What the Hell is Quinoa?

If you haven't tried quinoa then you are really missing out. It's texture is hard to describe, but it reminds me of rice with the hollowness of a sesame seed and is creamy at the same time. It tastes great on it's own (some olive oil and lemon, yum!), sprinkled on salad, or even for breakfast with some honey and fruit. Quinoa can also be made into a gluten free flour. Additionally, this stuff is really good for you. It contains all 9 essential amino acids, making in a complete protein, and is packed with nutrients and antioxidants. Oh, did I mention it tastes great?

Quinoa has an interesting history. Native to South America, the Incas considered the crop sacred and the emperor would usually sow the first seeds of the season using tools made of gold. The Spanish colonists actually forbade quinoa cultivation for a time due to its status within indigenous (non-Christian) ceremonies and they forced the Incas to grow wheat instead.

Making quinoa is very similar to making rice. Place 1 part quinoa and 2 parts water in a pot, bring it to a boil, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes. Here is my recipe for Mexican-style quinoa which is my favorite way to prepare it.

Ingredients:

• 1 tomato, blanched and peeled/seeds removed
• 1/2 onion
• 1 jalapeno
• 1 bell pepper
• few cloves garlic
• olive oil
• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 cup tomato juice
• 1 cup vegetable/"chicken" stock
• salt and pepper
• 1 avocado

Directions:

1. Dice tomato, onion, jalapeno, bell pepper and garlic. Saute in olive oil until soft.
2. Add quinoa, tomato juice and water or stock. Season broth to taste.
3. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook for about 15 min or until liquid is absorbed.
4. Serve topped with sliced avocado. I also like hot sauce on mine!

Vichyssoise, Oo La La

I love leeks. They have a mild taste of an onion and yet the freshness of a cucumber. My favorite way to use leeks is in vichyssoise soup, which is basically a fancy name for potato and leek soup. This is always a huge hit with my husband too.


Typically, vichyssoise is served cold, but it can also be served warm. In 1917, the name vichyssoise was given by Louis Diat, a chef at the Ritz-Carlton in New York City. According to Diat, he was inspired by his mother and grandmother's potato and leek soup which he would cool down with milk during the summer. He named the soup after Vichy, France, a town near his own home town of Montmarault (Vichy also became the capital of Vichy France during Nazi occupation).  However, serving cold potato and leek soup can be dated back to at least the 18th century in France. King Henry XV loved potato and leek soup and because he was so paranoid about being poisoned, his soup was tasted by several servants before he would eat it. So by the time the soup reached the king, it was cold, and he decided he preferred it that way.

This soup has a ton of flavor and it is amazing how the temperature affects it. The chilled soup tastes fresher and more garden-like, where the hot soup tastes rich and the potato was a little more dominant.

Ingredients:

• 2 shalots, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, diced
• 2 leeks, rinsed well, trimmed, and sliced
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 springs fresh thyme
• 4 yukon gold potatoes (4 large or 6 medium), diced
• 4 cups "chicken" stock
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups unsweetened soy milk

1. In soup pot, saute the shalots, garlic, leeks, and thyme in oil. .
2. Add potatoes and stock (may need to add some water to ensure vegetables are completely covered), and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until potatoes are cooked.
3. Use immersion blender to purée soup.
4. Pour in unsweetened soy milk and season with salt and pepper. If you are serving warm then it is ready to serve. if you are serving cold, chill and you may need to add more soy milk and adjust seasoning before serving.
5. Serve garnished with chopped chives, paprika, or cashew cream.

"Actually Homemade" Tomato Sauce

I’m such a sucker for any reality TV food shows. Does anyone remember "Chef Academy" on Bravo? I particularly liked this show as it takes every day people and a famous (and hot) French chef teaches them to cook like a professional. One student, Carissa, was sent there by her future mother-in-law who insists she needs to know how to cook if she’s to marry her son. But my favorite character is Suzanne. Suzanne appears to be a stereotypical Orange County housewife complete with a fake tan and bleach blonde hair. Everyone thinks she is a joke, but she wins the first competition by cooking her mom’s Swedish pancakes. Maybe the reason I like this show is because it makes me think “Hey, if they can do it, then why not me?”

In one of the episodes, Chef Novelli teaches his students to cook his grandmother’s tomato sauce. My idea of homemade tomato sauce used to start with a jar of sauce and was “homemade” because I added vegetables and ground beef to it. Additionally, being from Italian decent, shouldn’t I know how to make a tomato sauce from, like, actual tomatoes?

Ingredients:

• 6 lbs beef or heirloom tomatoes
• 4 star anise
• 1 vanilla pod
• sea salt and cracked black pepper to season
• dash of sugar
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1-2 bay leaves
• 5 fresh garlic cloves
• handful of fresh basil
• good quality olive oil

Directions:  You can view a video demonstration by Chef Novelli here.

1. Slice the tomatoes in half and place in hot pan. Season with salt, pepper, and touch of sugar. Add anise. Cut vanilla pod in half, scrapping out the seeds, and the add in the whole thing to tomatoes.
2. Allow tomatoes to start cooking and then press them gently with a masher to help them release their juices.
3. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer and continue cooking for 1-2 hours until thickened into a paste.
4. Crack the garlic and chiffonade the basil, and add to tomato sauce. Allow to cook for a few minutes longer.
5. Finish by stirring in some olive oil.  

You can really tell this tomato sauce is fresh. It is really light and a perfect summer tomato sauce (rather than a heavy, meaty, winter sauce). I would have never thought to use anise or vanilla, but the flavors all worked so well together, and I loved the fresh basil that was added at the end.

I served the tomato sauce over fried polenta cakes. To make polenta cakes, start by bringing 6 cups of water to a boil. Quickly stir in 3 cups of polenta, making sure there are no lumps.Place polenta into sheet pan or baking dish and allow to cool in fridge. Once firm, cut into circles, and lightly pan fry in olive oil. Delicious!

Simple, But Delicious, Bread

Baking bread used to be quite overwhelming: weighing ingredients, using yeast, fermenting, resting, so many steps, so complicated… Until I did it. There may be a lot of steps, but it’s really not hard and just takes some patience. Beware though; you may never want to buy bread again after you learn to make your own. I’m going to walk you through all the steps and give you some tips which I learned in my baking class. This recipe is for relatively quick fermenting, basic baguettes and it makes 2 large baguettes or 4 smaller ones.

• 1000 g bread flour: Use bread flour. Bread flour has enough high-quality gluten to make it perfect for yeast breads. Also make sure your flour is unbleached. Freshly milled flour is not good for bread because the gluten is weak and inelastic. It is also yellowish, but becomes white from being oxidized over time. Aging flour is costly so millers may add chemicals to achieve the same results quickly.
• 20 g salt: Use regular table salt.
• 9 g instant dry yeast: Use instant dry yeast and note that it also may be called fast acting or rapid rise dry yeast. It is easy to use – just add it in as a dry ingredient. Fresh yeast is usually preferred by professional bakers, but it is perishable and not easy to find in a supermarket. Don’t use active dry yeast as 25% of the yeast cells are dead due to the harsh drying conditions and this will have a negative effect on the dough quality.
• 600 g water: Keep in mind that the dough should be about 80 degrees and mixing it will add some heat too. If the air is cold, you may want to use warmer water, but if the air is really hot, you should use iced water.

1. Scale the ingredients. Yes, you need to measure them with a scale. Why? There is a huge fluctuation in the quantity of flour in 1 cup depending on how tightly you pack the flour, but weight is very accurate.
2. Mix the ingredients. Using the mixing paddle in a standing mixer, combine the dry ingredients. Slowly add in the water; you may use less or more water than the recipe calls for. Using a little too much water is better than not using enough and you want the dough to be sticky. Mix for a couple of minutes on the lowest speed. Then switch to the dough hook and mix for 10-15 minutes on the second speed. You know the dough is ready when it stretches well without breaking (basically, you have good gluten formation).
3. Ferment. Cover your dough with plastic wrap to prevent the dough from drying out and put in a warm place. Dough ferments best around 80 degrees. If it’s a little cooler, it will take more time to ferment. Professional bakers use a special box that has controlled humidity and temperature, but I used a warm oven at home and it worked great. Ferment for about an hour or until the dough is doubled in size.
4. Folding. Move the dough to a lightly floured surface and flour your hands just enough to make the dough not stick, but don’t use too much. Fold the dough in the same way you fold a letter into thirds to fit into an envelope. Then, turn 90 degrees and do it again. This evens out the dough and pushes out excess air.
5. Portion the dough. Using a dough cutter or a knife (never tear the dough) portion the dough into even pieces. Divide into 2 if you want large loaves or into 4 for smaller loaves.
6. Rounding. Shape the pieces of dough into smooth, round balls. This helps when you shape the dough into loaves later.
7. Benching. Let the dough rest for about 10-20 minutes. This lets the gluten relax.
8. Makeup/Panning. Shape the dough into loaves for baking. Proper way to make a baguette is to start by rolling the dough into a flat oval and then rolling it into a long loaf with rounded ends. Place seam-side down on pan dusted with cornmeal. Lastly, score the bread with a razor blade or sharp knife by slashing the bread diagonally with long strides (see below photo).
9. Proofing. This is also known as a second fermentation and because the temperature of the dough is higher than before, fermentation will be much quicker. Let proof until the dough is doubled in size.
10. Baking. Bake at 475 degrees for 20 minutes with steam. Ideally, a deck oven should be used. You can simulate a deck oven by using a pizza stone or placing bricks on your oven racks (preheated with oven). You can also simulate steaming by spraying the dough with water in the beginning of baking. This cools down the crust allowing for it to expand more before hardening and will result in a thinner yet still crispy crust.
11. Cooling. Let the bread cool as the bread continues to go through physical changes during cooling.
12. Eating! Okay, this step is really called storing, but this kind of bread does not keep well. Never refrigerate bread as it will quickly dry out. It does freeze well though. Putting the bread in a plastic bag will soften the crispy crust, but I find that baking it to crisp it up again works just fine for me. Still, it’s best eaten right away!