Tasty Bytes

My all time favorite holiday next to Chinese New Years is Thanksgiving – both holidays that revolve around traditional foods.

A few members of the family aren’t too fond of pumpkin pie and those that are seem to leave most of the crust on their plate. So I experimented last month for a cooking demo I did at the Women’s Cancer Resource Center in Oakland and came up with a Sweet Potato Flan. Not quite pumpkin I know but close enough in my book.

Here is a revised version of the recipe I demo’ed last month:

Sweet Potato Flan

1 -2 red-skinned sweet potato/ yam; about 12 ounces
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 ½ cup half and half
4 large eggs
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ teaspoon nutmeg, grate fresh from a seed for best flavor
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
maple syrup to taste (about ¼ cup)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Pierce sweet potatos with fork; roast until tender, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours, depending on width of potato. Cool. The skin should be very loose – peel potato by hand and press into a measuring cup – measure out 1 1/2 cup.

Stir 1/2 cup sugar and the tablespoon of water in small saucepan over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and boil without stirring until syrup turns deep amber, occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides with wet pastry brush, about 5 minutes. Immediately pour caramel into 8-inch-diameter metal cake pan. Using pot holders, swirl cake pan, allowing caramel to coat bottom and about 1/2 inch up sides. If the caramel solidifies before you can coat the entire bottom of the pan then warm it up a bit in the oven. Be careful, the hot caramelized sugar will stick to you like molten lava and leave a nasty burn!

Use a blender (or a deep bowl and stick blender) to puree up the eggs, half and half, sea salt, sweet potatoes, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. Stir in maple syrup to taste (about ¼ cup). Pour flan mixture into prepared cake pan.

Place cake pan in large roasting pan. Put pan on the middle rack of the oven. Add enough hot water to roasting pan to come halfway up sides of cake pan. Bake until just set in center, about 1 hour. Remove flan from water. Chill until cold, about 5 hours. You can make this up to a day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.

Run a sharp pointed knife along the inside edge of the cake pan to loosen the flan. Invert onto rimmed plate, scraping caramel in pan over flan.

If your heart is set on pumpkin go ahead and use pumpkin – either fresh roasted or canned is fine. Other winter squash would be wonderful too – try butternut, hubbard, or kabocha.

Enjoy!

Sister P really knows how to cook. Yesterday’s BBQ’d baby back ribs and chicken along with apple cherry pie were out of this world! The recipes will have to wait another day but here is a recipe for another of P’s gems. This pesto is my all time favorite – the addition of the lemon and capers really add zing. Pesto’s in general are great to add variety to weekday meals. Just make a big batch and freeze in cubes using an ice cube tray. Once frozen the cubes can then be transfered to a labeled freezer bag. The cubes will defrost quickly to make weeknight dinners a tasty snap.

Not just for pasta – Use the pesto as a coating on fish or prawns or chicken or turkey before broiling or roasting in the oven. We like a generous layer on top of fish or chicken or turkey – about 1/8″. Another idea – throw a tablespoon or so in your next tuna salad. How about a few tablespoons in a chick pea dip like hummus (minus the tahini and cumin)? Or sauteed with your favorite vegetables. Maybe as a base on pizza instead of tomato sauce. So many ideas – be creative!

Macadamia Nut Pesto

2 tablespoons macadamia nuts

2 tablespoons basil, fresh

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon lemon zest

½ teaspoon pepper

½ teaspoon sea salt

3 teaspoons capers

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon water

2 tablespoons olive oil

Pulse nuts a few times in a food processor. Add basil, pulse a few times again. Add the garlic, lemon zest, pepper, salt and capers pulse a few times. Add lemon juice and water. With the food processor turned on, slowly add the olive oil in a slow steady stream. As needed, stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula. Adjust seasoning with lemon juice, salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Makes ½ cup.

Variation – substitute basil leaves with fresh dill or Italian parsley or spinach

I’ve been a tad busy these days so am thankful for quick recipes and my stocked freezer. Like the lentil soup I had posted on previously I like to make a big batch of this turkey chili and freeze in two portion containers. During the week I’ll make a big pot of brown rice to have at the ready as a side or to make fried rice. This chili with some brown rice and a big salad rounds out the meal in less than 15 minutes! So you see, we can still eat a nutritious meal if we plan ahead.

When shopping for ingredients try to get low sodium and organic brands. This recipe is really economical if you buy the groceries at Trader Joe’s.

Three Bean Turkey Chili

3/4 lb. ground turkey (more or less if you like)
1 can (14.5 oz.) diced or crushed tomatoes, undrained – fire roasted is nice
1 jar (16 oz.) Chunky Salsa or other favorite salsa – low sodium and no sugar added!
1 cans (15 oz.) black beans, drained, rinsed
1 can (15 oz.) red kidney beans, drained, rinsed
1 can (15 oz.) great Northern beans or white beans, drained, rinsed
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
sea salt to taste
Hot Sauce to taste
Optional: Shredded Cheddar Cheese, sliced green onions, diced fresh tomatoes

COOK ground turkey in large saucepan on medium-high heat until cooked through, stirring occasionally.

ADD tomatoes, salsa, beans and seasonings; mix well. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

To complete the meal, serve chili with a salad and steamed vegetables.

Variations:

Use ground chicken or grass-fed beef or lamb or vegetarian with no meat and an extra can of beans

Any combination of beans work well – try garbanzos

Add ground chipotle chile to taste to give the chili a spicy smokiness

Add a bag of frozen corn

Enjoy!

Busy busy.

Here is a very tasty and quick thai dish I made tonight. The recipe is based on this after googling in search of a recipe for a dish we had Sunday night at a Thai restaurant in Milpitas. The dish we had was minced pork with eggplant and Thai basil. We all agreed it was the best of everything we ordered.

Since I had nearly a bunch of extra Thai basil and some ground turkey I thought I’d try to recreate the basic taste I enjoyed Sunday. No eggplant but some peppers in the crisper so I adjusted.

Enjoy!

Minced Turkey with Thai Basil

Serving Size : 4 to 6

Preparation Time :0:15

Amount Measure Ingredient — Preparation Method
——– ———— ——————————–
2 tablespoons oil
4 cloves garlic — minced
2/3 cup red and green bell pepper — 1/2″ cubes
1/4 cup onion — diced
1 pound turkey, ground
2 tablespoons chili paste — or use a few or a lot of minced fresh red thai chilis
2 tablespoons oyster sauce — I like Dragonfly brand (no added MSG)
3 tablespoons fish sauce — I’ve been using Squid Brand
2 teaspoons brown sugar — or sucanat or palm sugar
1 cup thai basil — roughly chopped

Heat oil in a wok or skillet over medium heat. Add minced garlic and saute until golden. Add peppers and onions. Saute a few more minutes.

Turn up heat and add ground turkey. Add a bit of water if contents start to get too dry. When nearly cooked through add the chili paste, oyster sauce, fish sauce and brown sugar. Stir in the sauces and reduce down until it coats the turkey. Add the chopped thai basil and cook a few more minutes.

Serve with jasmine rice and a side of stir-fried or steamed veggies

Variations:
Use pork, beef, lamb, chicken or duck
For fun, serve in lettuce cups

Quite awhile back I wrote of my adventures with a quickly multiplying mushroom. We cut back now to one batch every 10 days or so which is much more manageable – we even have a few jars to pass on to our BIL who swears that it helps him power through his bike rides.

I thought I would post a few helpful hints on successfully fermenting your own with a few pic’s on the process…

First – cleanliness is a must. You want to make sure you wash your hands (remove rings) and clean all work surfaces so that you do not contaminate your brew with who knows what.

Of course you will need a kombucha mushroom and a bit of kombucha tea as a starter. If you know of anyone who ferments their own tea you can probably ask them for a ‘baby’ (most will be more than happy to pass one along) or you can order them online.

Equipment you will need:

a 3 quart clear glass bowl

a fine woven towel to cover the bowl (flour sack towels work great)

masking tape and a few rubber bands

Now, make a batch of tea – boil 3 quarts of water. When it comes to a boil, add 1 cup of granulated sugar – plain old sugar. Bring back to a boil and put in 4 tea bags – you can use any unflavored black or green tea. I use 2 spoons each of organic green and black tea in a giant tea ball. Bring back to a boil. Cover the pot and turn off the heat. Let the tea steep for about 20 minutes, remove the tea bags (or tea ball.)

Let the tea cool to room temp. I find this usually takes all day so I make the tea in the morning and do the next part in the evening.

Pour the un-fermented tea into the bowl and lay the mushroom light side up:

Pour about 2 cups of fermented tea on top of the mushroom. This is the starter to make sure things get fermenting along.

Put masking tape on the bowl to keep the towel from dipping in:

Make a big round rubber band by connecting a few together. I use a twist tie to connect them into a big circle:

Using a flour sack towel, cover the bowl and fasten the rubber bands around the rim:

It’s important to use a tightly woven towel (NOT cheese cloth) to keep fruit flies from entering.

Now just set the bowl in a safe out of the way place for 7-12 days to ferment away. With the cool winter weather, it’s been taking about 10 days for our batches to brew to our desired puckeriness. You can scoop out a bit with a clean shot glass for a taste after about 7 days until it has fermented to your tastes.

The mushroom will make a baby with each batch. For the next batch I use the ‘mother’ and either give away the baby or put into the compost. For the starter, I just use some of the newly fermented tea.

Have fun!