Black Bean & Tomato Quinoa

This is from Epicurious. It's simple and delicious. If you leave out the butter, it's vegan and, just for you, Jene: dairy-free!

2 teaspoons grated lime zest
2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup (uncooked) quinoa
1 (14- to 15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 medium tomatoes, diced (I used a combo of yellow, grape, and Campari tomatoes)
4 scallions, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Whisk together lime zest and juice, butter, oil, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4teaspoon pepper in a large bowl.

If your quinoa does not say "pre-rinsed" on the package, wash quinoa in 3 changes of cold water in a bowl, draining in a sieve each time. This will get rid of the bitter powder it has in its natural, unwashed form.

Cook quinoa in a medium pot of boiling salted water (1 tablespoon salt for 2 quarts water), uncovered, until almost tender, about 10 minutes. Drain in sieve and fluff with fork.

Add quinoa to dressing and toss until dressing is absorbed, then stir in remaining ingredients and sea salt and coarsely ground cracked pepper to taste.

Peppery Muenster Biscuit Goodness

My friend Jihan brought over some amazing biscuits from Little Buddy Biscuit Company in Brooklyn the other night and after greedily devouring them, I was determined to recreate the deliciousness. Here's what I came up with. They are scrumptious and don't need butter or anything as a topper.

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
10 oz. Muenster Cheese, coarsely grated (1 1/2 cups)
2 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper
1 cup well-shaken buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450°F.
(I put the Muenster in the freezer before making this recipe to make grating easier)

Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, salt, and ground pepper in a bowl, then blend in butter with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in Muenster cheese. Add buttermilk and stir until just combined.

Spoon dough into mounds (size depending on how many you wish to make) about 2 inches apart onto a buttered large baking sheet. Bake in middle of oven until golden, 18 to 20 minutes.

These are best eaten right out of the oven. The next morning, they were delicious, but the texture was less like that of a biscuit and more like a crumpet.

100 GYoZA !!!

When I get sick of summery spring rolls and cold food and want a hot but kinda-light main-course. This does the trick…

100 GYOZA!!! (more than one serving)

1 bunch of scallion

1/2 bunch cilantro

1/2 pack of white or brown mushrooms

handfull of string-beans

¼ piece red cabbage

½ cup corn

1½ pound ground chicken

15-iish oz can of crushed tomatoes

2 tablespoon of miso paste

1 tablespoon soy sauce

5 garlic cloves

1 teaspoon size ginger

chop, chop! Mix in bowl.

Next:

100 gyoza skin (2 packs)---(buy it cheap at the Hong Kong Supermarket --- Hester Street, above Canal..)

Put a spoonful size of mixture onto gyoza skin, wet one size with water, fold,fold,fold.. Make it look pretty. No forks, just fingers and fold in one direction to make a nice curved edge.

When all done (each pan holds 50) , you can cook or store in freezer piled together in tuppeware. I take the frozen ones and sizzle them oil on high in a pan until skin looks fried (and so they don’t stick to pan and get all gloppy), then add water to steam and cover.

Commonly there's left over gyoza mixture, so you make gyoza burgers!

---or just eat it cooked with noodles or anything....

Pesto

As with most homemade food, fresh pesto tastes so much better than anything you get out of a bottle. It's fast, easy and requires no cooking. Too bad my photo doesn't really do it justice...

(Recipe is from "The Complete Book of Sauces," by Sallie Williams)

Yields 1 1/2 cups

2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/4 pine nuts
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of freshly grated parmesan
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste (I don't add any salt, because the parmesan adds plenty of flavor)

If you care about keeping your pesto staying a bright green, follow this tip

Place all ingredients in food processor and blend till smooth, occasionally stopping to scrape the sides. Toss with cooked pasta and serve immediately or store refriderated in a tightly sealed jar.

Personal note: I prefer my pesto slightly chunky, vs runny. So I start with 1/4 cup of olive oil and then slowly add more till I've reached the consistency I like (a little less than what the recipe recommends). I also like a little more basil. The recipe is extremely flexible, so as long as you have extra ingredients on hand, it's easy to experiment.

Indian-Spiced Potato Salad

This is a nice, refreshing variation to my mom's potato salad, to which I am particularly loyal. (Next time I'll post that recipe). I feel like this would have been tastier with a smaller ratio of potatoes, but I swapped out the potatoes the recipe called for with the cheaper russet potatoes, so that may have been the reason it seemed a little on the drier side to me.

Here's the original recipe as it appears on Epicurious.com:

3 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes
1 cup chopped shallots (about 3)
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup chopped, peeled, fresh ginger
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 cups (packed) chopped cilantro leaves and tender stems, divided

Bring large pot of salted water to boil; add potatoes. Cook until potatoes are tender when pierced with knife, about 25 minutes (Although, this was too long for the russets I used). Dump water, cover, and refrigerate, at least 3 hours.

Puree shallots, mayonnaise, ginger, and lemon juice in processor. Transfer to small bowl. Stir in 1 1/2 cups of cilantro.

Peel potatoes and cut into 1/2 inch cubes. Place in large bowl, add dressing, and toss to coat. Refrigerate until cold, about 4 hours. Season to taste with salt and pepper (I felt it really needed the salt). Add remaining cilantro and serve.

Yields about 8 servings.

Garam Masala Deviled Eggs

These are from Epicurious.com and were introduced to me by a friend. I wouldn't change a thing about the recipe. It's a SCRUMPTIOUS update to a picnic classic.

Here's what you need:

6 hard-boiled eggs
3 1/2 Tablespoons mayonnaise (regular - I think low-fat would be too sweet)
3 Tablespoons minced green onion
1 Tablespoon minced, seeded jalapeño
1 1/2 teaspoons minced mango chutney (it's a little too clumpy right out the jar)
1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder (this is easier to find than you think with the more ethnic spices at the grocery store)

finely chopped radishes for garnish

Shell eggs carefully, then cut in half lengthwise. Transfer yolks to small bowl and mash with fork. Mix in mayonnaise. Stir in onion, jalapeño, chutney, and garam masala.

Spoon yolk mixture into whites. Top generously with chopped radishes. (Can be made 4 hours ahead.) Cover loosely and refrigerate.

Lemon-Cream Sandwich Cookies

Yesterday was my friend's baby shower so I made these cookies to celebrate! Both the filling and cookie are lemon flavored:

Recipe from Bon Appetit magazine (Jan 2009)

Cookie:
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp lemon zest
3 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp salt ( I used 1/4)
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks

Filling:
1 1/2 Tbsp lemon zest
dash salt
1 stick unsalted butter
2 cups powdered sugar

Cookies:
Boil lemon juice and zest in saucepan till reduced to 2 Tbsp. Let cool. Beat butter till fluffly, add sugar and mix well. Beat in eggs and yolks, one at a time. Add lemon juice. In another bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Then add the dry to the wet mixture and blend. Cover and chill dough till firm, at least 4 hours and up to 1 day.

Preheat oven to 375. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll out 1/3 dough to 3/8 thickness. Using 2 inch round cutter, cut out cookies. Bake 10-12 min. (I used a 1 inch round and made them thinner and ended up with almost 100, so you may need to adjust depending how many you want, and the size of your cutter). Repeat with remaining dough.

Filling:
Mash zest and salt into a paste. Add butter. Beat with electric mixer till fluffly. Add sugar in 4 batches, beating after each till blended.
(Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temp before using).