Quinoa & Broccoli Casserole

I survived another Meatless Monday thanks to this cheesy concoction...

Recipe

3/4 c quinoa
2 green onions
1 c vegetable stock
1 tbsp pesto
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 c spinach
8 oz mozzarella cheese, cubed
1/4 c Parmesan cheese, grated
8 oz broccoli florets
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 400.  Whisk together your stock, pesto, cornstarch, and some salt, and bring to a boil.  Combine the quinoa, green onion, liquids, spinach, and most of the cheese in a baking dish and pop in the oven for about 30 minutes.  Toward the end, steam (or microwave) your broccoli, then mix it into the casserole and sprinkle the last of the cheese on top.  Cook another 5 minutes, and pop under the broiler for a couple if you want to brown it up.

Notes

As with most recipes, I went in expecting to halve everything, but as I was measuring out the quinoa that looked like an awful lot so I about quartered it instead.  You don't have to balance things too closely - I added lots of spinach and definitely went heavy on the cheese.  The cheese did kind of take things over - deliciously melty, especially in comparison to the crisper grains - but you can dial it down to make it healthier or whatever.  Very tasty but not quite as filling as I hoped... so pretty good for your typical vegetarian dish...

Caldo Verde

It wasn't pretty, apparently - not even a shot on goal until extra time ?! - but Portugal beat Croatia to move on in Euro 2016.  My sympathies may have been more with the Croats, but it still felt like an appropriate occasion to try out a new Portuguese recipe from ATK:

Recipe

1/2 lb chorizo, cut into 1/2" pieces
1/2 onion, chopped fine
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4" pieces
2 c broth
2 c water
1/2 lb collard greens, chopped
1 tsp vinegar
olive oil, red pepper flakes, salt & pepper

Lightly brown the chorizo in some olive oil, then set aside.  Next, cook the onion, garlic, red pepper, salt & pepper for a few minutes, then add the potatoes, broth, and water.  Bring to a boil, then simmer until the potatoes are tender.

Blend about 1/2 c solids and 1/2 c broth.  In your pot, add the collard greens and simmer about 10 minutes; re0add the chorizo and give it another 10.

Add a couple tbsp olive oil to the blender and process until smooth.  Stir into the soup with vinegar, and serve!

Notes

This actually turned out pretty similar to an old favorite: stewed collards and chorizo.  In a large part, it was because of my lack of a blender - I just mashed the potatoes at about that point of the recipe.  I also used ground chorizo instead of hard sausage - wonder how much of a difference that might make...  Texture aside, caldo verde adds potatoes for a bit more heartiness, but doesn't help the broth quite as much.  It made a couple solid dinners, but writing this, it's pretty clear I need to try again closer to the authentic recipe...

Pancakes Part III: Cornmeal

After a kitchen mishap (mostly my own fault but a little on a poorly-designed cornmeal container too), I have a Ziploc bag of cornmeal to kill.  Google furnished an array of pancake recipes, varying in cornmeal-flour ratio and other ingredients.  Tough to choose on a sleepy and hungry weekend morning!  I went with this.

Recipe

1/3 c flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/8 c cornmeal
1 egg
1 1/8 c buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
sugar, cinnamon (optional)

Whisk together your dry ingredients, then your wet ingredients, then together.  Cook scoops of up to about 1/4 c in a hot pan.

Notes

What's with the 1/8 c increments?  Sadly, it seemed to be a feature of all of the recipes I found.  This one included some extra flavors like vanilla and cinnamon.  The key takeaway seems to be that the breakdown of ingredients is not set in stone, and you can vary as you like.  As for the cornmeal pancake concept overall?  The big difference is definitely texture, with more crunch than the other options.  Mine were a bit bland on their own, really needed some syrup.  Good one to keep in mind though!

Pesto Salmon Foil Bake

Fresh seafood may not be as accessible here in the heart of the US of A, but there are still some ways to get your fix.  With a few salmon fillets thawing in the fridge and the end of a package of pesto, the internet turned up this intriguing concept, from Jamie Oliver via here...

Recipe

2 salmon fillets
two handfuls green beans
grape tomatoes
pesto
a lemon
olive oil
salt & pepper

Preheat your oven to 400.  Boil your green beans about 3 minutes, then drain and toss with some olive oil and salt & pepper.  Make nice little piles on two sheets of tin foil.  Salmon goes on top, spread on your pesto, and squeeze some lemon juice over.  Slice some grape tomatoes in half, toss with more olive oil, and they go on top.  Wrap up your foil and bake 20-25 minutes.

Notes

I'm not entirely sold on the difference the tin foil makes.  Other recipes basically just said put pesto on salmon and bake.  With the foil, it's hard to tell how done your salmon is, and then you have to unwrap everything while it's still hot and you're hungry...  But everything came out very tasty, with the flavors melding nicely.  So kind of fun, worth doing again!

Vietnamese Caramel Chicken

This was one of the more straightforward recipes to pop up from America's Test Kitchen recently, but still different, and educational I guess...

Recipe

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, halved
1 tbsp baking soda
7 tbsp sugar
1/4 c fish sauce
2 tbsp grated ginger
2 tsp cornstarch

1. Mix the baking soda with 1 1/4 c water, and coat the chicken.  Let sit for 15 minutes, then rinse and drain.

2. Mix the sugar with 3 tbsp water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Once it's golden, reduce the heat to medium low and swirl until it's dark (and 400 degrees or close to it, if you're equipped to measure it).  Add (carefully) 3/4 c hot water, and dissolve over medium heat.

3. Add your caramel, fish sauce, ginger, and chicken to a skillet, cover, and simmer 30-40 minutes.  Flip the chicken halfway through.

4. Remove the chicken and boil the sauce to reduce it down.  Mix the cornstarch with a tbsp of water, and mix into the sauce to thicken it.  Season with pepper and serve over the chicken and sides.

Notes

Despite the baking soda rigmarole (apparently to protect the juiciness and tenderness), this is actually a pretty simple dish.  Very little prep required - a couple slices of the chicken, some grating of ginger, and I think that's it!  So it leaves you plenty of time for sides - ATK recommends serving with steamed broccoli and white rice.

The recipe promises that the dish is "intensely seasoned."  I was a little underwhelmed, though.  To be fair, I was trying to halve the recipe and kind of eyeballed the fish sauce and ginger.  Not that it wasn't tasty, in an interesting way!  Not nearly as sweet as I expected - I guess I did the caramel pretty well.  I'd probably add some crushed red pepper next time for a little more kick - yes, definitely worth doing again.  (Got lots of sugar & cornstarch to use!)

Pancakes Part II: Oatmeal

Next pancakes endeavor: oatmeal-based batter.  Recipe courtesy of MyFitnessPal.

Recipe

1/4 c flour
1 c quick-cooking oats
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1 c buttermilk
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 egg

Whisk together dries in a bowl, wets in another bowl, then together.  Get your skillet to medium heat, and add small scoops of batter (three per batch for me).  Cook until tops are bubbly, then flip and finish until bottoms are golden brown.  Repeat as necessary with the rest of the batter.

Notes

This one took a few attempts on my part, so you have the benefit of my trial and error.  The batter comes out pretty moist, watery even.  So I had to be patient and not try to cram too much batter into the skillet to speed up the cooking process.  Make your pancakes small!  Don't let them pool by the edges of the skillet - they won't cook through evenly.  And flip decisively, since they'll still be a little gooey even when the bottom is well done.

Follow these guidelines and you get some tasty pancakes, interesting texture, and the glow of a fitness app-approved healthy breakfast.

Pancakes Part I: Whole Wheat

Who doesn't like pancakes?  Or have fond memories of pancake day some weekend morning?  Sure, maybe they're not the healthiest breakfast option (especially not by paleo standards) but still a good option to have in your repertoire.  Plus, I happened across a few ways that at least appear to step up the health factor.  Here's the first, courtesy of America's Test Kitchen:

Recipe

2 c whole wheat flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 1/4 c buttermilk *substitution below
5 tbsp vegetable oil
2 eggs

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a big bowl, then hollow out a space in the center.  Whisk the wets in another bowl, then pour into the hollow and, yes, whisk everything all together.

Heat a nonstick (or well-seasoned cast-iron) skillet to medium.  Take small scoops of batter with a 1/4 c measuring cup, about three per batch.  Things to watch for: edges set, bottoms golden brown, bubbles beginning to break (a couple minutes).  Then flip, another minute or two, remove, and do another batch.

Notes

According to ATK, the point of the whole wheat flour isn't so much health as chemistry.  You can whisk as much as you want/feel compelled to, and you'll still get light, fluffy pancakes.  Less gluten bonding, obviously.  Can't speak to what went on at the molecular level in my batter, but my pancakes were appropriately light and fluffy!  Need to get the timing down (thus no picture), but worth coming back to.

* To sub one cup buttermilk: One tbsp vinegar, then the remainder of 1 c with regular milk.  Stir and let sit a few minutes.