Salted Caramel Jam (Non Vegan)

Hello again.  So it's been a while.  I guess I could spend this time catching up (moved to NYC, new job, etc...) but I'll skip ahead and give you the item that has finally broken my silence:

Caramel Jam.

We're not talking Dulce de Leche, we're talking real salted butter + cream + sugar goodness.  Inspired by a French spread a friend shared with me: Pralinella. Think a spread, with the consistency of Nutella, but the flavor of caramel.  Delicious on toast.  Especially with some rich mascarpone cream on a lazy Sunday.  The problem is: you can only get the stuff in Brittany.  Merde!  

So I decided to learn how to make it myself.  

So here it is my "Confiture Caramel au Buerre Salé".  Essentially this non vegan version tweaked from Photisserie.  Vegan version to come, adapted by me.

One thing about the original recipe, the butter used in it is most likely European style butter.  Meaning around 84% fat content (rather than around 80% for American), cultured, and salted (a Demi-Sel is probably ideal).  It can be hard and expensive to find. I like Organic Valley's European style cultured butter .  You can also find a lot of European (and European Style) butters out there like Plugra or Kerrygold which should also work.  Pick up the salted variety.  But whenever possible, cultured is more important as salt can always be added.  If you must use american supermarket butter, up the butter a bit (to about 250 grams instead of 240) to account for the lesser fat content in the American style stuff.

If your sugar seizes, just reheat gently until all the sugar dissolves again.   This is probably caused by adding too much butter which is too cold too fast.

Ingredients:

300g cane sugar

240g European Style Butter (see head notes), cut into small pieces, room temperature -- but not melted.

5g salt

200g heavy cream

1. Spread the sugar evenly in a large, preferably cast iron deep pot placed over medium heat.  Watch carefully watch until it becomes a deep amber color.  Swirling (and maybe occasionally gently stirring with a high heat proof rubber spatula).  If you see wisps of smoke pull the pot from the fire, you've probably overcooked your sugar just a bit.

2. Add the butter slowly and whisk until fully combined (if you've removed from the heat, place it back on the heat now).  Add the salt. Cook an additional two minutes after all the butter is added and well mixed.  

3. Pull the pot from the heat and add the cream. Mix well to combine.  Strain the mixture to remove any remaining undissolved sugar crystals.

4. Let it cool on the counter, stirring occasionally to make sure non of the fat separates out.  When cool, store in a jar in the fridge.  Checking on it in it's first hour or so to make sure again nothing separates.  

5. Once cooled, the caramel jam should have a spreadable consistency like that of Nutella or creamy peanut butter.  Eat on toast.  As far as I can tell the stuff keeps for months, though I doubt it will be around that long to find out.

Matzo Lasagna for Passover

I've always wanted to make matzo lasagna. This isn't so much a recipe as it is a suggestion. I had a carton of Pomi diced tomatoes I needed to use up as they were about to expire and I need some delicious passover food. Fairly easy to throw together.

I decided to swap out the usual ricotta with some mascarpone. Which gave it an almost buttery ness in the final product. cjr described the final result tasting just like Zachery's pizza. Definitely more saucy than cheesy, but that's the way we like it.

If you're using a jarred pasta sauce instead of canned tomatoes, skip the garlic and sugar as they are likely to already be inside your sauce. Then again, you can never have too much garlic!

It makes enough for about 4 people

Ingredients

3 matzo sheets

One 26 oz can of diced tomatoes (750 g) or pasta sauce

4 oz of mozzarella cheese, shredded or sliced thinly.

1/2 cup of mascarpone cheese (or ricotta cheese)

4 cloves of garlic, minced

Handful of basil leaves, roughly chopped

1 tsp sugar

Salt to taste

Crushed red pepper (optional)

1/2 cup of water

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

2. Mix the tomatoes, sugar, salt, crushed red pepper, basil, and garlic

3. Spread a quarter of the tomato mixture in the bottom of a 9inch square baking dish. Place a sheet of matzo on top.

4. On top of the first matzo, place 1/4 cup of the mascarpone in dollops around the matzo. Then sprinkle about a third of the mozzarella on top of that. Then, add another quarter of the tomato mixture.

5. Repeat step four with the next sheet of matzo.

6. Place the last matzo on top, pour over the remaining tomato sauce, and cover with remaining mozzarella cheese. Pour in the water around the edges of the matzo.

7. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 25-30 minutes. Then, uncover the lasagna and place the lasagna under the broiler for about 30 seconds until the top cheese is nice and bubbly.

Perfect Passover Matzo Meal Pancakes

My history with Matzo meal pancakes is well, mixed (pun intended). As a child, my cousins always made us pancakes from a prepackaged mix. They were edible, but never as good as the real deal. I always "chalked" the problem up to the lack of chemical leaveners.

Today, I woke up and decided to take a stab at home made passover pancakes. I found this recipe on epicurious. I didn't have matzo meal, so I ground up two matzos in the food processor very finely and decided to make a few risky swaps. Since eggs are precious in our house as we only buy them at the farmer's market and they are quite expensive I decided to use only one egg in place of 3 - replacing the other two with yogurt (think buttermilk pancakes!). Then I made the swap from using water (I assume to make it parve?) to milk.

By some miracle, it worked! Not only were our pancakes delicious, they may even have better than normal ones... I know what I'll be doing with any leftover matzos I have! Plus, unlike most passover recipes they aren't overly "eggy".

This recipe doesn't make very many pancakes - maybe enough for 1-2 people MAX (2 is already a stretch) so you'll have to scale it up for a crowd. Also, you'll want it to sit for about 10-15 minutes before cooking as the matzo needs to soak the liquid. These minutes are crucial as they should allow you just enough time to cup up whatever toppings you like, do the dishes, and set the table.

Some ways to spruce up the batter in future: adding some orange zest and cardamom or a pinch of cinnamon, and, of course, chopped fruit and chocolate chips!

Ingredients (enough to make about 6 4-inch pancakes)

1/2 cup matzo meal (about 2 matzos worth, ground in the food processor)

1 tbsp sugar

pinch of salt

1 egg

2/5 cup plain or vanilla whole milk yogurt (~1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon)

1/2 cup whole milk

Butter (for pan)

1. Mix the matzo meal, sugar, and salt in a bowl.

2. Beat the egg, yogurt, and milk together.

3. Mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients until combined, try to avoid over mixing. Let stand for about 10-15 minutes. Batter should have the consistency of runny-ish yogurt. If too thick, add a bit more milk.

4. After the batter is rested, heat up a bit of butter in a pan over medium-high heat.

5. When the pan is nice and hot, pour some batter in 3" or so rounds - trying not to over crowd the pan. Now is the time to add toppings such as chocolate chips or fruit sprinkled on top of the batter that you've poured into the pan.

6. When the bottom of the pancakes are nicely browned (don't expect them to bubble up too much to know when to flip!) flip the pancakes and cook the other side until brown. Between rounds of pancakes add a bit more oil to the pan to ensure the next batch doesn't burn.

7. Serve with fresh fruit, maple syrup, and some butter. cjr likes his with nutella.

Panzanella Salad (For Two)

This is one of those "serendipity" recipes where you happen to have all the ingredients at your disposal. I had some leftover Italian bread, olives, mozzarella cheese, and basil. Plus, all the stuff I usually keep handy like cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and shallots.

I know this is horribly "out" of season. But I just couldn't face another bunch of chard or another squash and I'm ready for summer already! Sorry locavore police. I tried to keep it to ingredients that came from no further than Mexico (rather than Chile like everything seems to come from around here...).

This makes just enough for two people to have a small-to-medium "entree" sized portion. It's extremely easy and in the time it takes the bread to crisp you can assemble the remanning ingredients. Shouldn't take more than about 15 minutes from start to finish.

This salad is usually consumed room temperature. Which makes it an ideal candidate for springtime picnics.

To make it vegan, just swap the cheese for some walnuts or pine nuts.

Ingredients
4 thick slices of Italian bread
1 persian cucumber, roughly chopped into chunks
30 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 pepper (I used yellow), cut into chunks
1 shallot, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced finely
15 basil leaves, chiffonaded (cut into thin strips)
1-2 oz (about 1 to 2 inch size cubes) of mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
10 olives, pitted and cut in half
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic or red wine vinegar
Salt, to taste

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Toast the 4 slices of bread until hard. Alternatively, can be done in a toaster.

2. In the meantime, mix the remaining ingredients in a large bowl.

3. When the bread is done, remove from oven and cut into large cubes (0.5-1 inch cubes). Toss with the other ingredients. If you want the bread to soak up more of the dressing you can let it sit longer and eat later, or, if you prefer your bread a bit crispy, serve immediately.

Soba Noodle Salad with Veggies, Tofu, and Ginger-Miso dressing [Vegan]

Big news here at diced tomato! I'm moving back to nyc this fall. In the meantime, I'm frantically trying to use up the stockpile of food in my pantry. Somehow, this means making a lot of Asian-inspired food. Between the bulgogi and the peanut noodles we've gone a bit crazy here.

Today, I threw together this noodle salad. I kind of made up the dressing but it turned out pretty well. I even made some more to use for a stir fry I made later and to put on regular salads.

Ingredients

1/2 lb of dry soba

veggies

1 sweet red pepper, roughly chopped

2 small (persian) cucumbers sliced into rounds, skin on

1 avocado, in 1/2 inch cubes

10 basil leaves, chiffonaded

sesame seeds

tofu

1/2 block (7-8 oz), thinly sliced extra firm tofu

olive oil for the pan

dressing

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp soyaki (or more soy sauce)

1 tbsp (yellow, mild) miso

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp mirin

1 tbsp fresh, grated ginger

2 tsp sesame oil

1 small shallot, thiny sliced

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

1. Prepare the soba noodles as per the package instructions. When done rinse in cold water.

2. Mix the dressing ingredients and combine well.

3. Cook the tofu. Place enough olive oil in a skillet just to coat the bottom and place over medium high heat. Toast the pieces of tofu in the skillet until they are golden brown on each side - about a few minutes on each side.

4. Just before the tofu is done, toss the noodles, pepper, cucumber, and dressing.

5. To serve, place a layer of noodles. Top with a few pieces of avocado, a few pieces of tofu, sprinkle with some basil and some sesame seeds. If desired, sprinkle a little more red pepper flake and cayenne pepper on top for an added kick.

Vegan "Bulgogi"

Ok. So "Bulgogi" in it's direct translation can't actually be vegan since it involves meat. But Tofu in the style of Bulgogi - as it turns out - is completely delicious! For those of you who aren't familiar with it Bulgogi is a korean beef dish of quickly cooked beef that's been marinated in a delicious sweet and spicy sauce.

I saw this recipe on Manifest Vegan and I knew I had to make it ASAP.

I set it up in the AM and just made a portion for lunch and it was fabulous. I didn't have green onions, but it was excellent nonetheless. I also didn't have a pear, so I substituted an apple instead. Plus, I used 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup trader joe's "soyaki" because I didn't have enough straight soy sauce.

Ingredients:

1 block superfirm tofu (I used TJ's high protein extrafirm tofu) sliced into 1/4 inch "steaks"

4 green onions, chopped - use the whole bits

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, sliced

1 tsp freshly grated ginger

2/3 cup soy sauce

4 tbsp sesame oil

6 tbsp sugar

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp red pepper flake

1 tsp cayenne pepper

4 tbsp mirin

2 tbsp rice vinegar

1 medium apple, grated (skin and all - none of the core)

1 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

Olive oil (for pan)

1. In a smallish dish (I used an 8x8 square pan) layer the tofu. Next, sprinkle on top the green onion, onion, garlic, and ginger.

2. In a separate bowl, mix all the remaining ingredients (except the olive oil). Make sure they are well combined.

3. Pour the liquid mixture over the tofu and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to marinate in the fridge for at least 8 hours or overnight.

4. When read to cook, heat some olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Fish out the tofu from the sauce and place a layer of tofu on the bottom of the skillet. Next, add enough sauce and veggies just to cover the tofu and allow to cook for a few minutes until the sauce has thickened and the bottom of the tofu begins to caramelize. Flip the tofu pieces and cook for another minute or so.

5. Serve immediately. I chose to serve it over brown rice which absorbed some of the delicious remaining sauce. I also chose to add an additional sprinkle of red pepper flake, but this is up to you.

Peanut Noodles with Stir-Fry Vegetables [Vegan]

I saw this really delicious looking recipe of whole wheat linguine with winter vegetables. At Trader Joe's yesterday a bag of "stir fry" vegetables caught my eye. It's a cabbage, carrots, celery, bok choy, and some other vegetables (snow peas!). Perfect for this recipe (and already prepped!). Of course, if you can't find the stir fry mix (most supermarkets have something similar in the frozen section) you can always make your own by cutting up some cabbage, bok choy, carrots, snow peas, celery, etc... and making your own. But this is much simpler.

I decided to change a few thing around. Adding some citrus to the peanut sauce and some more spice. It was excellent. Note, this is best eaten on the day it's made and probably best not to eat too much since it can be quite heavy.

Ingredients:

1 16oz bag of "stir fry" vegetables

1/2 bag (8oz dry) of whole wheat spaghetti, cooked (you can keep the pasta water around to thin the sauce)

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons olive oil

For peanut sauce:

1/4 cup peanut butter

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon sesame oil

Juice of one medium size lemon or large lime

Cayenne pepper (to taste)

Salt, to taste

For garnish:

Sesame seeds

Red pepper flake

1. In a large pot or dutch oven add the olive oil and bag of vegetables and cook over medium heat until softened. Add the garlic and saute for a minute or two just until softened. Cut the heat.

2. In the meantime make the peanut sauce. Mix all the ingredients together until smooth. Add some of the pasta water to thin out the sauce until it's thinned and smooth but not too watery. Think runny yogurt consistency.

3. Put the cooked pasta in the vegetable pot and turn the heat back on. Add the peanut sauce and toss to coat. Cook just until everything is heated through.

4. Serve in a wide bowl with a sprinkling of sesame seeds and red pepper flake. Eat immediately.

Apple, Ginger, & Watermelon Radish Slaw [Vegan]

This weekend it was 72 degrees F in the bay area. In early February. I believe we broke the record high. It was gorgeous and sunny and perfect. It rivaled most of the nicest summer days we get around here. Yesterday we spent the day roaming around the waterfront on our bikes and walking around some of the local marinas dog watching, but today we got up early to do laundry and watch the Chelsea vs. Liverpool game (go Liverpool!).

After the match, we went to the Farmer's market as usual and found it was crammed with people and a lot of stuff was gone by the time we got there (no firm tofu!). But I managed to pick up a few more watermelon radishes.

I didn't want to roast anything with the weather being so warm, so I decided to keep it raw by making a slaw with carrots, ginger, apples, and some citrus. It was nice and easy with the grating disc of the food processor (1 bowl dish!). A box grater would've worked, but it would've been much more tedious.

We used this slaw to top an open faced sandwich of pan-seared extra firm tofu "steaks", avocado, and spicy mustard on a baguette.

Ingredients

4 small watermelon radishes, peeled

4 carrots, peeled

2 small apples, peeled and cored

1 inch cube of fresh ginger, peeled

3 tablespoons orange juice

3 tablespoons lime (or lemon juice)

salt to taste

cayenne pepper or minced spicy peppers - such as a jalapeno (optional)

1. Using a grating disc or box grater, grate the radishes, carrots, apples, and ginger. Add the citrus juices and salt (to taste) to the vegetables.

2. If desired, add some cayenne pepper or minced peppers to the slaw to spice it up.