Three Basic Recipes for Everyone

You've heard me rave about Mark Bittman before. I make no bones about the fact that I love him, his food philosophy, and his very simple "anyone can do it and everyone should" approach to cooking.

Well here's another example of why. He recently wrote an article about how few people in the U.S. actually cook, or even know how, and how that is a national problem that needs fixing. If we want healthier Americans, lower healthcare costs, healthier food systems, and a healthier planet overall, we're going to need to teach each other to cook.

He acknowledges the truth that most of us, these days, are not being taught how to cook or even about food by our parents. That idea of passing down recipes and cooking lessons from generation to generation has mostly gone the way of the Dodo bird. Maybe some of us are lucky to get one or two recipes from our parents, but that's about it. It's not like we grow up knowing how to instinctively put together a menu or shop for the right ingredients or throw an impromptu dinner together at the last minute.

So Mark is making an attempt to right that wrong, but giving us three very basic recipes that we all ought to know how to make -- WITHOUT a cookbook. And I agree with him: that once you have a few recipes (be they these or others) that you can confidently cook consistently on your own, you're well on your way to being a home cook. You can extrapolate and make your own recipes and dishes by riffing off what you already know. You will no longer need to order takeout or make a run for the nearest fast-food "restaurant."

As he puts it:

Make these three things and you’re a cook. And with luck and perseverance, these foods will crowd out things like (to single out one egregious example from hundreds of its competitors) KFC’s Chicken Pot Pie, which costs about $5 (so much for the myth of cheap fast food; a terrific meal for four can be put together for $10); contains nearly 700 calories, more than half of which come from fat; and has well over 50 ingredients — most of which cannot be purchased by normal consumers anywhere — including things like “chicken pot pie flavor” and MSG.

By becoming a cook, you can leave processed foods behind, creating more healthful, less expensive and better-tasting food that requires less energy, water and land per calorie and reduces our carbon footprint. Not a bad result for us — or the planet.

So without further ado, here are Bittman's Three:

1. Simple Stir-Fry (and really, the variations on this are truly ENDLESS)

2. Lentils and Rice (or very easily beans and rice; my Black Beans & Rice is ridiculously simple)

3. Chopped Salad (check out Robin's School Garden Salad for the most divine dressing ever)

Thanksgiving In a Pinch

You already know I love the food blog Serious Eats. They are for serious foodies, but they are so not above regular old non-gourmet grocery store food. Sometimes you do just need to go with what's easiest. And when you do, who doesn't want to buy the best-tasting of the many options available?

So I just love that they did this:

In a perfect world, all of your dishes would be homemade next Thursday. You'd toast the bread crumbs yourself, roll out the pie crusts, maybe even churn the butter (ha!). But just in case it's Wednesday night and you're having an I'm-so-screwed moment, or know that'll be you and want to stock up at the market this weekend, here are the winners of all of our taste tests for store-bought Thanksgiving foods: cranberry sauce, stuffing, frozen pumpkin and apple pie, pie crusts, gravy, chicken stock.


Click here to see all the results.

Meatless Mondays

Have you heard about the Meatless Mondays campaign?

I love the idea: their goal is to "help reduce meat consumption [by] 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet."

Why meatless? "Going meatless once a week may reduce your risk of chronic preventable conditions like cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. It can also help reduce your carbon footprint and save precious resources like fresh water and fossil fuel." Hell yes!

Why Monday? "For most Americans the week begins on Monday. On Monday we move from the freedom of the weekend back to the structure of work or school. We set our intentions for the next six days. We plan ahead and evaluate progress. From an early age we internalize this rhythm. And studies suggest we are more likely to maintain behaviors begun on Monday throughout the week. That makes Monday the perfect day to make a change for your health and the health of our planet." Awesome! I love that. Hadn't ever thought about it, but makes lots of sense. And I really love that they are of the it's-all-a-spectrum ilk; ie, if you don't go meatless this Monday, there's always next Monday to give it a whirl.

As any longtime readers of this here blog know, around here at Casa Dena we usually do the inverse: Meatful One-Day-a-Week! But I know that it's hard for lots of folks to give up meat for dinner, especially if you grew up with the framework that dinner simply isn't dinner without meat on the plate. So I totally applaud the attempt to get people to forgo meat one day a week; it's very do-able. And I love that they're getting restaurants in on it. What a way to normalize it, make it seem do-able, and make it easy for folks to take part.

And the newest signer-on? Mario Batali! Yes, he of orange-croc-wearing fame, of Food Network fame, of mouth-wateringly delicious food at restaurants like Babbo fame.

How cool!

And another bonus to a meatless anyday: it's much cheaper! Going without meat is a real recession special, if you ask me. My recent recession special new trick: using dried, bulk beans. It is difficult to remember to soak those bad boys the night before, but when you do, it feels like you've turned $0.37 into a meal for four people!

And if you're interested in good recipes for your next Meatless Monday, I've got lots of vegetarian recipes in my archives. Or you can check out my favorite simple and yummy vegetarian food blog, 101 Cookbooks.

So what about you? How often do you eat or cook meat? If you don't eat it every day of the week, do you do that consciously? How hard would it be for you to not eat meat every Monday?


(Also, can we talk about that little fact that the entire city of San Francisco signed on? That RULES! I'm not exactly clear what that means for dear old SF, but I can imagine it really working out there.)

(And a big hat tip to my dear friend -- and truly delicious home chef -- James for alerting me to Chef Batali's joining the campaign!)

Amen

Oh how I love Mark Bittman.

His recent article/recipe, "A Good Stirfry Hides a Lot of Faults" is right on:

A Good Stir-Fry Hides a Lot of Faults

By MARK BITTMAN

 

A post with two headlines:

1. Another comment on the superiority of winter vegetables.
2. I’m tempted to write a new book.

On the first: I have been away for four days. I returned with a couple of frying peppers. Everything else in the refrigerator is “old” by most freshness standards; it’s either weeks old, really, or it came from California or god knows where else. I had:

• a piece of already-peeled pumpkin (I peeled it last week), from Vermont; when was I there? Early December.
• a jalapeño and a leek, both in the fridge at least a week.
• pressed tofu, which evidently keeps for weeks. (There will be a Minimalist column about this soon.)
• garlic. O.K., no surprise there.
• "Chinese" chives, the broad ones, bought nearly two weeks ago.

And it all seemed fine.

So I put up some quinoa, then began chopping and stir-frying, in this order: the pumpkin, the pepper and jalapeño, the leek, the chives, the tofu, the garlic. (I should’ve saved the chives for last. Oops. We all make mistakes.) What a lunch; the stir-fry was finished before the quinoa.

Which brings us to 2. It seems I have been home two or three days a week for lunch, almost always alone, sometimes with a guest. It seems I have a refrigerator full of various types of tofu (as I said, I’m working on a Minimalist recipe), and it seems all I do is stir-fry. It might be time to devote a year to this and do 365 Ways to Stir-Fry.

On the one hand, this makes no sense: They’re all the same, at least the pattern is. Then again, the same can be said for most braises, soups, sautes, roasts, etc. — all you do is vary ingredients and seasonings. So they’re all different. You don’t need inspiration, just a bit of grounding in technique (mine, obviously, is imperfect, as I burned the chives) and a refrigerator with some vegetables in it.

They need not even be that fresh.

Papi's Aji

So in many northern Latin American countries, there is a condiment that's on every table, restaurant or home, no matter what: aji (pronounced "a-hee"). Sometimes it's spicy, sometimes not. But it is always there in a little container with a spoon in it, and it goes on anything and everything.

My Colombian dad always had a bowl of this on our table, and it never went empty, no matter how much I spooned onto my rice (mmmmm).

I thought of it the other day and HAD to make some. It's super easy and super-delish, and very customizable. It's kinda like salsa....but different. There are no tortilla chips involved, though of course you could do that if you're into that kind of thing. ;-)

Dena's Papi's Aji Bogotano 
(aka Aji, Bogota-style)

• 2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
• 3-4 scallions, chopped
• As much cilantro as you like, chopped
• Some glugs of extra virgin olive oil
• A few tablespoons of red wine vinegar

Combine in a bowl and let sit for at least 30 minutes. You want to make sure there's enough vinegar for the acid in the vinegar to make everything yummy, but not so much that it's overpowering.

Spoon it onto your rice, your beans, your platanos fritos, avocado, chicken, beef.... anything savory. Makes a great meat marinade.

Add diced hot pepper (like jalapeno, minus the seeds) or some Tabasco if you like heat, but it will then cease to be Bogota-style. Which is fine and still yummy!

When I was young, I used to just eat rice with aji on top. Makes a fantastic snack, let me tell you. Makes a great bachelor dinner, too, by the way.

This keeps for a few days in your fridge. Make a batch and try it out!

Hubby doesn't like cilantro (did you know that's genetic? Bizarre. So glad I got the gene that makes it taste delicious) so I left it out on the side. MORE FOR ME!

Buen provecho!

Five Hundred Dollar Friday

Happy Friday the 13th, y'all!

Oroweat (why is there no 'h' in their name? That bugs) is giving away $500 -- all for one easy comment. Pop on over here and leave a comment letting them know how you simplify your life. It might be worth $500!

I entered, and my comment was easy: menu planning makes my life sooooo much simpler.

If you win, let me know!

New Washer?

Okay so technically this doesn't directly have to do with food. However, Mama Needs a New Washer. I am so over leaning on our washer for the last 10 minutes of its cycle to get it to spin and just be done!

And we do use our washer to wash napkins, dishtowels, and other such items with which we cook and eat, so it's kinda apropos to this blog, right? Ha.

Anyway -- go here to enter for a chance to win a $200 Best Buy gift card! By blogging this, I get an extra entry to win. So excuse the self-serving post. ;-)

If I win, we'll be looking at washers....

Summer Camping & Dena's Homefries

I mentioned a while ago that hubby, the dog, and I went car-camping out in the gorgeousness that is the outdoors of Oregon. I'm finally just now getting around to writing about it!

Because our beloved doggy is very old, very weak, and very sick, we decided to try it just for one night to see how he was able to handle it -- he'd never been camping before! He loved it and was a total trooper.

So.... I had to plan meals and food only for a one-nighter, which was nice. We had bought ourselves a brand new big cooler that purports to keep the contents cold for up to 5 days (!!!), so I was able to factor that into my planning.

My main goal with our camping food was to keep it as simple as possible. The food wasn't the focus of the trip, anyway, and, like I learned with the ballpark food, I knew the surrounding environment and peaceful atmosphere would add all the right flavorings to make it taste really darn good. Seriously: why does food taste so much better when you're camping?

So here's what I planned, with simplicity and ease as my two main goals:

• Day of Arrival Lunchtime: Turkey & Swiss Sandwiches with Root Veggie Chips


• Dinner: Whole Wheat Pasta with Jarred Tomato Sauce and Pan-fried Vegetarian Italian Sausage


• Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs and Dena's Famous Homefries (recipe below)


• Day of Departure Lunchtime: Same as yesterday, but just as good!

Some notes: I bought good, crusty bread that I sliced myself for the sandwiches -- not only does this bring the sandwiches up a notch, but you can also have some slices for dinner to go with your pasta, or for breakfast. Potentially you could toast them over your campfire on a stick.

I kept the sandwiches really simple and just brought mustard, onion, and tomato for them -- I forwent the lettuce so as to avoid soggy, wilty lettuce from the cooler. That totally worked for us, but of course do whatever works for you.

I used whole wheat macaroni for our pasta so that it was small and would cook in the small saucepan I wanted to bring. I did NOT want to lug around a giant pasta pot!

And yes, I used -- gasp! -- jarred tomato sauce. I was keeping it super simple, remember? I actually used Trader Joe's Rustico sauce, and it was surprisingly good! It's no homemade sauce, but it far exceeded our expectations. It was actually tasty, and not just camping-food-eating-outdoors-tasty. Two thumbs up from both me and hubby, who is...let's just say he's particular about his pasta sauce and I've never seen a jarred sauce that was up to par for him.

Dena's Homefries

• As many yukon gold potatoes as you'll need. For the two of us, it was about 6. We like a lotta homefries. Yum.


• Half a red onion, chopped into medium-sized pieces


• 2 cloves garlic, minced


• EVOO (that's extra virgin olive oil for you non-Rachael Ray folks)


• Plenty of salt and pepper to taste

Before you leave, par-boil your potatoes so they're halfway done. Cool them down, then pack in the cooler with all your other perishables.

After you wake up in the morning and have stretched and looked out on the river as soon as you step out of your tent, start water boiling for coffee and begin slicing your par-boiled potatoes into thin slices.

Chop your onion and your garlic. Set your cast-iron skillet on the stove or fire to pre-heat. Once it's at about medium-high, drizzle ~ 1.5 tbsp of your EVOO and let it heat til it shimmers. Add your onion and garlic and let it get fragrant. Then add the potatoes and cover. Let them cook for a while, check on them every so often, and stir every so often too, to make sure they're all getting equal time on the skillet bottom. You want them to get a little crispy brownness to them, but not so much that they're burnt.

Keep an eye on them and test them with a fork...you'll know when they're done. Once the potatoes are done, serve them up with plenty of salt and pepper alongside scrambled eggs and bread if you like. Eat by the McKenzie River in the sunshine. Life is good.

Gettin' Ready for Tomato Season

It's 100 degrees here in Eugene today (!) and it is also the time of year when we have to start thinking about tomato season.

All the delicious recipes that are set to the back shelf, that I dream about in the middle of winter, are moved to the front of the queue -- happily and deliciously. I'm one of those people who eat fresh tomatoes only seasonally -- even though you can get "red" tomatoes in the grocery store year-round, there are many reasons not to eat them, including their utter tastelessness and mushy texture.

This great article in the San Francisco Chronicle will help anyone who wants to put tomatoes by for this winter -- something I have long wanted to do and may try to do this summer. Homemade, homegrown tomato sauce in January -- yum! (A great recession special idea, too, by the way.)

And here are some of my favorite recipes for real, honest-to-goodness vine-ripened summer tomatoes:

• Summer Tomato Side Salad
• Mediterranean Melts
• Zoe's Greek Salad

Our tomato plants have just started to tip into the Going-Crazy/Little-Shop-of-Horrors territory. Which means that soon, the many, many green tomatoes hanging on their vines should start to become red, delicious, and little bursts of summer in our mouths!

Can't wait!

Homemade Vanilla Extract

*Plus a bonus recipe for vanilla sugar!

Just say NO to the insanely overpriced stuff you get in the store in the teeny little bottles -- and especially skip the faux vanilla extract that's not even made with real vanilla.

Now you can make your own! I am so going to do this for us to use here at Casa Dena. It's not that we bake a ton, but I hate paying that high price for something that can so easily be made at home, and for less $. I did a little price comparison, and depending on the ingredients you use, we're talking at least a difference of $1.50 an ounce v. $2.40 an ounce!

I also think this would make a fantastic gift -- if you make it now, this could potentially be ready as a lovely holiday gift this year. (Okay now I think I have officially channeled Martha Stewart. And I'm loving it.)

Mike's Homemade Vanilla Extract
Generously and graciously submitted by a friend I like to call my dessert fairy godmother (pun intended), Mike. He's been to pastry school and back, and the man knows sweet things. His dog is even named Sugar!

Start with a good bottle of vodka (750 ml) -- Ketel One, Belvedere, or Grey Goose will do. Best prices are at Costco, Sams, or BevMo.

You need 9 vanilla beans. You can get these at a specialty store as they are cheaper and better quality than what you can buy at the grocery store. FYI decent beans are expensive -- approximately $1.25 to $2 a bean. I like the Bourbon/Madagascar the best.

Cut only the ends off of 3 beans, snip the next 3 beans into 1/2 inch pieces with kitchen scissors, and split the last 3 beans in half. Add all of the vanilla beans to the vodka. (Dena's note: if you're using your own fancy bottle to, say, make this as a gift, put the beans into the fancy bottle first, then pour the vodka into the bottle over the beans.)

Let it sit in a cool, dark place for 6-9 months and you'll have all the vanilla you'll need for a year. The vanilla leaches into the vodka, creating an extract. I start a new bottle when I'm halfway through the old one. (Dena's note: Did I mention he is an amazing pastry chef who bakes up a storm?)

* Bonus recipe: Once you use all of the extract, take the beans out of the bottle and cover them with sugar. This will create a mild vanilla sugar. For stronger sugar, use a fresh bean.

Menu Plan for the Week

Here's what we're eating for the week. Someone asked me recently how I can manage to plan out what we're eating for the week here at Casa Dena, and I had to tell them the truth: I can't imagine not doing it.

Honestly -- how else do you know what to buy when you go to the store? I try to only go to the grocery store once a week, and with my list in hand that is informed by my menu plan, it's the only way I can conceive of doing it.

Plus, I read an article recently on small ways to cut spending and make our households more recession-friendly, and menu planning was one of those tips. You spend less when you plan out ahead of time what you'll be buying. It seems simple and so self-evident, but it really does work.

In fact, my (wonderful) boss, who has a family of four for whom she regularly cooks, told me once that during a meeting in which she and her partner were refinancing their home, she was asked to figure out how much she spends per month on what. And she shocked everyone, including herself, when she did the math and realized she spends (and I am not exxagerating her, folks) $2,000 per month on groceries!!! For a family of four!!! She nearly fell over in her chair, and so did I when she told me. Now, granted: she shops exclusively at Whole Foods. So she's not bargain shopping. BUT the main reason she spends so much is because she goes to the store nearly every day. She plans only as far as that evening. And lo and behold, she spends more. I tried to convince her to plan for the week, but she said she'd never be able to, that she can't know what she's going to want to eat tomorrow. But I wonder if maybe she's changed her habits in this new economy.

Anyway... here's what's cookin' at our house this week (anything in red is local, seasonal, organic, and most likely from our Farmer's Market ):

• Monday: Potsticker Stirfry with Baby Bok Choy (I get a bag of those great frozen potstickers at TJ's, fry them up, then add veggies of all sorts. SO EASY. I like it because it's a combination of a budget dinner and incorporates a local, seasonal vegetable.)
• Tuesday: Potato Latkes & Cabbage Salad (Hubby found some potatoes in our community garden plot as he's been de-weeding it and brought them home to me. I took one look and saw mounds of luscious golden potato pancakes in our future.)
• Wednesday: Kale Rabe & Shiitake Mushroom Rice with Tahini Sauce (the lovely winter greens are starting to flower, and the farmer's market is ripe with florettes of all sorts; they are delicious!)
• Thursday: Brussel Sprout Rabe & Sausage Pasta (see what I mean? It's all over!)
• Friday: Grilled Chicken Skewers & Grilled Asparagus
• Saturday: Date Night

What about you? Do you plan a week ahead or take it day by day? Do you find you save money with a certain method?

And what are you eating this week?

Tonight's Potsticker Stirfry... YUM.