It's-a Gouda Food (a)

Ever get the urge to just do something different, to shake up the usual and take a chance? I did in a big way this weekend. I'd been reading a Scottish magazine I'd brought home from a recent trip, and in it was a restaurant review complete with a recipe for smoked salmon ravioli. Okay, so I've never been a fan of salmon, even when I was eating meat, and certainly not now. But I thought about the smoked part. Smoked. Hmmm. Then I got out the bowls, the ingredients, and got to work.

My pasta dough was laughably thick - how can any Italian women be heavy? You need muscles and stamina to roll that dough wafer thin. So I rolled out what I could muster of the dough I'd concocted (I won't even bore you with it as I wasn't impressed with the results) and went for an easy stand-by: wonton wrappers. Oh, if I'd started with them, I'd have made dozens of raviolis!

Here's what I did to fill them:

Smoked Gouda and Spinach Ravioli

1 cup shredded smoked Gouda cheese
6 ounces fresh spinach, chopped and steamed
1 tsp. fresh dill, chopped
1 tsp. fresh tarragon, chopped
1 tsp. fresh chives, snipped
zest from 1/2 lemon
Wonton wrappers (large square ones)

Cut wonton wrappers into fourths. Place on a floured cutting board to keep them from sticking to everything in sight.

In a bowl, add all ingredients, adding steamed spinach last as it'll make everything stick together if it's hot. Place a smidgen of this (I used about 1/2 tsp. to 1 tsp.) mixture onto one wonton square. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush an empty wonton square, then place it wet-side-down onto the filling one. Carefully press all sides together well. If you have a crimping tool, this could be your chance to use it!

Cook for about 4 minutes in boiling water. Remove and serve with the following sauce:

Corn and Citrus Sauces
1/2 cup frozen corn
1 cup vegetable broth
1 Tbl. chopped leek
1 Tbl. whisky (I used Jack Daniels)
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup skim milk

1/4 cup passion fruit juice (I used Goya)
1 Tbl. ground cardamom
1/4 cup frozen corn

Add corn, broth, leek to saucepan and boil until it reduces to half. Blend in a blender (or use an immersable blender - safer). Press through sieve and remove corn bits. Return to pot. Add whisky and bring to boil. Add cream, again bringing to a boil, stirring constantly until it thickens a little (it may still be quite liquid - that's okay). Add skim milk and remove from stove.

In another pan, add passion fruit juice and cardamom. I also added a little more corn (about 1/4 cup) to maintain a consistent flavor between the sauces. Heat until the cardamom has melded with the corn and passion fruit. If you want, sieve this. If you prefer keeping the corn, by all means.

Place ravioli on your plate. Froth up your cream mixture using a milk frother (I use a little whisk). Pour about 2 Tbls. on your ravioli, and add the citrus sauce (about 1 Tbl.) on top of that. I don't mix them as I like to control how much citrus "bite" I get out of the sauce. My husband, however, mixed them together and loved every minute of it.

Lentil Love

Maybe it's because they cook up so quickly, but I'm a lentil fan. The French lentils are my favorite - nice texture, super taste, and again, easy cooking.

So I was opening cabinets and trying to land on a dinner idea the other day - voila! Full jar of lentils. Hmmm. And it was a clear, warmish day. Lentil loaf!

I bastardized one I'd found in 1,001 Low-fat Vegetarian Recipes. If you've not bought this cookbook yet, you're missing tons of great recipes!

Anyway, my version goes something like this:

Low-fat Lentil Loaf
2 c. cooked lentils
1/2 cup cooked bulghur
3 carrots, shredded
1/4 cup diced onion
3 sticks celery, diced
1 tsp. fennel seeds
1 tsp. caraway seeds
1 tsp. celery salt
1 tsp. cumin
1/4 cup pecans, chopped
1 cup shredded cheddar (I used that Mexican blend of cheddar and monterey jack)
2 eggs
salt and pepper

Coat skillet with cooking spray. Fry veggies and seeds for about 5 minutes until the veggies are soft.

In a bowl, mix together lentils, bulghur, veggies, cheese, and nuts. Mix in eggs. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Bake in a greased loaf pan at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Serve with your favorite sauce on top. I use this one:

Tomato Raisin Sauce
1 can tomato sauce (small can)
2 Tbls. fresh basil, chopped
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. paprika
dash of cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves
1/4 cup raisins
salt and pepper

Heat all over med-low heat until hot. Let stand for 30 minutes. Serve on top of loaf.

Rolling On

Sometimes the stuff in your fridge just happens to be the stuff you need to pull together a delicious miracle. If you're like me, it's more often the case that the one item you need is still at the store.

So last night I pulled out the leftover phyllo dough (you should always have this stuff around - it's so versatile!), the pepper with the waning shelf life, the onion, the aging broccoli, the Swiss cheese, and the butternut squash. What resulted was a tasty, low-fat strudel that had us wanting more.

Vegetable Strudel
1 cup chopped broccoli, steamed
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 bell pepper (any color), chopped small
1 cup butternut squash, chopped small
1 cup Swiss cheese, shredded
phyllo dough (5 or 6 sheets for each roll - this can make a few rolls and lots of leftovers)
Sauce:
1 cup vegetable broth
1 tsp. thyme
1 Tbl. corn starch

Preheat oven to 375. Steam the broccoli. Next, make your sauce as you'll need to add it to your other ingredients later.

Saute onion and pepper together for about 5 minutes. Add the broccoli and squash and cook through for about 3 minutes. Turn off the heat. Add 1/2 cup sauce, the Swiss cheese, and the salt and pepper.

On a flat surface, lay one sheet of phyllo dough on a towel. Spray with cooking spray and layer the remaining sheets the same way, spraying each layer. Spread about 1/2 cup of the veggie mixture onto the dough. Tuck in the short sides, then use the towel to help roll the dough up. Carefully place the roll on a baking sheet (no spraying needed). Spray top and bake for 15-20 minutes or until it's golden brown on top.

Cut into slices and serve with the remaining sauce.

The Right Stuff (ing)

Did you ever see those gorgeous little baby portobellos in the store? I wasn't even thinking of mushrooms when I saw them. But they were so white, fluffy, and cute. Yes, cute. I'm attracted to looks.

I found this recipe on Reader's Digest
and modified it to fit what I had on hand. It's amazing. My husband is not a mushroom fan - he wants me to save the recipe.

Stuffed Baby Portobellos

4 large or 8 baby portobello mushrooms
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup fresh spinach, chopped
1 cup Pepperidge Farm herb stuffing, mashed a bit
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
Parmesan cheese for tops (fresh stuff, not the grated kind)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray baking sheet lined with foil with cooking spray.

Remove and chop mushroom stems. Add stems and onion to a skillet. Fry until onions are clear (or microwave it for 2 minutes).

In a small bowl, mix together the sour cream and eggs. Add spinach, stuffing, feta and onion mix.

Spoon mixture into caps, making sure to gently push filling under cap rims. Place on baking sheet and bake 20 minutes for small mushrooms, 35 for bigger. Sprinkle with Parmesan and bake another 5 minutes.

The Russian Front

The farmer's market this week had some interesting finds, including the nicest looking Russian kale I've ever seen. Well, the only Russian kale I've ever seen. I had to have it. Then came the obvious dilemma - what to do with it.

I decided soup. Soup seems to be the easiest way for me to test out new things, to mix their flavors with old familiars, maybe creating new familiars in the process.

If you don't have Russian kale handy, any kale will do.

Bean and Russian Kale Soup

1 large bunch Russian kale (about 1 1/2 cups), chopped
2 small carrots, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
2 tsp. fresh thyme, chopped
1 tsp. fresh parsley, chopped
1 can Great Northern beans (or your favorite), drained and rinsed
1/2 can diced tomatoes or better yet, 1 fresh tomato, diced
2 cups vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

In a soup pot, heat a scant amount of cooking spray. Add celery and carrots and saute, adding water to keep the lot from burning and to keep the fat low. Cook about 4 minutes. Add beans and kale and stir. Then add the remaining ingredients and cook about 20 minutes, covered, until all is soft. Place in bowls and sprinkle with cheese.

That's Bulghur!

I admit it - I hate the word "bulghur." It's the sound. Love the stuff, but hate the word. I'm the same way with "house finch." It sounds so ... common. In my world, they're linnets.

Anyway, we cooked some of that unmentionable stuff tonight for dinner. What to do with cups of bulghur? Burgers. Bulghur burgers. Here's what I did -

Bulghur Burgers
1 cup cooked lentils (if you have them lying around, as I did. If not, skip them.)
1 cup cooked bulghur
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 eggs
1/2 cup chopped kalamata olives
1/2 cup chopped red/green pepper (red gives it nice color)
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. coriander
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1 carrot, diced

Spray some oil in a skillet. Heat on medium and fry carrots and peppers until soft.

In a bowl combine bread crumbs, lentils if you're using them, bulghur and eggs. Add fried veggies. Mix in eggs, olives and spices. If you need to, add more bread crumbs until the mixture holds a solid shape.

Fry in skillet until brown and "crispy" on both sides, about five minutes each side.

I served this with corn and fried new potatoes (those itty bitty potatoes) - Here's how I did that:

1/2 pound new potatoes, cut into quarters
1 Tbl. chili powder
1 tsp. Adobo seasoning

Put all in a bag and shake until it's all coated. Cook, covered, in a skillet. I add a little spray oil and a little water to help steam cook the potatoes and keep the fat content down.

Sammiches!

I'm a huge fan of a sammich. My old favorite used to be a bologna and mustard sandwich on white bread, washed down with a Coke. Alas, no more. My new favorite is ten times more flavorful and doesn't require any Coke to digest it.

Portabello Sandwiches
2 whole portabello mushrooms, stems and gills removed
1 Tbl. red wine
1 medium Yukon Gold potato, sliced very thin
1 onion, sliced
1 tomato, sliced thin
Lettuce

In frying pan, saute onion until clear. Set aside. Using a potato peeler or cheese slicer, slice the potato wafer thin. Fry over medium heat on both sides until soft (crisp on the edges). Set aside.

Saute mushrooms in wine on both sides four minutes or until liquid is reduced and mushroom caps brown. Assemble burgers by placing a slice of your favoirte cheese on a kaiser roll (I used Swiss). Put the mushroom on top, then the potato, tomato, onion, lettuce and top with the following sauce:

2 Tbls. chopped roasted red pepper (mine mashed easily)
2 mashed avacados
1 Tbl. chili powder
1 tsp. horseradish (I used my dad's home-grown stuff)
1 Tbl. Ranch dressing

Mix all and spread on rolls.