thoughtful consumption

Oven drying peppers works!

This time I had a bunch of hot peppers I dried them in the oven, and it worked great. I dried them in the oven at 150 degrees – my lowest oven setting. It took a couple of days. I’d turn the oven off at night but leave it on most of the day. With the cold snap, it even kept the kitchen a little warmer.  I read that 150 is the maximum for drying peppers. 100 -135 degrees is best. 150 is the lowest my oven will go, so every once in a while I’d prop the door open to lower the temperature a little bit.

I don’t know if I’d want to do this in the heat of the summer. But I tried drying peppers in a window and on a screen this summer. Both times almost all of them got moldy before they could dry.

Here’s what I did more specifically.

Wearing gloves, I halved the peppers and put them on a baking sheet. I didn’t seed the peppers, but you could do that if you wanted a milder result. Then I put the peppers in the 150 degree oven. Every few hours I’d turn them with tongs and prop the oven door open for a while. You can feel with the tongs when all the moisture’s gone and the skins have no give anywhere. Be careful what else you use the tongs for while drying the peppers; they will pass on some hotness. I used mine to retrieve some steamed broccoli and we could taste the hot pepper although it wasn’t bad. Some peppers were done before others. I took them out as they finished drying and left them on a plate to cool.

Now I’m saving these peppers in a air tight container. When I want one for chili or something, I’ll toast it just a little in the toaster oven until it darkens and then crush it and add it to the recipe.

I did this with a pot of chili and my one successfully dried pepper of the summer. It was sooo good. The chili taste was deep and rich and complex. Who knew chili could be complex?

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• bunch of spinach or greens (I’ve used mustard greens and kale)
• pasta for 6
• 1 cup onions, chopped
• 1 cup mushrooms, chopped
• 1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 4 tbsp butter, divided
• 6- 8 slices of Canadian bacon, chopped
• 8 oz cream cheese (or Neufchatel), softened.
• 2 cups chicken stock (I just use bouillon.)
• 1 cup parmesan cheese, grated or shredded.

1. Preheat oven to 350 and start the water for the pasta.
2. Blanch and chop greens and put aside. Here are some good blanching directions.
3. In a large pan, melt 2 tbsp of butter and saute mushrooms, onion, and garlic over medium heat until softened. Remove.
4. Brown Canadian bacon pieces in the same pan. Remove.
5. Add 2 tbsp of butter and the chicken stock to the pan. Whisk in the cream cheese. Add up to half of the parmesan, too.
6. Once these ingredients have blended, stir in the greens. Cook for 3-4 minutes.
7. Add the other ingredients back in.
8. Did you forget to make the pasta? (I often do.) Turn the pan to very low and cover. Stir it occasionally. It’ll be all right.
9. Once the pasta is done, mix it in the pot and then spread everything into a large casserole dish. Top with parmesan cheese. Bake for at least 20 minutes or until the cheese is brown and the pasta’s heated through.

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Last week I split a 10 pound bag of apples with my neighbor and decided to make apple butter.

I used this recipe from Simply Recipes. Everything went pretty smoothly, but the end product was a little sweet for me. I’m going to cut the sugar by at least a quarter next time. I may try reducing the water a little, too, because it wasn’t as thick as I was hoping even after cooking a long time.

One thing I really like about this recipe is you don’t have to peel or core the apples! You just wash and quarter them cutting out any bad spots. Cook in the water and vinegar till mushy and run them through the food mill. It took around 10 minutes to mill 5 lbs of apples.

Here’s what you end up with…

The smooth, buttery texture comes from using the food mill. Supposedy if you use a food processor you just get applesauce.

I cooked the apple butter for three hours over low and then a little longer over medium low while I sat in the kitchen with a book so I could stir frequently. It finally got thick enough for a wooden spoon to stand in, but not as thick as I was hoping.

I’m not a canner (yet), so I’m eating some now, giving some away now, and freezing the rest for later.

And here’s the result!

My favorite apple butter snack is a toasted raisin english muffin with yogurt cheese (or cream cheese) and apple butter. Mmmm.

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Got this idea from Pepper Joe! It was a combination of these two recipes.

• Hot peppers
• Medium onion
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 8 tbsp of red wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp of lime juice (or juice from 1 lime)
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 1/4 tbsp white pepper

1. Halve and seed peppers. (Wear gloves to do this or put at least one hand in a plastic vegetable bag. Life can be pretty miserable for hours if you get pepper juice on your hands.) Blanch in boiling water for 30 seconds.

2. Add an onion cut in eights and 6 garlic cloves to the boiling water and cook till tender (about 15 minutes).

3. Put peppers, onion, garlic, and everything in a blender. Blend until saucy.

My peppers were pretty mild so next time, I’m going to leave some of the seeds in.

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From Country Living

Summer Squash Tian – 6 servings

2 yellow squash, cut into 1/4″ rounds on bias
2 zucchini, cut into 1/4″ rounds on bias
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp chopped basil
2 tbsp lemon juice (1 lemon)
1 tbsp lemon zest (same 1 lemon)
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp coarse salt
2 tbsp pine nuts, toasted and chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Preheat grill or grill pan to medium high. Toss the squash and zucchini with the olive oil and grill the rounds until golden brown – about 3 minutes each side. Remove squash and zucchini and cool on wire rack. Toss squash and zucchini together with the basil, lemon juice, lemon zest, cheese, and salt. Transfer to a 1 1/2-quart casserole and bake until the squash and zucchini mixture is heated through – about 15-20 minutes. Sprinkle the pine nuts over the casserole and serve warm.

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From Summer Express: 101 Simple Meals Ready in 10 Minutes or Less

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51. Put a stick of butter and a handful of pine nuts in a skillet. Cook over medium heat until both are brown. Toss with cooked pasta, grated Parmesan and black pepper.

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Ta-da!

Don’t believe me? Try it. Oh, and I only use half a stick of butter for three of us. The fresh Parmesan and cracked pepper are not optional. Somehow it all comes together perfectly.

Why I love this recipe

Its haiku-like simplicity. I’ve threatened to decorate my kitchen by painting the recipe on the wall.

It times itself beautifully. The butter and pine nuts brown at the just same time – about ten minutes. And that’s if you just take the butter out of the fridge and literally throw it on to the skillet with the pine nuts. But make sure to keep tossing the pine nuts during the ten minutes so they brown evenly.

Ten minutes, you say? Why, that’s how long it takes to cook up a mess of spaghetti! So you boil the water for pasta, put the pasta in, set the timer for ten minutes, put the butter and the pine nuts in the skillet. That way the pasta comes out just before the pine nuts are ready.

It’s got butter and pasta, for Pete’s sake! So maybe you can’t eat it everyday unless you’re training for London in 2012. But if you’re eating good vegetables from your CSA all week, why not splurge? We also eat less meat now that we eat more vegetables. I intend to make up for that with butter and pasta.

So, what’s your favorite recipe of all time?

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I love tabouli! It’s a good healthy appetizer for entertaining. Or you can just eat it with a spoon out of a bowl if you’re me.

Here’s my recipe. Note that it doesn’t use cucumbers or tomatoes because I don’t like them. I also go light on the bulgar wheat compared to most recipes.

Soaking the bulgar takes an extra 30 minutes or so up front. But that’s okay because it will take you a while to chop all that parsley.

1/2 cup bulgar wheat
2 cups chopped fresh parsley
1 clove of minced garlic (optional)
onion (2 or 3 green onions if you have them. Otherwise, mince half a small onion.)
Add diced tomatoes and cucumbers here, if you must.

For the dressing:
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (2 to 3 lemons)
1/2 cup olive oil (add more to taste)
1 tbsp pepper
salt to taste

Soak bulgar in 1/2 cup of very hot water for 30 minutes. Drain the excess water and squeeze dry.

Combine bulgar, parsley, garlic, and onion in a medium bowl.

Mix dressing ingredients together. Taste the dressing and add more stuff if necessary. Stir into parsley mix. If it tastes overdressed that’s probably okay. In the fridge it will meld more and some of the dressing will sink to the bottom of the bowl.

Chill and serve with pita.

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Making pesto

Pesto is yummy and very useful. It freezes beautifully. Somebody you know probably has too much basil come late summer/early fall. Relieve them of it (well before the first frost) and then invite them over for a pasta dinner this winter.

Try this recipe from from Simply Recipes.

• 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts
• 3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced (optional)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 Combine the basil in with the pine nuts, pulse a few times in a food processor. (If you are using walnuts instead of pine nuts and they are not already chopped, pulse them a few times first, before adding the basil.) Add the garlic, pulse a few times more.

2 Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula. Add the grated cheese and pulse again until blended. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Makes 1 cup.

Freezing pesto

If you’re freezing pesto, make sure to freeze it in small containers so you can get to just what you need. Some people freeze pesto in ice cube trays and then store the cubes in freezer bags. Then you just need a cube per serving. I’ve defrosted pesto overnight in the fridge and in an hour or so on the counter.  Both ways worked fine.

Using pesto

Add to freshly cooked pasta.

Toast on good bread.

Try it on pita crisps.

Add chicken. Here’s an interesting pesto recipe that I haven’t tried yet. You smear chicken breasts with pesto and then bake them until the chicken’s cooked. Sounds good.

From the New York Times picnic recipes…
“Cook peeled shrimp; little ones are best. Toss with pesto: lots. Put on small rolls. (In fact: cook anything; toss with pesto: lots. Put on small rolls.)”

Other pestos

Pesto doesn’t have to be basil. Play around with other herbs you like. I’ve heard of people doing it with cilantro (which I’m not terribly fond of). I bet it’s good for chicken dishes. Parsley would probably work, too. (Unfortunately, parsley in my house inevitably winds up as tabouli.)

Anybody have ideas for other pestos?

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This is a cool way to use a bunch of Italian herbs.

Pita crisps

pita bread
olive oil
chopped oregano, basil, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, chives, garlic, and/or parsley
shaved parmesan
salt and pepper (optional)

Preheat oven to 375. Cut pita in to quarters and then split them, making 8 pieces per round.
Brush pieces with olive oil and spread them out on a baking sheet.
Top with chopped herbs, cheese, salt and pepper. Bake for 7 minutes or so. They are done with the edges get brown, and the cheese is melted.

I’ve tried different things with the basic idea of baking pita brushed in olive oil: fresh tomatoes and onions, cooked up tomatoes and onions (sort of like bruschetta), and pesto. It’s all good, but my favorite is still the simple herbs, oil, and parmesan recipe. Heck, I’ve even made crisps with just olive oil and sea salt – mmmm!

You can also buy and freeze pita bread when it’s on sale. Defrost it in the fridge overnight before baking it.

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We made up “pita crisps” one night when we needed a light supper but didn’t have much except some leftover pita from a Lebanese restaurant and some herbs growing in the garden. So this dish wouldn’t have happened if we’d been fully stocked or interested in going to the grocery store. I think we’re anxious about not giving our families enough. But do we sometimes deprive them of life’s serendipities? What about the confidence that they can “make do” and be just fine? If the meal’s light but healthy, I tell myself there’s always ice cream if people are still hungry later. To my surprise, everyone’s usually fine (although they still want ice cream).

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