Eat Your Colors: Kale, Carrot and Cabbage Salad

kale salad

Salads are one of my favorite things to make in the kitchen. First, there’s the obvious gratification of feeling healthy after eating a salad (which for some odd reason doesn’t happen after I eat cream puffs or chocolate mousse). The second reason I love making salads is that it’s an easy, low-risk way to be creative in the kitchen. When you’re baking, you can’t exactly say, Hmm, how about I throw in a few more eggs or some extra whole wheat flour? With salads, throwing in a little bit of this and that is the name of the game.

Get me some leafy greens

Another plus with making salads is that you get to play the part of artist, where color, shape and texture come from ordinary foods. Just check out the colors in this salad—the vibrant hues of purple and orange juxtaposed against a backdrop of green are positively fun and playful. And that’s only considering the salad’s visual appeal. Take a bite and your taste buds will confirm what your eyes suspected: There’s a whole lot of delicious going on between the crunchy cabbage, tart lime, piquant pepper, creamy avocado, sweet orange, and salty pepitas. (I do love me some adjectives!)

eat your colors

And let’s not forget the kale, the very foundation upon which this salad rests. Kale is my go-to antidote for any Quick! Get me some leafy greens! moments. I don’t mind eating raw kale, as in this other salad, but I know some people find kale’s texture a little tough to handle in a raw salad. Enter mixed baby kales, the newest member of the organic, boxed, pre-washed salad greens family. Baby kale is tender and kind of cute, a mini-me version of hearty Dino Kale and Curly Kale, and I’m convinced it will appease—nay, win over—the raw kale opposition party. With that I say, welcome to the salad bowl, baby kale!

This recipe was inspired by the Rainbow Kale Slaw and Kale, Carrot and Avocado Salad from the Whole Foods Recipes app.

Serves 2 (or one very hungry salad eater)

Ingredients

3 cups mixed baby kale
2 cups shredded red cabbage
1 carrot, shredded
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1 handful cilantro, chopped
1 orange, sectioned and cut into chunks
1 lime, juiced
1”-piece of serrano pepper, finely chopped
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 avocado
a handful of pepitas (roasted, hulled pumpkin seeds), to garnish

Make the Kale, Carrot and Cabbage Salad

Combine the kale, cabbage, carrot, green onion, cilantro, and orange chunks in a very large salad bowl. If you use a bowl that is bigger than you need, it’s easier to toss the salad and incorporate the dressing.

In a small bowl, whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, serrano pepper and salt and pepper to taste. Cut the avocado in half, remove the seed, and slice the flesh into cubes. (This video demonstrates how to cut an avocado.) Add the cubed avocado to the bowl and thoroughly coat with the dressing, which will prevent the avocado from browning. Pour the dressing and avocado over the salad greens. Using salad tongs, toss the salad to fully coat the leaves with dressing. Garnish with pepitas and serve immediately.

Posted in Recipes, vegetables | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Chocolate Beet Cake

 

cake stand

When I received Nigel Slater’s vegetable cookbook Tender for Christmas, I wasn’t expecting to discover dessert recipes within its pages. True, the carrot cake recipe didn’t strike me as unusual, but chocolate beet cake? That sounded a little odd—but also intriguing.

For those wary of introducing beets to the dessert hour, breathe easy. The beet flavor is barely discernible, and you could probably fool an unsuspecting eater into thinking there are no veggies here. The beets are an understated yet powerful ingredient, lending both moisture and a subtle depth of flavor to the cake. Make no mistake: though this cake contains vegetables, it does not purport to be healthy. After all, it’s got all the ingredients any decadent cake would have: two bars of dark chocolate, cocoa powder, espresso, eggs, sugar, a bit of flour.

utensils and cake

I should also add that besides being an indulgence, this cake is also rather large. When I scooped the batter into the pan, I was a bit stunned by how it reached towards the brim, nearly filling the entire 9″ spring form pan. And when I took it out of the oven and it was still as big, though a tad sunken in center, I knew we had several days of cake eating ahead of us. I didn’t make this cake for any special occasion; I made it just to see how beets and chocolate fared together. I am pleased to report that beets are chocolate get along remarkably well. When you think about it, the earthiness of the beets complements the earthiness of the chocolate and espresso quite well. The cake has a slight red hue, and the deep chocolate flavor and fudge-like texture remind me of flourless chocolate cake and chocolate truffles but without being as sweet or dense.

Nigel Slater recommends serving the cake with crème fraîche, but since I had whipping cream on hand, that’s what we used. I followed his advice, though, for garnishing the cake with poppy seeds, and I’m so glad I did because the poppy seeds create a festive finish. The poppy seeds, whipped cream and honest flavors of the cake strike me as so European. In fact, I find myself wanting to take a four o’clock Kaffee und Kuchen break every day, like Caroline and I did when we visited Germany. Maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing; after all, there are vegetables in this cake.

chocolate beet cake slice

You can find the recipe for the cake here, where Nigel Slater first wrote about it for the UK newspaper The Telegraph. I decided not to repost the recipe because I want to abide by copyright laws, and to reprint a recipe I either have to adapt it or get permission. I couldn’t imagine altering this cake at all, so I trust you won’t mind clicking over to the recipe source if it has piqued your interest.  

 

 

Posted in dessert, Informational, Recipes | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Cream of Broccoli and Green Pea Soup

Cream of Broccoli and Green Pea Soup
After months of infrequent rain showers, we’re finally getting a deluge of rain, and it’s to soups that I’ve been turning to stave off the chill. When I saw the recipe for Cream of Broccoli soup in the April issue of Everyday Food, I knew it would be a good use for the head of broccoli that had been in the refrigerator for, well, let’s just leave it at too long. Unlike the many cream soups that get their creaminess from a generous dousing of cream, sour cream or even mascarpone, this soup’s creamy texture comes from using a roux (and a little bit of heavy cream).

A roux is mixture of equal parts of flour and fat, oftentimes butter, that is briefly cooked before being added to broth or milk. The roux thickens the liquid with which it’s combined and adds depth of flavor. Rouxs are commonly used to thicken classical French sauces (think béchamel and bordelaise), New England clam chowder and Creole dishes such as gumbo. If the idea of making a roux is intimidating, don’t worry: the hardest part is knowing how to pronounce it (“roo”). This soup offers a simple way to experience firsthand how flour and butter can thicken broth, and in no time at all, you’ll have conquered the roux and added another technique to your cooking toolbox.

bread and soup

Serves four.
Recipe adapted from Everyday Food, April 2012.

In my version of Cream of Broccoli soup, I’ve added green peas. Feel free to use all broccoli or throw in any other vegetables you have waiting to be used.

Ingredients

¼ cup (½ stick) butter
1 medium yellow onion, diced
¼ cup all purpose flour
4 cups chicken or turkey broth
1 cup water
12 oz. broccoli
4 oz. (scant 1 cup) frozen green peas, defrosted
¼ cup heavy cream
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Make the Cream of Broccoli and Green Pea Soup

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft and translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the flour and stir to coat the onions and cook the flour, about 1 minute. Cooking the flour before adding the liquid removes the raw taste of the flour. Pour the broth and water into the pot and stir to incorporate. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, cut the broccoli into florets and the stem into 1-inch chunks. Add the broccoli and peas to the simmering broth and cook uncovered for 20 minutes or until broccoli is tender.

Using an immersion blender, carefully blend the hot soup in the pot to a smooth consistency. Alternatively, puree the soup in a blender (puree soup in small batches, filling blender only halfway) and return to the pot. Stir in the heavy cream and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Posted in dinner, Recipes, soup, vegetables | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Molasses Ginger Cookies

molasses cookies

Hello, dear readers! I’ve been M.I.A. the last couple weeks, but I didn’t forget about sharing the Molasses Ginger Cookies recipe with you that I mentioned in this post. I’d like to blame my absence on spending lots of time cooking in the kitchen, but the truth is far less tasty (though still interesting): jury duty, a French class, and a copyediting class. And there’s been quite a bit of fun on the weekends to keep me busy: a family reunion, a ski trip, and my middle sister’s baby shower coming up this weekend.

I’m guessing I’m not the only one who’s feeling busy right now, so I give you a cookie recipe that so simple that there’s really no excuse for not making them. You don’t even need an electric mixer: just mix the wet ingredients together, stir together the dry ingredients, and combine them both. Chill the dough for an hour and before you know it you’ll have  a very tasty cookie dough ready to be baked into chewy, fragrant Molasses Ginger cookies.

molasses cookies  and cookbookThis recipe is an old family favorite and comes from my mom’s Sunset Cookies cookbook. As you can see from the photo above, the cookbook has been well-used over the years and contained recipes for all our family favorites.

Yields 3 dozen cookies.

Ingredients

¾ cup canola or safflower oil
¼ cup dark molasses
2 eggs
1¼ cups sugar, divided
2¾ cups all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon finely ground black pepper

Make the Molasses Ginger Cookies

In a large bowl, stir together the oil, molasses, eggs, and 1 cup of the sugar until well mixed.

In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and black pepper. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet mixture, stirring until well combined. Chill dough for at least one hour or until the next day.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place remaining ¼ cup sugar in a shallow bowl. Remove dough from refrigerator and roll dough into 1-inch balls. Roll dough balls in sugar and place 3 inches apart on baking sheets. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until lightly browned, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool on baking sheet for five minutes, transfer to rack and let cool.

Cookies will keep in an airtight container for about one week.

 

Posted in dessert, Recipes | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Flatbread with Prosciutto, Gruyere, Arugula & Caramelized Onions + A Stop Motion Video

flatbread2_620px

flatbread1_620px

Essen, Trinken, Treffen—Eat, Drink, Meet, I translated the the words on the window of a soon-to-open restaurant. So it’s going to be a German restaurant, I thought. This is either going to be a hit or a miss. A year after first discovering the restaurant, I can tell you that Leopold’s has been a hit.

With just the right balance of kitsch and culture, Leopold’s has become a hip spot to sample German beers or chow down on Alpine comfort food. Waiting more than an hour for a seat is not unusual, so pop in as soon as the doors open for dinner at 5:30 pm or do what Emily does and have a drink at Tonic across the street while you wait.

These days, you’ll find me eating the goulash as my entrée and the flatbread as my appetizer. Since I’m not always up for braving the wait at Leopold’s, I created my own version of their flatbread so I can enjoy it at home. With it’s crisp crust, melty cheese, salty prosciutto, peppery arugula and sweet caramelized onion, this flatbread is pretty hard to resist.

But wait…there’s more!

Oftentimes when I’m choosing which photos to put on my blog, I get a case of Lead Finger Syndrome and scroll through the photos really quickly, which makes the photos look like a stop motion video. I get a kick out of it every time, and I thought it would be fun to create a stop motion cooking video. So here you have it—not only my first stop motion video, but the first video I’ve ever created for Tomato Tango.

And in the spirit of the upcoming Academy Awards, I’d like to thank iMovie for enabling me to actualize my dream of creating a video; my tripod for being as solid as a rock click after click; and the plastic baggie that shielded my camera from what could have been a sticky situation. I couldn’t have done it without any of you.

Makes two 14-inch flatbreads. Serves eight as an appetizer or 4 as a light main course.

Recipe Source: Dough and caramelized onions adapted from Cook’s Illustrated’s Pissaldiere recipe.

Ingredients

For Dough:
2 cups (11 oz.) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus additional for brushing on the dough
1 cup (8 oz.) warm water (about 110°F)

For Caramelized Onions:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound yellow onions, sliced
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons water

Additional Toppings:
freshly ground black pepper
1 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
4 slices prosciutto, sliced into ½-inch strips
1/2 cup packed arugula leaves (or 2 generous handfuls)

Make the Dough

Combine the flour, yeast and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. With the motor running, gradually add the olive oil and water and process until the dough forms a ball around the processor blade, about 15 seconds. (If you don’t have a food processor, stir together the flour, yeast and salt in a medium bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in 1 tablespoon olive oil and the warm water. Stir until wet and dry ingredients are well incorporated, using your hands if the dough is difficult to handle with a spoon.)

Dust a clean work surface with flour, turn dough out onto surface and knead lightly to form a smooth ball. (Knead the dough a few minutes longer if you did not use a food processor to make the dough.) The dough will be slightly tacky. Place dough in a lightly-oiled medium bowl and allow to rise in a warm spot until doubled in volume, 1 to 1½  hours.

Make the Caramelized Onions

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When oil is hot, add the onions, salt and brown sugar. Stirring frequently, cook the onions for about 10 minutes or just until they are beginning to brown. Reduce the heat to low. Continue cooking and stirring onions until golden brown and caramelized, about 20 minutes longer. Remove from heat and stir in the water. This will make more caramelized onions than you need for the flatbreads, so save the extras for salads, sandwiches or whatever else you like.

Assemble and Bake the Flatbreads

Preheat oven to 500°F. With floured hands, divide the dough into two pieces and shape each piece into a ball. Brush each ball with olive oil and let rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cover two baking sheets with parchment paper.

With well-oiled hands, shape one piece of dough into a 14 x 8 inch oval, using fingertips to dimple and stretch the dough into the proper shape. Top the dough with several grinds of pepper and half of the caramelized onions and Gruyere. Bake the flatbread for 10 minutes, remove from baking sheet and place directly on rack for 3 more minutes or until bottom is well-browned. While the first flatbread is baking, shape and top the second flatbread.

After removing the flatbread from the oven, top with half of the arugula and strips of prosciutto. Slice into pieces and serve.

Posted in breads, dinner, Recipes, snacks | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments
  • Meet the Blogger

    AndreaHello! My name is Andrea, and I’m a freelance writer living in the lovely, hilly city of San Francisco with my husband Sam.

  •          

    Enter your email address to subscribe to new blog posts:

  • Recent Comments

  • Categories

  • Archives

  • Meta