A Homemade Valentine's Day

Last year, Alex and I were in Paris for Valentine’s Day, strolling arm in arm through Montmartre as we lunched on crepes and pan au chocolat. This year, having already gone on our annual adventure (to the Caribbean!), we knew it would be low-key. However, despite my plans to do nothing, Alex insisted we make each other a gourmet meal, and that was hard to turn down. In a nice role reversal (that turned into some baking catastrophes for me), Alex took on dinner and I took on dessert.

Craving something spicy, romantic, and succulent, we selected a puttanesca sauce based on a Jamie Oliver recipe, ripe with crushed red chilies, fresh olives, and tart capers. We simply made both normal and gluten-free pasta so we could both enjoy the main dish (and doubled the recipe for plenty of leftovers--note the reused mason jar of deliciousness below).

Puttanesca Sauce (minus the anchovies)
EVOO to coat the pan
2 cloves of garlic
2 handfuls black and/or kalamata olives, pitted and halved
½ a jar of capers, drained
2 dried chili peppers, crushed
½ tsp. dried oregano
1 (28 oz.) can of diced tomatoes
Salt and pepper, to taste
Large handful of fresh basil leaves, torn
Drizzle of EVOO to top off each portion

Heat the EVOO in a large saucepan, then saute the garlic through oregano for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and toss in the basil, stir and drizzle with olive oil. The salty, sexy olives just burst in your mouth, and the spicy tomato base makes this a delicious romantic meal. The handfuls of freshly torn basil leaves tossed in at the end bring a light finishing flavor to the rich sauce (which we quickly cleaned from our plates). A simple spinach and goat cheese salad balanced our meal and prepped us for the richness of dessert.

In keeping with the rustic Italian theme, I found a recipe from the Ottolenghi cookbook(in Gourmet Magazine) for an orange polenta cake that uses almonds and polenta as the main flours. With a minor substitution of ½ GF flour for all-purpose wheat flour, I easily adapted it to be gluten free and just as delicious. The rustic quality of the flours and polenta combined with the heady flavors of orange and almond make it a perfect mid-winter treat.

The cake is layered with first a rich caramel, then juicy slices of navel oranges, then the batter (it comes out like an upside-down cake). Once it is cooked and inverted, you drizzle a marmalade glaze over the top which seeps in, infusing every bite with a moist orange flavor. To top it off, Alex made fresh whipped cream with orange extract, and we served a bit of glaze on the plates. It was phenomenal, if a bit of a sugar overload. This morning, we had slices for breakfast, and it was a perfect scone-like delicacy. Definitely a make-again, especially for brunch or an elegant tea time (which I've never had, but which I'm sure some people put on).

Orange Polenta Cake
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9” cake pan and line it with parchment paper.

For the caramel layer, simmer together in a small saucepan:
½ cup superfine sugar (process granulated sugar for a minute or so)
2 Tbsp. water
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut to bits
2 oranges, zest reserved for cake batter, sliced horizontally (peel and pith cut off)

Simmer the sugar and water together over med-hi heat, swirling and washing down any sugar crystals that form on the sides with a pastry brush dipped in water. It will take a few minutes before the sugar dissolves and the mixture colors amber, but watch it carefully (my first batch burned and I had to start all over, what a waste!) When the mixture turns to caramel, remove from the heat and add the butter and swirl to combine.

Quickly and carefully pour into the prepared pan and tilt to coat the bottom. Spread orange slices in concentric circles across the caramel layer. This will be the top of the cake, so arrange them carefully for a nice design.

For the cake:
1 ¾ sticks butter, softened
1 cup superfine sugar
3 eggs
zest of both oranges
1 tsp. orange extract (or 2 tsp. orange flower water)
½ cup all purpose (GF) flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt.
2 cups of ground almonds (I put raw almonds in the food processor so they were still a bit coarse, which worked well with the texture of the polenta)
2/3 cup quick-cooking polenta

Cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, until well mixed. Add the orange zest and the orange extract. Whisk together in a dry bowl the flour, baking powder, and salt. At a low speed, add the dry ingredients into the butter/sugar mixture. Blend in the ground almonds and the polenta to just combine.

Spread batter evenly over the orange slices in the cake pan and bake until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean and the top is golden, 1- 1¼ hours. Let cool 5 minutes and then invert onto a cake plate. Serve warm or at room temperature.

For the glaze, melt in a small saucepan:
¼ cup orange marmalade
2 Tbsp. water.
Drizzle a bit over the top and sides of the cake. It’s pretty sweet, so go easy if you don’t want a very sugary dessert. You could also cut back on the sugar in the cake, if needed. A tart marmalade would work really well too.

For the orange whipped cream, mix on hi:
Whipping cream, powdered sugar, and orange extract, to taste.

It was a perfect, if gluttonous Valentine's Day, enhanced by the joy of selecting and preparing our meal together, and savoring each bite without the hectic or hurried atmosphere of a NYC restaurant. Although I believe it's silly for Americans to focus on only one day each year to be romantic, I did enjoy our celebration and look forward to many other weekend nights where we can take time out to share our joys (and food).

(Beneath the Arc du Triomphe 2/14/08)

Making the most of tofu

I get stir crazy in the winter. November and December are okay because I can focus on holiday decorating and feasting, but January is just cold. This year, we went to Cinnamon Bay, returning just in time for February, my favorite month. It's bookended with Alex's and my birthdays, nestling Valentine's Day in the middle. But that said, sometimes I have to spice up the cold, seemingly endless winter days to make it to February, and then to see myself through to the first crocuses in March.

So I made ground "beef" tacos.

Which I turned into scrambled tofu two days later.

And led to the perfect holed-up-in-the-cold game, Scrabble. Check out my hand!

Ground "Beef" Tacos with Guacamole

1 block of medium-firm tofu, drained

3 gloves garlic, as you like it, minced

Tsp or so of each: cumin (for a meaty flavor), turmeric (for the color), curry powder (for spice), cayenne pepper (for fire), and hot sauce or red pepper flakes (if it ain't hot enough)

Soy sauce or Bragg's liquid amino acids

1. Heat a large skillet on med-hi and add the tofu (no oil needed, I found). Spritz the tofu with the Bragg's or soy sauce and mash it with a potato masher. This gives it the crumbled texture of ground meat and works much faster than a fork.

2. Add the spices and garlic, to your taste, and just mash them all together until you like the flavors. More soy sauce may be needed to moisten the tofu and deepen the color.

3. Pile onto a hard corn tortilla with salsa, cheese, and homemade guacamole.

Never-fail Guacamole

The amounts of each ingredient may vary, depending on the size and flavor of your avocado, but these are my approximate ratios. I am a guac purist, so I only add these four ingredients, although you can try adding onions, cilantro, salsa, smoked paprika, etc for a different effect.

1 Haas avocado, ripened (indents when you press the skin)

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 a fresh lime, juiced over the avocado

Salt to taste

I just halve the avocado and score it so it's already broken up when I scoop it into the mixing bowl. Then I add the lime to keep it from turning brown (the acidity blocks the oxidization), and then toss in the garlic. After mixing this up, taste to see if you need more lime juice or garlic, and then add the salt. Every drop of this that I have ever made was consumed within one sitting, hence the name.

Scrambled Tofu

To convert my ground "beef" leftovers for a brunch-ready meal, I just tweaked a few things and got rave reviews from the coffee table.

Mashed, seasoned tofu (see above)

1 yellow onion, diced

Leftover roasted potatoes (I just sliced them up for rustic homefries)

Turmeric

Saute onions in EVOO. Add the potatoes and tofu. Season as desired and serve piping hot.

Happy February!

Nori rolls

As a child, I generally avoided dirtying my hands in the kitchen, preferring instead to eat everything that came out of it. I got away with this for years because my mom is such an amazing and willing chef, happy to chop and saute and knead for hours when she has an appreciative audience. It wasn't until my senior year of high school, in anticipation of moving away for college, when I realized that I needed to learn to cook for myself.

One of the few things I would try my hand at and loved making with my mom were nori rolls, the all-veggie sushi roll. I would stand on my toes to see what my mom would pull from her paper bags of groceries, and when the package of nori sheets emerged, I would immediately make myself a snack: toasted nori sheets (passed over the gas flame) dipped in tamari. We would also make incredible nori rolls, with seriously sour and salty umeboshi plum paste (that I could eat by the spoonful), spread on the edges to seal in the sticky rice filling. We would slice the finished rolls on the cutting board and marvel at how perfectly formed the little swirls were, like watching a Fimo bead take shape from a lumpy roll of clay. I would devour each piece, standing over the counter top with a small dish of tamari and my favorite floral chopsticks until I cleaned the final grain of fallen rice from the dish.

Last night, I decided to try my hand at the delicacy and they were a huge success! Alex has only recently tried and enjoyed sushi, so his approval means the world. I made a variety of combinations from our five fillers, but you can use whatever you choose. Our local sushi restaurant makes peanut-avocado rolls, so I attempted a couple of those. I also made mushroom-carrot-avocado, my favorite, and an "everything," as well as simple cuke and avocado rolls. Play with your favorite fillings, get creative. Other options include green beans, soy beans, and bell peppers. When it's all done, as long as your ingredients are good, you can make a mess of the roll and still enjoy every last bite.

Sushi rice
Yields about 4 cups cooked rice
2 cups white sushi rice, rinsed until water is clear (this is necessary to clean off the starches so it will be the right consistency when cooked)
2 1/2 cups water

3 T rice vinegar
1 T sugar
1/2 tsp. toasted sesame oil
1/2 tsp tamari (the wheat-free soy sauce)

1. Cook water and rinsed rice over high heat. Once boiling, reduce to the lowest setting and cover for 20 minutes or until all water is absorbed, stirring several times to prevent sticking to the pot.

2. When rice is done (taste for cooked but chewy texture), remove from heat and let sit, covered, 10 minutes. This helps keep it moist.

3. Turn rice into large bowl and combine with vinegar-sugar mixture. Cut in sauce, as with pastry dough, until rice is thoroughly coated.

4. Spread rice across sides and bottom of bowl to cool. Cover with a damp cloth to keep it wet until you're ready to use it for the sushi.














Momma's Nori Rolls
Makes 8 rolls, with some leftover veggies

4 cups cooked sushi rice, seasoned as above

8 sheets nori, toasted VERY briefly over a low flame (just pass it over quickly until it turns bright green but before it starts smoking)

Filling of your choice:
5 shitaki mushrooms, reconstituted with boiling water for 20 minutes (reserve the liquid)
2 carrots, peeled and sliced into matchsticks, blanched briefly over boiling water
1 cucumber, peeled and sliced into matchsticks
1 avocado, sliced thinly lengthwise
1/2 cup roasted unsalted peanuts

Bowl of water to moisten the edge of the nori.

1. Using the back of a wooden spoon, spread about 1/2 cup of the rice on a sheet of nori (rough side face up). Press the rice onto the sheet, creating a thin coating up to the last inch of nori, being careful not to tear the wrapper. (Keep the damp cloth over the remaining rice to prevent drying.)

2. Line up your chosen filling along the bottom edge of the nori (on the rice end), placing just a few pieces of carrots, cucumber, or mushrooms stacked onto each other. You don't want to add too much or you will burst your nori.

3. Starting at the edge with the filling, wrap the nori over and roll tightly up to the non-rice end. Moisten the dry part with water and complete the roll, resting it seam-side-down on the counter. Slice at 3/4" intervals or so, to your desired thickness, and dunk in sauce (below).

Dipping Sauce
Makes enough for 2 rolls, if you cook it down
This sauce has a pleasantly sweet, woodsy flavor, thanks to the shitaki "juice" which is made from soaking the dried mushrooms in hot water for 30 minutes prior to use.

Simmer, covered, for 10 minutes:
1 cup shitaki soaking water
1 Tbsp tamari
dash of toasted sesame oil

Cook down to 1/3 cup, remove from heat and pour into small dipping bowls. Toss in some sliced scallions and go to town on the sushi.

Presto! Pesto

Presto! Pesto
Combine in a food processor, being sure to add enough EVOO to moisten the mixture:

4 cups basil leaves, washed
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (or pinenuts, if you can splurge)
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cloves garlic
Juice of half lemon

This is all to taste, find a balance of tart and garlicky that works for you.

Easy tomato sauce

This is our go-to sauce when we want to throw together a pizza, pasta dish, or even a hoagie for supper. I really love the simplicity of the flavors here, and you can modify to suit your taste, but i find that the bit of sugar is necessary to counter the canned flavor (so it isn't usually necessary when working with fresh tomatoes).

1 Tbsp. EVOO
1 Yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 28 oz. can Muir Glen organic diced plum tomatoes
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 handful fresh basil leaves, washed
dash salt and pepper to taste

1. Sautee the onion in the olive oil
2. Add the garlic and tomatoes, bring to a simmer.
3. Add the oregano, sugar, salt and pepper, stir to combine, 5 minutes.
4. Add the basil and more salt and pepper as needed.

You can also add red pepper flakes, bay leaves, fresh rosemary, mushrooms, or peppers to the sautee to bring out other flavors.