cranberries. Let cool to room temperature, about 15 minutes.
  1. Melt butter in 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Add hazelnuts and cook, stirring frequently, until butter is dark golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Off heat, whisk in shallot mixture. Add Brussels sprouts and arugula and toss with tongs until dressing is evenly distributed and sprouts darken slightly, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to serving bowl. Add Manchego and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve immediately.
Posted on » by Michael » Theme:

HUNGARIAN RATATOUILLE – LECSÓ

This one turned out to be almost as good as Nagymama’s.

You need medium sized sweet yellow Hungarian wax peppers and fully ripe, sweet tomatoes to make authentic Hungarian lecsó. The Jim grows these with varied success, giving me a few weeks of lecsó making opportunity. Keep in mind that no Hungarian pepper grown in our Kamloops garden can come close to the peppers grown on Hungarian soil. Of course most North Americans don’t even know what Hungarian peppers look like, except for the tiny hot things they sell in the supermarket. But those aren’t Hungarian peppers. Moving onto the tomatoes, the sweetest of tomatoes, are the round vine ripened varieties. They cost a bit more, but their flavour is superior even when the rest of the tomatoes are in season. I have been trying to break through the availability barrier and to come up with a year around version of Hungarian lecsó, but that will be a different topic.

In terms of volume I tended to use 1/4 tomato to 3/4 pepper to balance out the acidity and to reduce the liquid in my lecsó. Onions give body to stews, so I thought I would increase the onions, because lecsó should not have soup like consistency. The recipe I used over the years called for half an onion. But since the onion is the one that binds the peppers and tomatoes together, I figured there should be more of it. An additional benefit is that onions bring natural sweetness to lecsó. So gradually I increased the onions I used. Now for every 6 medium Hungarian wax peppers and 6 medium tomatoes I use 2 fairly large onions. That’s a lot of onions, but you need it. I also add Hungarian paprika to my lecsó, but only a couple of teaspoons. Lecsó is not about the paprika.

  • 6 Hungarian wax peppers*
  • 2 large onions,
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 3 Tbsp olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 5 medium ripe tomatoes sliced
  • 2 tsp Hungarian paprika
  1. • Chop the peppers into strips.
  2. • Chop the tomatoes, removing the green centers.
  3. • Dice the onions into large bits, but don’t cut them too fine.
  4. • Place 3 Tbsp olive oil in the pot on medium heat.
  5. • Add the onions and garlic and sauté until onions are soft, but not brown.
  6. • Reduce the heat and add the peppers.
  7. • Add the salt and the pepper now.
  8. • Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally for a 3-5 minutes.
  9. • Add the tomato and the Hungarian paprika.
  10. • Simmer uncovered for 1-2 minutes.
  11. • Serve with rustic white bread.
    Yields: 2 servings

*In terms of flavour, the yellow bells are the closest to the Hungarian wax. The smallest they are the better, the big ones release too much liquid and they tend to finish up soggy.