Rhubarb

I never knew I liked rhubarb, but after a first try of simmered sweetened rhubarb last year with Lori, I was hooked!

The basic way to prepare rhubarb is to wash it, and remove any leaf parts. Then cut it down the center, and slice into small pieces. Simmer with about 1 TB water for each stalk, and then add something sweet (1 TB sugar, honey, or agave for each stalk). The simmering part should be over low heat, and will take probably 10-15 minutes (I have a gas stove, electric may be slower).

This creates a sort of compote that you can refrigerate and spread on toast or shortcakes, or incorporate into other desserts. At this point you could add vanilla extract, liquers or whatever else meets your fancy.

There are tons of ways to use rhubarb-- I've even seen rhubarb beverage recipes! Rhubarb Recipes on my "to-try" list:

Lori's Blueberry Rhubarb Crisp Recipe
Stewed Strawberries & Rhubarb over arborio/coconut pudding

Strawberry Whole-Wheat Buttermilk Shortcakes

Yay for strawberry season! Although the Hood strawberries here in Oregon aren't quite ready yet, there are other varieties at the farmer's markets that are almost as delicious, and perfect for strawberry short cake. My recipe below is really just a whole grain version of this recipe, with stuff on top! I think you could really sub in any kind of neutral whole grain flour here, just keep the total volume at 2 C of flour, and leave 1 C of regular all purpose flour to keep the gluten content right.

Stir or sift together:
1/4 C oat bran or wheat bran
1/4 C almond flour
1/2 C whole wheat pastry flour
1 C all purpose flour
3 tea sugar
2 tea baking powder
1/2 tea salt

Now cut 10 TB cold butter (1 stick + 2 TB) into small pieces, then work into the dough with your hands until it is consistently crumbly throughout.

Pour in 2/3 C + 1 TB cold buttermilk, stir to combine.

Bake for 20 minutes in a 375 F oven

Slice biscuits/shortcakes in half like a hamburger bun, then spread jam (strawberry balsamic or rhubarb compote). Put biscuit back together and top with halved/quartered strawberries and whipped cream.

Salmon Saute with Mushrooms & Cream Sauce

I had a similar dish at Jake's restaurant, and thought it was so good I wanted to recreate it at home. Their version had raspberries though.

Cut 2 small fillets of salmon (total about 1 lb) into large bite size chunks (about 1" x 2" x 2") and toss with 1 TB soy sauce & 1 TB mirin. Let sit with the marinade for 5 minutes as you prepare the rest of the meal.

Toast 1/2 C hazelnuts in a dry pan. Turn nuts out and clean pan. Chop hazelnuts roughly.

Add oil to hot pan, swirl. Add 1/2 yellow onion, roughly chopped and stir. When browning, then add 2-3 cloves garlic (minced). Add 1-2 C sliced mushrooms. Let brown in pan (5 minutes).

Push veggies to one side of the pan. Add 1 TB oil and 1 TB all purpose flour and stir for 1-2 minutes over medium high, until well mixed and browned a little.

Deglaze pan by pouring in 1/4- 1/3 C white wine (I buy a $3 bottle of Sauvingon Blanc). Let simmer until most of the wine evaporates.

Pour in 2/3 C whipping cream and stir. Add salmon chunks and liquid into pan, reduce heat to medium low and cover. Let cook 3 minutes, then turn salmon chunks over to other side, mounding mushroom mixture over the salmon. Re-cover pan and swap utensils (or clean your utensil since it touched raw salmon). Let cook another 2-3 minutes, be careful not to overcook! You will know it is done when the middle of the thickest chunk of salmon is slightly clear-red in the middle (it will continue cooking even off heat). immediately remove from heat.

Stir in seasonings:
black pepper
1/2 tea salt or to taste
1/2 tea brown sugar to taste

Serve sprinkled with chopped toasted hazelnuts, with sides of rice and salad.

Double Chocolate Cookies

This is taken off a previous recipe, but without the coffee and a couple other tweaks. The chocolate flavor comes from cocoa powder, instead of melted chocolate like this Ghirardelli recipe that I want to try someday.

Sift together:
1 C all purpose flour
1/2 C whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 C (or 2.25 oz) unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tea baking soda
1/2 tea baking powder

Separately, cream:
1 C softened butter
3/4 C plus 2 TB brown sugar (7.25 oz)
1/2 C plus 1 TB white sugar (4 oz)

Add & stir to combine:
1 egg
1 tea vanilla
1/2 tea salt

Add sifted flour/cocoa to the creamed butter/sugar in two additions and stir until combined.

Add 1 C mini chocolate chips and mix into dough.

Cover and freeze for 30 minutes. If you skip this step, the cookies spread out too much on the pan and get very thin (which is still tasty, just not as pretty).

Bake small sized cookies in 350 F oven for 5-8 minutes. Don't overbake!

Cold Brewed Coffee Concentrate

I have been craving good coffee for a while now, and since I don't work close to any coffee shops I end up going without. A friend mentioned this recipe for cold-brewing a coffee concentrate, so I thought I'd give it a try! The corresponding article on cold brewing coffee for iced drinks is also interesting. This way I won't need to mess with anything in the morning, just pour some concentrate out of the fridge and mix it with milk or rice milk. 

 Combine in a pitcher and stir: 

1/2 lb coarse ground coffee (I like Stumptown's "Hair Bender" blend) 

4.5 C filtered water 

 Cover with lid or plastic wrap and let it sit at room temp for 12 hours. 

Then filter the coffee and keep in the fridge. I found it tasted best when I filtered with a mesh strainer-- using a paper filter seems to get rid of too much and make the coffee taste like drip coffee (eww). 

To use: Mix the coffee concentrate 1 part coffee to 2 parts water/milk and 1 part ice; or 1 part coffee and 3 parts hot water/milk. 

 Update 5/7/2010: this stuff is really delicious. I can scoop out 1 TB of coffee concentrate and add 3 TB of rice milk and I'm all set. I also tried it with hot water and some cream and it was really good that way too. You'd better measure this stuff though since it is VERY strong and I was using way too much coffee just pouring by eye. 

 I really like this recipe/method because:

• it didn't take any special equipment (I don't have a cofffee maker or espresso maker or any of that)
• do-ahead and freezes well- next time I would freeze into individual portions using an ice tray. This will be great to have on hand when coffee-loving relatives or guests come over
• tastes as good as the real thing from the coffee shop- just make sure to use distilled water and good/fresh beans- but way cheaper

Green Sauce (Greek-ish Spinach & Yogurt Sauce)

This was better than tzatziki sauce on falafel sandwiches!

Wilt 3/4 C washed spinach (either a quick dip in boiling water, or 30 seconds in the microwave). Squeeze out excess moisture (but don't burn yourself!).

Combine in food processor until uniform sauce:
wilted spinach
2 cloves garlic
handful parsley
1/4 tea salt
sprinkle of turmeric
1/8 tea pepper
2 tea lemon juice
2/3 C plain yogurt (like Nancy's honey yogurt)

Serve with veggies, falafel, pita or drizzle over steamed or raw veggies as a salad dressing.

Flourless Nut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've been baking my super fast 4 ingredient peanut butter chocolate chip cookies quite a bit now, and starting to experiment. Some day I want to try a half batch with tahini and see how they turn out. These would be a good recipe for gluten free folks as the main ingredients are nuts, eggs and sugar.

Mix together:
1 egg
1 C brown sugar
1 C nut butter (peanut butter, almond butter etc.)
2 TB sesame seeds, or sunflower seeds
1/2 C chocolate chips
1 tea vanilla extract

Bake in small cookie shapes in 350 F oven for 8-12 minutes. They will look undone when you take them out of the oven, but leave them on the cookie sheet to finish cooking outside the oven.

Aileen's Tuscany Biscotti

These are delicious anise seed biscotti my mom's coworker makes. She says it takes 2.5 - 3 hours, but it is totally worth it!

Biscotti are great to dunk in coffee or tea, and are also great for parties or potlucks since you can make them ahead of time and they are super easy to serve.

Mix in bowl of standing mixer:
1 C butter, melted and cooled
1/4 C Franjelico (hazelnut liquer), or use 1 TB almond extract
3 tea vanilla extract
6 eggs
2 C sugar
3 C whole wheat pastry flour
2.5 C all purpose flour
3 tea baking powder

This will look pretty strange if you try to cream the butter and sugar, and then eggs first (a lot of liquids), so just dump it all in and mix.

Now add and mix by hand:
1/4 C anise seeds (or use 3/4 C chocolate chips instead)
2 C coarsely chopped toasted almonds

Divide dough into two parts. Spoon batter on two lightly greased baking sheets, forming logs about 3" by 15" by 1.25" high.

Bake one sheet at a time (refrigerate the other sheet) at 350 F for 35-40 minutes or until lightly brown and totally cooked.

After baking, lift off tray carefully (you can cut in half first to facilitate getting it off the pan).

Slice cookie bars with serrated knife into 1/2" slices on a cutting board. Return slices to tray and toast at 375 F for 10 minutes on EACH side.

Cool and store in airtight container. You can also dip in chocolate and crushed almonds for a fancy effect, but these are quite good all by themselves! You can also make a chocolate hazelnut biscotti and serve the two flavors together.

Tammy's Berry Pie

When I was 9 or 10, I made $18 in a day selling home made pie (of course that was big money to a kid back then). I set signs on the sidewalk, cantilevered up on a ladder, and sat out with a phone and a card table. People really do like pie!

Pie Crust
This recipe makes 2 pie bottoms. I use a crumb crust (see below) for the top. You could use this crust for savory pies like quiche as well.

Mix with a fork:
2.5 C all purpose flour
1 C shortening
1/2 tea salt
1 tea baking powder

Now add 1 egg yolk, 2 TB white vinegar, and 1/2 C ice water (it is important that the water is cold).

Mix well and chill. Roll out pie crust with flour and shape in pie pan. Set aside.

Pie Filling
There are all sorts of pie fillings out there, here's one version for berries. Use either flour or tapioca flour, or even tapioca pearls to thicken the filling. Nobody can tell there is tapioca in the pie once it is cooked.

Carefully combine:
4 C fresh berries (blackberries, raspberries are my favorites)
2/3 to 1 C sugar (depends on how sour the berries are, and your taste)
1/4 C all purpose flour or tapioca flour or tapioca pearls
1 TB lemon juice (optional)
1- 2 tea vanilla extract (optional)

Crumb Crust
This is even good as is, but then again I seemed to have a childhood affinity for straight up flour and sugar mixed together. I use this on top of pie, but you can use it as a cobbler topping. You could even try it over a cooked pudding like creme brulee.

Combine in a small bowl, using your hands to mix the crumbs together.
1/2 C sugar
3/4 C all purpose flour
1/3 C butter

Once crumbly and combined, sprinkle half over each pie.

Combine and Bake the Pie
Pour filling into pie crust. Top with crumb crust topping. Bake for 10 minutes at 450F, then lower temp to 350 F and bake additional 30-40 minutes or until brown. Careful not to burn the crust-- you may need to put a little foil over the edges to prevent burning.

Alternative Fillings
For apple pie, peel and slice apples and place them in the pie crust. Sprinkle cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and 1/4 C sugar over apples. You could also make a caramel sauce to pour over the apples.

Gramma's Spice Cookies

These are kind of like molasses cookies or gingerbread, but better. Gramma makes these each Christmas in cute little star shapes, with a delicate icing on top. I make them with less sugar and butter instead of the shortening, see my new recipe.

Method:

Cream 1/2 C shortening in standing mixer. Add 1 C sugar gradually and mix.

Add 1 egg and 1/4 C molasses and beat until smooth.

In separate bowl, sift together:
2 C flour
2 tea baking powder
3/4 tea salt
1 tea cinnamon
1/2 tea cloves
1/2 tea nutmeg

Stir dry ingredients into wet mixture. Chill dough in refrigerator.

Roll out cookie dough and cut with cookie cuters.

Bake at 375 F for about 10 minutes.

While cookies are baking, make an icing of powdered sugar, water, and food coloring. Ice cooled cookies.