Author Archives: Elizabeth

Corn and Shrimp Soup

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After doing lesson prep for my classes for so long that my eyes hurt, I wandered downstairs to figure out dinner.  It was a colder day, the first not-hot day we’ve had this fall and some rain was falling here and there all afternoon.  I wanted something warm for dinner, but not heavy.  Something traditional but with a bit of kick.  The soup cookbook fell out and after looking through it I chose a recipe to start in on.  But I took a huge turn off their recipe highway onto something wholly my own.  We enjoyed it and I hope you will too.  Oh, that red pepper?  It’s for looks.  You leave it in, but to add some heat, use Sriracha sauce at the table.

Although this looks complicated, get everything ready at the beginning as it goes together quickly.

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon butter
1 1/2 sweet bell peppers (I used 1 red and 1/2 yellow), chopped
1 shallot, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced (or put through a garlic press)
2 stalks lemon grass
2 dried red pepper pods (more if you want more heat)
2 knuckle-sized chunks of fresh ginger
about 2 cups white frozen corn (can add more at the end if you like your soup with more “stuff”)
1 lb. uncooked shrimp, peeled, deveined, rinsed and drained
2 cans chicken broth (14 oz each)
1 can coconut milk (about 14 oz.)
1 Tablespoon sugar
juice of 1 lime (about 2 Tablespoons)
pinch or two of red pepper flakes
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Melt butter and oil together in heavy soup-sized pan, saute peppers, shallot and garlic for 2-3 minutes.  Add chicken stock, broken-in-half lemon grass stalks, dried red peppers and the pieces of ginger.  Let simmer for 10 minutes.

Add in the shrimp and corn.  Let simmer for 2-3 minutes.

Fish out lemon grass and ginger.  Add sugar, lime juice, pinch of red pepper flakes, and cilantro.

Add coconut milk.  Adjust seasonings (add more salt?) and serve with Sriracha (Rooster) sauce at the table.

Note: I keep lemon grass stalks in my freezer.  I simply smacked them over the edge of the counter to break them in half, then threw them in.  Ditto the ginger (for keeping it in the freezer), but tonight I set it on a cutting board, and lopped off one of its chunks to throw in.

Pumpkin Nut Bread

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I found this recipe in a (Sunset?)  magazine when I was 17, and since I was a pretty good baker by that time, I decided to make it for my family.  I used up a good amount of nuts, real butter and got to talking on the phone with a friend while I mixed up the rest and put it in the oven.  The smell was really yummy and we were all looking forward to a slice of my newest recipe.  I pulled it out of the oven, and what?  Something was wrong.  It was flat, and hadn’t raised at all.  It tasted. . . terrible.  My mother came in and started to try and help me find the source of the problem.  Did you put in the salt?  Salt? I said.  I don’t think so.
Okay, then what about the baking powder?  Baking soda?  They need to sugar to help with their chemical and culinary reactions, she said.
Sugar!  I’d forgotten the sugar.  And probably one of the other three ingredients, judging from the height of the loaf.

Since then I have made it many many times. I never talk on the phone while mixing up the ingredients, and it has turned out perfectly every time.  You can increase the batch easily as one large can of pumpkin makes three loaves.  Tonight I made a plain loaf, a nut loaf and a loaf with mini-chocolate chips (add in about 1 cup).  We have family coming and we’ll be ready.

Pumpkin Nut Bread
3/4 cup milk
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 egg
1/4 cup melted butter
2 1/2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour (I substituted in 1/2 cup whole wheat flour for part of this)
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon each soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon each salt and ground ginger
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts or filberts or a mix of all three
[for the chocolate chip loaf, substitute 1 cup mini-chocoate chips for the nuts]

In a large mixing bowl, combine milk, pumpkin, egg and melted butter.  Mix to combine.  Add in sugar.

In a separate bowl, combine 1/2 cup flour with spices, soda, salt and baking powder.  Mix well and add to the pumpkin mixture.  Then add in the rest of the flour and blend only until dry ingredients are moistened.

Pour into a lightly greased 5″ x 9″ load pan; bake in a moderate oven (350F) for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Makes 1 loaf.

Shortbread Cookies

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A long time ago in a galaxy far away, I pulled a recipe for shortbread cookies out of a newspaper.  It was just another one of those recipe blurbs in a Food Section in a small newspaper (I think it was in upstate New York where I ripped this out). For a while, I lost the recipe and tried to duplicate its perfect proportions and always failed.  Happily, I found it again. While I see lots of shortbread cookies out there, many of them are rolled cookies, which forces you to handle the dough in extra steps.  I think the secret to the tenderness of these cookies is the lack of dough-handling: mix, dump, press, bake.

I also liked the recipe because it was always fabulous (providing you use REAL butter), I could made it in one pan, and it made a lot of cookies.  When the children didn’t have any cookies for their lunches, I could have enough for the week in under an hour. And when I take them to church and serve them to the ladies, they LOVE them.  So do I.

Scottish Shortbread

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Cream 1 pound butter (4 sticks) with 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy.  Stir, or sift together, 4 cups flour and 2 teaspoons salt (can use 2 1/2 if your butter is unsalted).  Blend into butter mixture with a light touch.  Don’t overmix–you want it barely stirred in.

Press dough into a rimmed cookies sheet, moistening your fingers with cold water if you find it too sticky.  Bake for 30 minutes, or until edges are just browning (don’t overbake) and immediately after pulling from oven, shake a hearty amount of granulated sugar over the entire surface.

Cut into “fingers,” 1″ by 3″.  Of course, you can also make them square-shaped, which is what I did.  For a pretty cookie, before baking use a cookie press to stamp a design over the top in a grid.

Scallops with Peppers and Corn

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It had been a long, hot day and I didn’t feel like throwing a meal on the table.  I had earlier found this recipe in my new favorite publication: Sunset’s Fast and Fresh (go and get it) and knew I had the basic ingredients. I only had to find corn.  Corn?  No problem, right?  It’s summer–corn is cheap, right?  Wrong.  I must have hit the week that all the corn was shipped to China, or that the first harvest was finished and the second hadn’t begun.  I gave my money to the lady at the register, thinking it was the most expensive ears of corn I’d ever purchased.  Note to self: make this dish when corn is on sale.

At any rate, make a note to yourself: make this dish anytime.  They suggest serving it with couscous, pasta or rice, but somehow I had boiled New England supper on my mind, with the combo of the seafood, vegetables and corn.  We served ours with boiled white rose potatoes. I placed those in our individual bowls, cut them up, then over that spooned the vegetable mixture, and then the scallops.  It was delicious, easy and refreshing.

Ingredients

3 ears corn (about 2 1/2 lb. total), husked, silks removed
1 1/4 pounds sea scallops
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 red bell peppers rinsed, stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped (I used three: one yellow, one orange and one red)
1 large clove garlic, peeled and minced
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation

1. Holding each ear of corn upright in a deep bowl, cut kernels from cobs. Rinse scallops and pat dry; sprinkle lightly all over with salt and pepper.

2. Melt 1 tablespoon butter with 1 tablespoon olive oil in each of two 10- to 12-inch nonstick frying pans over high heat. Add corn, bell peppers, garlic, and cumin to one pan; add scallops to the other. Cook, stirring both pans often, until vegetables are crisp-tender, about 3 minutes, and scallops are browned on the outside and barely opaque in the center (cut to test), about 5 minutes.

3. Just before serving, stir basil into the vegetable mixture and cilantro into the scallops. Add salt and pepper to taste to both. Mound vegetables in a wide, shallow bowl; top with scallops (and any pan juices).

Warszawa’s Cold Borscht

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I loved this soup–a thick, rich beety soup with a brilliant color.  It’s perfect on a hot, hot day–and it made the Los Angeles Times’ Top Ten recipes of 2010 list!

Total time: About 1 hour, plus cooling time for the beets

Servings: 4
Note: Adapted from Warszawa in Santa Monica

Ingredients:

1/2 pound red beets, tops and roots trimmed but unpeeled (it’s about three medium to large beets)
2 cups buttermilk or yogurt
3/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, about half a lemon
2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions, green part only
1 large cucumber, peeled, not seeded, and diced into small pieces
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh dill, plus more for garnish
1/4 cup finely chopped Italian parsley

1 hard-boiled egg, peeled and sliced crosswise or diced

1. Cook the beets in a medium saucepan with enough water to cover them by 1 inch. Simmer the beets until they are tender, about 45 minutes. Remove from heat, drain the beets and set them aside until cool enough to handle.

2. Peel and grate the beets, saving any liquid produced when grating. You should have at least 1 cup of beets (any extra can be used as a garnish for salads and will keep, refrigerated, for up to 1 week).

3. In a large bowl, combine 1 cup grated beets and reserved liquid, buttermilk, sour cream, sugar, lemon juice and salt using a large spatula.

3. One hour before serving, gently stir in the green onions, cucumber, dill and parsley. Cover and refrigerate to allow the flavors to marry. This makes a scant 5 cups of soup.

4. Serve each bowl with a sprinkling of dill and slices of hard-boiled egg.

Each of 4 servings: 179 calories; 6 grams protein; 21 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams fiber; 8 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 24 mg cholesterol; 18 grams sugar; 1,361 mg sodium.

Korean Tacos

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This post is for Lynne, my fabulous mail lady, who takes a personal and friendly interest in all of us on the mail route.  She and her sister are getting together on Fourth of July with their families and she wanted to grill something, rather than order in a pizza.  Couple that impetus with my visit some time ago to the LA County Museum of Art (LACMA) where parked out front along the street, were all kinds of food trucks.

I was delighted because I’d heard about this phenomena, but since I am from a neighboring city we would probably never have such a gourmet delight.  We tried the Korean Tacos–a hybrid of Asian-flavors wrapped up in a tortilla.  Not cheap, so we shared one, and besides we were saving our hunger for Chinese Dumplings.  But I searched for a recipe, finding one that had been printed in the now-defunct Gourmet Magazine.

For meat, I had some really thick boneless pork chops (1″ thick) in the freezer.  I let them partially thaw which allowed me to get a really thin slice on the meat.  I used two pork chops,  which served two amply with leftovers for another meal.  Guessing? They probably weighed together about 3/4 pound.  Place them in a zip-lock bag, then add the marinade:

2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons Asian sesame oil (available at grocery stores–get a smaller bottle if you don’t plan to use it a lot, and store it in your fridge)
1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
1 Tablespoon water
1/4 teaspoon dried hot pepper flakes (the kind you get to put on your pizza)

Marinate at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours.  I did this in the morning, then pulled it out of the refrigerator about an hour before grilling.

On a fairly hot (but not scorching) grill, lay out the slices of pork a few at a time, then go back and flip them over.  They will cook REALLY quickly since they are so thin.

Warm some tortillas, either by wrapping in foil and placing at the back of the grill over indirect heat, or by warming them in a frying pan.  We use the thicker white corn tortillas, which don’t fall apart and are more like the Korean tacos we tried. I think we bought these at Von’s in the plaza, but I’ve seen them other places, too.  Place the pork in the tortilla, layer some slaw on top, and if you like a little more heat, pass some siroche red pepper sauce for the top.

Napa-Romaine Slaw

Makes about 6 cups, enough for many tacos, with leftovers

For the dressing:
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1-1/2 teaspoons lime juice
1-1/2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon sugar

For the salad:
4 cups (5 ounces) shredded romaine lettuce
2 cups (3 ounces) shredded Napa cabbage
1/2 cup (2 ounces) thinly sliced onion
toasted sesame seeds for garnish

Toss the salad in a large bowl with 1 tablespoon of the dressing. Add more dressing to taste and garnish generously with sesame seeds.

We served our tacos with some rice, into which I’d added some sliced green onions, about a teaspoon of sesame oil, and a dash of soy sauce.  You could just make extra of the slaw dressing and toss with that.

Linguine with Pea Pesto

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This recipe is from Smitten Kitchen (link to the right), but my sister Christine says she’s made it, so I know it’s been around a while.  Basically you puree some peas, add the rest of the pesto ingredients and toss cooked linguine with this and some of the pasta water, and you have a quick and delicious summer meal.  I mean it was so delicious I’ve had it every day this week and I’m still not tired of it.  It’s creamy without being high-fat-high-calorie.  I used the frozen peas, but did buy a fresh bag so we didn’t have to use that bag that’s been kicking around the back of the freezer all winter.  We served it with fresh tomato bruschetta on crostini--a perfect meal.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups (from approximately 1 1/2 pounds peas in pods) fresh pea or a 10-ounce package frozen peas (I didn’t defrost mine–just dumped them into the boiling water.)
1 small garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted and cooled
1/2 cup (1 1/8 ounces) finely grated parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon table salt, plus more for pasta water
1/3 cup olive oil
1 pound dried linguine
Garnish (optional): thinly slivered basil leaves

Prepare an ice bath, a large bowl filled with ice water. Bring a small saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil. Add peas and cook for 2 minutes (this leaves them with a bit of structure). Drain peas then add them to the ice bath (if using) and drain again. If you haven’t used an ice bath, let your peas cool to lukewarm before making the pesto.

Set aside 1/2 cup of your cooked peas. Whirl the remaining cup of peas in the work bowl of a food processor with garlic, pine nuts, 1/3 cup parmesan and salt until smooth, about 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl as necessary. With the machine running, drizzle in olive oil.

Cook your linguine until al dente. Reserve about two cups pasta cooking water, as the pea pesto will be surprisingly thick, then drain linguine and return it to pot. Over moderate heat, toss pasta with pesto, reserved peas and as much reserved pasta water as needed to smooth and distribute pesto; let cook for one minute so that the pesto adheres. Adjust salt to taste, add freshly ground black pepper if desired. Serve immediately, garnished with fresh herbs, if using, and remaining parmesan.

Gazpacho

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Maybe it was because Dave brought home another sack of beautifully ripe tomatoes when I already had a sack of beautifully ripe tomatoes in the fridge.  Maybe it was because we finally got a warm spring day, after a long string of cool spring days. (I’m not complaining about this–just stating a fact.)  I don’t know–but I know I wanted some gazpacho.  I found this recipe on Epicurious.  Not content with that, I perused my existing recipes, checked out Pioneer Woman, and in the end went with the Epicurious recipe.  I’ve tried many over the years–but I think I’ve found a winner.  This is a thicker version of gazpacho (apparently the ones from Spain are thinner), but I quite like this one.  It is best made the day before but refrigerating for 4 hours is a minimum.


I used Safeway store brand of juice and it was just fine.  I also used a red and yellow bell pepper–upping the quantity to one total pepper.

Mom’s Gazpacho • Epicurious | May 2001 • by Elizabeth Shepard
Yield: Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:
1 egg
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Salt

2 cups chopped fresh plum tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped green or yellow pepper
1 cup chopped cucumber, seeds removed
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1/4 cup finely minced parsley
2/3 cup olive oil

Juice of 1/2 lemon (approximately 2 tablespoons)
1 can (14 ounce)  beef broth
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons Worcestershire
Pepper, coarsely ground
1 46-ounce can tomato juice
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs (I made some on the spot by whirling a couple of slices of good-quality  bread in my food processor.)

Tabasco and salt/pepper to taste

Garnish (optional): croutons and chunks of avocado

To Prepare:
Place egg in small pot of cold water, bring to boil, and let simmer for 10 minutes–don’t overcook. While this cooks, chop garlic finely–really really fine.  I even used the side of the blade of my knife to smash it some more.  Place this in a small bowl, add a pinch of salt (or a shake, if you are using Kosher salt).

When egg is finished cooking, run under cold water, remove shell, add to garlic and salt mixture, and mash together with fork.  Set aside until for later.

In a large bowl, combine tomatoes, pepper, cucumber, red onion, olive oil, lemon juice, beef broth (optional), red wine vinegar, parsley, oregano, Worcestershire, and coarsely ground black pepper to taste. Stir.

Pour tomato juice over the vegetables, and add garlic, egg, and salt mixture. Add bread crumbs and stir so that they dissolve into liquid.

Taste for seasoning and add salt, pepper, and Tabasco to taste. Chill for at least 4 hours and serve. Garnish with chunks of avocado and croutons.  Pass extra croutons.

At the end, the cook had included some of her notes:

· My recipe serves eight, and it’s a lot of trouble to prepare this soup for one (I disagree). But like homemade tomato sauce, its flavor improves with age—you can store it in the refrigerator and eat it for about a week.

· Why mash the garlic with egg and salt? To make a garlic-infused paste that adds body and substance to the tomato broth.

· Use kosher salt to bring out the flavors of the vegetables.

· Try to chop the vegetables so that they’re small but not minced or pulverized, and don’t worry if the sizes aren’t uniform. The pieces should be small enough to chew but big enough to recognize.

· If you prefer a more elegant presentation, emulsify the chilled mixture before serving. Seasoning is a very personal matter. I tend to like my gazpacho pungent and sharp, with salt, lemon, and onion flavors lingering on the palate. If you prefer milder soup, reduce the onion, garlic, and vinegar quantities by half. If you want a spicier soup, add 2 teaspoons of minced jalepeño peppers. To make vegetarian gazpacho, substitute vegetable broth for beef broth.

Summer Strawberry Cake

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Oh, YUM!

Okay, now get to work and make this light and delicious strawberry cake.  I found it on Smitten Kitchen, a blog with great recipes, who had adapted it from Martha.  I changed it again, substituting 1/2 cup whole wheat white flour for part of the regular flour.  The interesting thing about this cake is how long it cooks: about one hour, although it’s very quick to make.  The strawberries become jam spots, the sugar caramelizes, and it all is a wonderful summer dessert.  While it is best served on the day it is made, it is still really good the next day.  For breakfast, maybe? And while the recipe suggests a dollop of soft whipped cream, my husband thought that ice cream was a great topping.

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for pie plate
1 1/2 cups  all-purpose flour (can swap 1/2  cup all-purpose flour with 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (25 grams) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pound strawberries, hulled and halved

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch deep pie (or cake) pan or 9-inch deep-dish pie pan (what I used). (Smitten Kitchen notes that this cake would also work in a 9- or 10-inch springform or cake pan. The 10-inch would make a thinner cake than pictured.)

Whisk flour or flours, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 1 cup sugar until pale and fluffy with an electric mixer, about 3 minutes. Mix in egg, milk and vanilla until just combined. Add dry mixture gradually, mixing until just smooth.

Pour into prepared pie plate. Arrange strawberries, cut side down, on top of batter, as closely as possible in a single layer (though I had to overlap a few to get them all in). Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries.

Bake cake for 10 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 325°F and bake cake until golden brown and a tester comes out free of wet batter, about 50 minutes to 60 minutes.  Let cool in pan on a rack. Cut into wedges. Serve with lightly whipped cream, or ice cream, if desired.

White Chocolate-Orange Scones

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I had these scones on the morning of the Royal Wedding–very fitting.  My friend Judy had combed the internet for a treat for us to eat while we watched the Royal Wedding off of her TiVo, and combined two recipes to create this yummy treat.  She served it with fruit with a yogurt/honey topping and some orange juice.  These scones are a little sweeter, said her husband, than anything they’d serve in Britain, and I agree.  The texture is more biscuit-like, but I think they are delicious and was happy to have such a treat while we critiqued the hats and swooned over the festivities.

Royal Wedding White Chocolate Scones

1 3/4 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1-2 Tbsp. orange zest

1 stick butter, chilled and cubed (1/4 lb.)

2/3 cup white chocolate chips, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup orange juice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400º F. Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and zest. Using a pastry blender, cut it the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the chocolate chips. Gradually mix in the orange juice, one or two tablespoons at a time, to form the dough.

3. Turn out the dough on a floured surface. If necessary, knead briefly to form a compact ball. Pat into a 9-inch circle that is about ½ inch thick. Use a 2 ½-inch biscut cutter to cut out 12 scones, reforming leftover dough as needed. Transfer scones to cookie sheet.

4. Bake in oven about 12 minutes.