Kat on Thyme

SuperFood Pumpkin Muffins

I don’t know if it will change our lives, but it certainly couldn’t hurt. The couple for whom I cook decided to take on some of the nutritional advise of Dr. Steven Pratt and Kathy Matthews, authors of SuperFoods Rx, 14 foods that will change your life. So they passed along the book so I could check it out. Right on the back cover is a list of the 14 foods, all but one of which I use regularly. (Walnuts are out because of a nut intolerance.) Right away, I found the book appealing, since the recommended foods are ones that are easy to incorporate into my menu planning. I was glad they hadn’t decided on a raw food diet, or to become vegan, or to do weekly cleansing fasts that would put me out of a job! No, the request was easy, since I am already using the SuperFoods without knowing how super they are. So before I go any further, I should list the 14 foods…

• Beans
• Blueberries
• Broccoli
• Oats
• Oranges
• Pumpkin
• Salmon (wild Pacific)
• Soy
• Spinach
• Tea
• Tomatoes
• Turkey
• Walnuts

No wild Amazon fruits, endangered species, or things that must be foraged-  the list is pretty darned straight forward, containing nothing that an average grocer wouldn’t carry. Now I must admit, I haven’t read the whole book yet, but I do think Dr. Pratt is on to something. He uses all of the food science and technology available at this point, to analyze foods from a macro and micronutrient level, concentrating on the beneficial properties of each of the 14 foods and their “sidekicks” (foods that have similar nutritional values). The book also contains recipes that look appetizing, but I haven’t tried any of them yet. I have, however, worked SuperFood ingredients into some of the recipes I’ve been working on.

Pumpkin Muffins are a family favorite (Baby W asks for them by name, Muh Muh Muh!) so I thought I’d start with developing a pumpkin muffin recipe that incorporates many of the SuperFoods. I get annoyed with pumpkin recipes that don’t use the whole can of pumpkin, so I scaled my recipe to use the entire can. It makes almost 2 dozen muffins but if that is too many, you can freeze some. I suppose you could freeze canned pumpkin as well, but frozen muffins are more likely to get eaten than frozen pumpkin. The only part of the recipe that I don’t feel is super healthy is the 1 cup of brown sugar. I like the texture and taste of these with the sugar but you could cut it back some or use part honey. The recipe does make a lot of muffins, though, so 1 cup of sugar isn’t terrible, nutrition wise. And look at me, I eat brownies for breakfast so who am I to pass nutritional judgements! They taste good.

SuperFood Pumpkin Muffins

1 ¾ cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 ½ cups oat bran
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 can of pumpkin
¼ cup canola oil
1 cup milk or soy milk
1 cup toasted walnuts (optional)
1 ½ cups dried blueberries or cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 muffin tins with paper liners or spray with non-stick spray.
Combine the dry ingredients (pastry flour through salt) in a large bowl and whisk to combine. In a medium bowl, mix the sugar though the milk and whisk to blend. Stir in the walnuts and blueberries. Now fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir gently and only mix until the two mixtures are incorporated. Scoop the batter into the prepared pans (I use an old fashioned ice cream scoop) filling them about 2/3 of the way full. You should have between 22 and 24. Bake for about 16 to 18 minutes or until the tops spring back when touched. You may need to rotate the pans top to bottom and back to front as they bake. Cool on a wire rack.

You could also use frozen blueberries or fresh blueberries. If using fresh or frozen, fold them in after combining the wet and dry ingredients, being careful not to break the berries. They will take longer to cook if you use frozen berries. I like the dried berries because they are less messy to eat, and Muh Muh Muh is a messy eater. Once the neighbor’s berries come in, though, I’ll start using fresh blueberries.

Makes about 2 dozen muffins. They freeze well.

Dinner Pancakes

Pancakes for dinner! What could be a better follow-up to brownies for breakfast?

I’ll have to admit, I’m in a side dish rut. And I’m a true appreciator of side dishes. For me, the measure of a great restaurant meal is often what comes along side the protein, rather than the protein itself. I like vegetable sides to be fresh, seasonal, and minimally prepared, but I have no opposition to finessing the carbs. And upon perusal of my rather large cookbook collection, I came across a book on pancakes that has some great savory recipes. (Pancakes: From Morning to Midnight by Dorie Greenspan) And so it went that I decided to make pancakes for dinner.

There is nothing particularly revolutionary about the pancake for dinner- think potato pancakes, applesauce, and roasted meat. Very traditional, and always delicious. I was thinking of barbecuing salmon for dinner so I thought about the natural flavor pairings of dill and sour cream. And voila, a recipe for a sour cream pancake with dill. I make a few changes on the recipe, adding lemon zest to compliment the fish, and whole wheat pastry flour to improve the nutritional value. My original plan was to slow roast the salmon on the grill, on a cedar plank, but was foiled in that attempt by bad weather and amazingly expensive salmon. You’d think the Copper River flowed gold. So for about 1/10th of the price, the fish guy at Whole Foods recommended the sand dabs. A bargain at $3.99 since there is almost no waste and the fish are lovely and mild. But that’s another story! Back to the pancakes…

These pancakes are great as a dinner side but would also make a fabulous brunch, especially if served with lox, sliced tomatoes, red onions… you get the picture. They also can be made very small and used as appetizers with a dabble of sour cream, a slice of smoked salmon and a sprig of dill.

Sour Cream Pancakes with Dill and Lemon

½ cup flour
½ cup whole wheat pastry flour (or another ½ cup all-purpose)
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
¾ cup milk (plus a tad more if batter is too thick)
½ cup sour cream
1 large egg
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 shallot, minced
Grated zest of ½ lemon (more if you’d like)
¼ cup dill, chopped

In a medium bowl whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and pepper. In another bowl, whisk the milk, sour cream, egg, and butter. Add the shallot, lemon zest, and dill.
Preheat your griddle to 350 to 400 degrees.
Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula until just combined. Don’t worry if it’s lumpy. If it’s too thick to drop nicely onto the griddle, add a touch more milk.
Spray the griddle with non-stick spray and spoon ¼ cup batter onto the griddle for each pancake. Smooth the batter into nice rounds. With the bottoms are golden brown, flip the cakes and cook the other side until they are light brown as well.

Makes about 12 medium sized cakes, enough for 3 people, generously.

The Wisdom of Pearls

It’s a texture thing. You either love it or you hate it. I haven’t met too many people who are indifferent to tapioca. I find the texture appealing, the swirl of tiny little jellied pearls over my tongue. To those who find tapioca less alluring, the mouth feel resembles something more akin to tiny fish eyes or the salmon eggs that are pressed into little jars and dyed pink for bait. Even though eating tapioca pudding is largely a tactile experience, there’s no reason it can’t be a delicious one too.

I’ve been experimenting with all sorts of flavor combos for sweet tapioca puddings. It’s such a fun food to play with since there are so many possibilities for varying the taste. Tapioca pudding, in its simplest form, has few ingredients. Tapioca pearls, which are tasteless, provide the texture and thickening agent for the pudding. Sugar, of course, provides the sweetness. You can vary the sugar flavor by using dark or light brown sugars, or any of the fancy new sugars on the baking aisle. Eggs, another essential ingredient, provide thickening power, nutrition, and if you separate the whites and whip them separately, they provide an airy texture as well. Milk and water make up the liquid portion of the pudding and they set up into a custard sort of consistency. I have varied the milk to make lactose-free versions by using soy milk or a combination of light coconut milk and soy milk. And then the flavoring agents provide the greatest room for creativity as far as creating interesting new puddings. Traditional flavorings include vanilla, lemon zest, cinnamon, and nutmeg. But the possibilities are endless! You can make herbal infusions (mint, lemon verbena, anise hyssop) in the milk, or use aromatics like ginger or lemongrass. Any dried fruits are great additions, like raisins, cranberries, blueberries, or cherries. Splashes of liquors are fun- Frangelico, Limoncello, spiced rum or bourbon. Citrus zest of any color adds zing. Toasted nuts or coconut add another layer of texture and flavor. Unsweetened cocoa powder can be stirred into the tapioca as it cooks for chocolate tapioca pudding. Tea could be used instead of water- a jasmine green tea and ginger pudding would be lovely! Fruits can be added either raw, like strawberries, or cooked, like sautéed apples. And you can layer tapioca with fruit purees to make beautiful parfaits. With the resurgence of comfort foods to the American culinary scene, I’m surprised tapioca pudding isn’t on more restaurant menus. Perhaps it’s a hard sell, but I doubt you’ll be disappointed with this recipe. I’ve made tapioca lovers out of many suspicious souls.

I use Bob’s Red Mill brand of small tapioca pearls. It comes in 24 ounce bags. The recipe on the back is great! This is that recipe with a few minor changes…

Old Fashioned Tapioca Pudding
1/3 cup small pearl tapioca
¾ cup water
2 ¼ cups milk, or soy milk
¼ teaspoon salt
2 eggs, separated
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
Zest of one lemon or orange

Soak tapioca in water for 30 minutes in a medium saucepan. Add milk, salt, and egg yolks and whisk to blend. Over medium heat, continue to stir the mixture until it comes to a boil. Turn the heat all the way down and cook for 10 to 15 minutes or until tapioca softens. Meanwhile, beat the egg whites until they are foamy, add the sugar gradually and beat until soft peaks form. Fold in about ¾ cup of the hot tapioca mixture to the egg whites to temper them and then fold the egg whites back into the tapioca in the saucepan. Whisk over medium heat for 3 minutes. Cool for about 10 minutes and then add the vanilla and citrus zest. Serve warm or chilled.

See above for some variations. Makes 3 1/2 cups.

Sweet Polenta Birthday Cake

Called Polenta Dolce in Italian, it seemed the perfect birthday cake for Kendall, who will be spending her junior year abroad in Florence this year. Not an overly sweet cake, Polenta Dolce can be dressed up in countless ways depending on the season. I’ve made it in the fall, accompanied by pear and apple compotes, in the winter, filled with marmalade and cream,  and in the summer with fresh peaches or blueberries macerated in Prosecco. May brings the beginning of strawberry season, so I chose fresh berries to adorn Kendall’s simple cake.

The cake itself is quick to make but does require separating eggs. I’ve found the easiest method for this is simply cracking the egg into a small bowl and then scooping the yolk out with my fingers. I use three bowls, one for the egg yolks, one for the whites, and one for the separating. That way if I bungle one egg, I’ve only ruined that one, not the whole batch of whites. Eggs separate most easily when they are cold, but they whip up best at room temperature. So to accommodate this quirky egg characteristic, I separate the eggs first and then preheat the oven, prepare my pan, and then gather and measure the other ingredients.

The only other even slightly tricky part of the recipe is making sure the bowl and beater are completely clean after beating the egg yolks. If there is any residual fat from the yolks left in the bowl, or traces of yolks in the whites, the egg whites will not beat up properly. So I use soap and hot water on the bowl, the beater, and the mixer itself. Then I dry everything completely before going on to whipping the whites.

Happy Birthday, Kendall! Oh, to be 20 and spending a year in Italia…

Polenta Dolce

¾ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup polenta or stone ground yellow cornmeal
4 large eggs
¾ cup sugar
Grated zest of one orange
Grated zest of one lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Sugar for dusting the pan

Separate the eggs and place the yolks in the bowl of a standing mixer. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Make a parchment circle the size of the bottom of an 8-inch cake pan. (Just draw around it and cut.) Spray the pan with non-stick spray and line with the parchment. Lightly spray the parchment. Dust the pan with sugar and shake out.

Stir together the flour and cornmeal in a small bowl and set aside. In the mixer, beat the egg yolks with the whip attachment on low speed. Gradually add 1 /2 cup of the sugar and increase the speed to high. Beat until the yolks are thick and light yellow, about 3 minutes. Add the zests and vanilla. Transfer to a large bowl.

In a clean mixing bowl, beat the egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Gradually add the last ¼ cup of sugar, beating until the whites are stiff and glossy. Fold the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Fold in the flour mixture. Transfer the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes or until the center is puffed and springs back when you touch it. Place on a cooling rack to cool. After about 10 minutes, unmold the cake onto a plate, peel off the parchment and then turn the cake back right side up on the cooling rack. Let cool completely.

With a long serrated knife, cut the cake horizontally and set the bottom of the cake on a serving platter. Spread with the filling and replace the top layer. Dust with powdered sugar and garnish with fresh fruit.

The filling:
About 1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
Honey to taste

Mix the ricotta with honey to taste and use it as a filling in the center of the cake.

The topping
1 to 2 pint baskets of strawberries, sliced
Sugar to taste
A splash of lemon juice

Slice the berries and toss with sugar to coat. Let them sit at room temperature to macerate. The berries should make a light syrup. Use this to top the finished cake.

Serves 8.

The Oatmeal Union-Tribune

With 10 hours between us, Nick and I are on almost opposite schedules. The sun’s going down as he’s floating with the Marine Corps on a Navy ship somewhere in the Persian Gulf, while I’m eating oatmeal for breakfast here in Seattle. The highlight of my morning is reading the email from Nick which was written while I slept. He calls it the Oatmeal Union-Tribune.

I’ve been buying organic instant oatmeal in the paper envelopes and then embellishing it with all sorts of goodies, like dried fruit, nuts, and maple syrup. Getting low on my stash (which had come from Costco, believe it or not), I asked Gretchen to pick up another box on one of her many Costco runs. She didn’t find the envelopes but did find organic instant oats in little paper cups, with a foldable spoon tucked neatly inside. My roommate, who travels a ton, thought this a great alternative to airplane breakfasts, but for me at home, it seems wasteful and extremely expensive at $1.00 per serving. It’s still oatmeal, for gosh sake, which runs around 89 cents a pound at Whole Foods, for the organic stuff! So I decided to make my own oatmeal blend and to leave Costco out of the mix.

Organic instant oatmeal proved elusive. I did find a 16 ounce carton of instant oatmeal at Larry’s for under three dollars, (Old Wessex brand) but I’m still on the lookout for organic. So with the addition of some dried fruit, nuts, and flax seed meal from Trader Joes, and some soy protein powder from the bulk section of Whole Foods, I came up with my own blend o’ breakfast cereal, that’s pretty darned delicious, and very healthful.

I drizzle this with a bit of organic grade B maple syrup after steeping the oats in the boiling water.

Union-Tribune Oatmeal

16 ounces instant oatmeal
3 ounces dried cranberries
6 ounces raisins
¼ pound toasted chopped nuts (I used pecans and sliced almonds)
½ cup flax seed meal
½ cup soy protein powder
1 teaspoon salt

Mix everything together and store it in a sealed container. If you’re not going to use it right away, freezing a portion is probably a good idea.

Recipe for One Serving:

½ cup oatmeal mixture
¾ cup boiling water

Stir together in a bowl and cover with a small plate for a few minutes for the oatmeal to get soft. Drizzle with maple syrup and enjoy!

Other good ideas for additions:

Dried apples and cinnamon
Toasted coconut
Other dried fruits like mango, currants, dates, plums, blueberries, cherries, etc.
Pepitas (toasted pumpkin seeds)

Paninipalooza

You could call a panini a sandwich, but that would be like calling a Ferrari a car, or Da Vinci a painter. If the Italians are going to make something, it’s damn sure going to be stylish. That’s what Italians do best. And they’ve got a corner on the market for good taste as well. And so their sandwich, the glorious panini, with it’s grill marks and melty cheese, is the Puccini of the sandwich world. What’s not to like about a panini?

A few months ago the people for whom I cook bought a Cuisinart panini press. They looked at lots of different models but were sold on the Cuisinart Griddler because of two key features- the plates come off and go in the dishwasher (hurray!) and it comes with smooth plates as well. The press can be opened out flat for making pancakes on the smooth plates or doing one sided grilling on the lined plates. Yes, it was a tad expensive at $129.95, but it serves multiple purposes, all very well. And it’s cheaper than a Ferrari.

So after driving their panini press for couple of months, I had to get one myself. I didn’t even bother to test drive any other models- I was happy with the Griddler. So after a few weeks of practice paninis, I was off to the racetrack for some speed trials. Last night my ultimate Frisbee team came for Paninipalooza. They all brought ingredients and I made a couple of huge green salads and a few dozen panini. I cut them in half when they came off the press and we had all combinations of fancy sandwiches.

Some of the goodies we used…

• All sorts of gourmet spreads (Trader Joe’s has a delicious and well priced selection)- pesto, sun dried tomato pesto, tapenade, grilled vegetable spread, wasabi spread, artichoke antipasto,
• Cheeses- gruyere, havarti, pepper jack, mozzarella, aged cheddar
• Lunch meats- smoked turkey, ham, Calabrese salami, roast beef
• Fresh stuff- arugula, tomatoes, spinach, red onions, grilled portabella mushrooms, roasted red peppers
• Assorted breads- green olive focaccia, Romano cheese bread, spelt bread, whole grain

And this is how it went...

Panini Party Panini

Panini ingredients of your choice
Olive oil spray or olive oil in a bowl with a pastry brush

Preheat the press on high for about 6 minutes while you assemble a couple of sandwiches. Putting small amounts of cheese on both sides of the sandwich will help it all stay together when the cheese melts. When the green light comes on, you’re ready for action. Spray the top side of the bread with the olive oil spray or brush it with olive oil. Place the oiled side down on the press. Spray or brush the top side with oil and close the press adjusting the angle of the top press to suit the thickness of your panini. In about 5 minutes, check the sandwiches. They should be crispy with light brown lines on top. The cheese should be melty. Use a heat-proof plastic spatula to remove the sandwich to a cutting board. Cut in half, add a green salad, and you have dinner! Buon appetito.

These kinds of sandwiches can also be made in a cast iron skillet. Make sure to use a low heat to avoid burning the bread before the cheese is melted.

Kat on the Nose

My mother always told me to use my head but she never said much about my nose. The head, of course, is indispensable since it’s holding up my nose. And it does some other important stuff too. But the nose! My nose, I’m discovering, is the most important tool in my kitchen.

Last night was the first session of the quarter for my new class. It’s such a pleasure to be on the student side of the PowerPoint projector! I’m taking a class at the Northwest Wine Academy at South Seattle Community College. It’s called Sensory Evaluation and it’s the third class I’ve taken through the program. It’s taught by a wiry Frenchman named Cyril, who is the wine buyer for Rover’s in Seattle. I can tell already I am going to be learning a ton. What I realized while I was taking the other two classes, (Food and Wine Pairing and Washington Wines), is that I don’t really know how to taste wine. I mean I know the procedure and all, I just don’t know how to describe what I’m tasting, and how to form an opinion about the quality and value of the wine. Mostly, when I’m tasting wine (or food for that matter) I just decide whether I like it or not.

I decided to take the Sensory Evaluation class, which admittedly sounded a little dry, because my classmates last quarter recommended it. And I figured it might be useful to my cooking skills as well as my wine tasting acuity. Last night’s class, and surely each class to follow, will serve to remind me how important a tool my nose is. When choosing produce, especially fruit, I smell it first. Strawberries that don’t smell like strawberries certainly aren’t going to taste like strawberries. Cyril said that 75% of what we taste is actually what we smell. And smell is the sense most strongly connected to memory. So from now on, until I learn how to better describe the scents that I’m detecting, I am going to smell everything. My friend Leroy said that one of the wines we tasted last night smelled like pencil shavings. I found myself smelling my pencil at work today.

So I’m in training now. Or my nose is. If it looks like it might have some scent, by gosh, I’m going to smell it. And one of my favorite smells is the smell of popcorn popping. It’s got to be one of the most recognizable smells in America. Granted, I almost never go to the theater but when I do, it’s such a monumental occasion, I usually smuggle in my own popcorn. I’m not a fan of movie popcorn. If you’ve ever seen the orange tinted wad of artificially flavored, Crisco-like goo that goes into the popper, you know what I mean. I make my popcorn with olive oil. And if I’m feeling really decadent, I grate some good Parmigiano-Reggiano on it too.

Popcorn Worth the Smuggle

You’ll need heavy sauce pan with a tight fitting lid for this recipe. I have one with a glass lid which is great since you can see the popcorn pop.

Olive oil- enough to lightly coat the bottom of your pan
Popcorn- enough to cover the bottom of the pan
Extra Virgin Olive Oil for drizzling
Kosher Salt
Pepper- grind it fresh
Parmigiano-Reggiano or other good, hard grating cheese

Coat the bottom of the pan with a thin coating of olive oil. Add popcorn to cover the bottom in one layer. (I keep popcorn in the fridge to make sure it doesn’t dry out. It’s the moisture inside the kernel that makes it pop.) Put the burner on medium high and put the pan on the burner. Give it a shake every now and again. When you hear the first pop you can start paying attention. When you hear the fireworks begin in earnest, you can turn down the burner a little AND SHAKE!! You’ve got to keep the pan moving so you don’t burn any kernels. When the popping slows down, turn off the burner completely but leave the lid on the pan to let the last few kernels pop. Just leave it a minute or so- longer and the popcorn will steam and get soggy. Remove the lid and pour the popcorn into a bowl or paper bag if you’re smuggling. Drizzle with a small amount of good olive oil. Salt to taste. Cheese to taste. Pepper to taste. And enjoy the show.