Soba Noodles with Tofu

The tofu kind of looks like croutons, but it's not.

I realized this was the first time I've ever prepared tofu. I used the Liz Thompson method of freezing the tofu, thawing it in the fridge, then slicing it into 4 slabs and sandwiching it between two plates lined with dish towels. I then place about 4 Norton Anthologies on top and maybe a Bible. I left it to drain for about twenty minutes while I prepared the broth.

The recipe called for several cups of water, but I used broth. The broth was infused with ginger, scallions, and garlic. The original recipe calls for removing these, but I did not. If I made this recipe again, I would definitely do this. The ginger was a little intense and I couldn't tell if I liked it or not.

Here are the ingredients:

Soba Noodles with Tofu in Ginger Broth (adapted from Body and Soul)
Serves 4 (I don't know what they consider a serving to be because it took us several days to eat all this)

- 8 Scallions (1 bunch approx.). Separate the green and white parts and loosely chop both.
- 2-3 ounces fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 1/4 – 1/2 Teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 8 ounces of soba noodles
- 1 package (14 ounces) extra-firm tofu
- 1 head baby bok choy, roughly chopped (I used two)
- 4 ounces snap peas (about 1.5 cups) trimmed and halved (I didn't measure mine, just used the package that I had)
- 1 red serrano pepper or red pepper, thinly sliced (I used one of my frozen Thai chilies)
- 1 Tablespoon soy sauce (I used shoyu)
- Salt and pepper (I didn't add any, actually)
- Canola or Veg oil for cooking the tofu (I used olive oil)
- Toasted sesame seeds for garnish (original recipe calls for black sesame seeds)

I also added a red bell pepper because I thought it needed a use.

1. Make the broth, add the scallions, ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Let simmer for 20 minutes. Discard solids.

2. While the broth is simmering, prepare the tofu and sesame seeds:

For the tofu: Cut thoroughly drained tofu into small chunks. Heat about 4 Tablespoons of oil (just enough to cover the bottom of a nonstick pan) over high heat. Once it’s hot add your tofu. Let it cook for a few minutes on each side.

Remove the tofu to a paper towel to drain off some of the extra oil.

3. Toast the sesame seeds by adding them to a dry skillet and put them over medium heat. This should only take a minute.

4. After the broth has simmered and the solids have been discarded, add the soy sauce and soba noodles. Cook the noodles as per the package instructions, about 5 minutes. Add the rest of the veggies and cook about 2-3 minutes.

5. Ladle into bowls and top with tofu and toasted sesame seeds.

This was quite nice and perfect for the chilly nights we've been having. I think it'd even be great without the tofu.

Enjoy in the company of a sleepy-eyed cat:

Momos

We were lucky enough to visit our dear friends Parker & Rachel in Washington, D.C. at the end of July. Parker is one of Mark's childhood friends and has always been close with his family, so much so that we joke that he or we are "Adjunct Family." Fran, his mom, is originally from Paris, TN, so we immediately bonded over the West TN connection. Fran Cohen is one of the most amazing cooks I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. The smell of her kitchen should be bottled and sold. I've always made special exception to eat anything I was offered by Fran Cohen, even lamb, which the idea of usually doesn't sit well with me. Heck, I'd go as far as to say that I'd eat a mayo-laden salad if she served it to me. I don't question Fran's food.

Fran would probably never offer me a mayo-laden dish as Parker has many, potentially life-threatening allergies: eggs, dairy, mushrooms, seafood, and nuts...I don't think I'm leaving any of them out. This, obviously, isn't great for Parker as he has to go to great lengths to explain his allergies to waiters/waitresses in restaurants. As I eschew eggs, dairy, and seafood (I have really tried to like it!), I am extremely empathetic to Parker's situation. I know first hand how blatantly uninformed and unapologetic some waiters/waitresses can be. Of course, Parker's situation is more serious, but geez, not everyone wants their food covered in white dairy. It's a treacherous, Ranch-obsessed world we're living it, don't blame me for asking about your "special sauce"!

Okay, that might be a bit of a mini-rant, but I've just had horrible experiences trying to avoid over-the-top dairy in my lifetime.

Anyway, we had a lovely time with Parker and Rachel in D.C. They put us up, drove us around, and made sure we hit up the best restaurants in D.C. That should be a post of its own and I might get around to that. I had one of the best meals of my life at Oyamel...appropriately enjoyed just before we visited the Holocaust museum (I figured I'd never want to eat again after that experience).

I don't think we experienced a bad meal in D.C. Rachel, like Fran, is an extremely knowledgeable and accomplished foodie. We spent our final night in town talking and preparing food. She's the only gal I know, other than me of course, who gets excited thinking about the possibility of making her own tomato paste. Hopefully we'll one day live in the same city and we'll spend many hours in the kitchen being food nerds together.

We talked about Rachel doing some guest posts here, Parker-friendly, sometimes vegan versions of the recipes I post.

Anyway, thanks to the Cohen's, we were introduced to Momos. They served as a bookend meal for the trip. On our first night in town, we went to a Nepalese restaurant where we tried several different types of momos that they picked out for us. My favorite of which was a beef filled momo served in a spicy tomato sauce. Rachel recreated the meal for us on Saturday night.

This recipe is her own creation and it is divine:
Momo dipping sauce
Recipe by Rachel Cohen

¼ c. olive oil (or less, depending on taste)
½ a large onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 ½ tsp. tumeric
½ tsp. cumin
½ tsp. ground cardamom
1 15oz. can tomatoes, undrained
½ c. cilantro, chopped

Heat a large saucepan over medium heat, then add the olive oil and onion. Cook the onion until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for two minutes. Ad the tumeric, cumin, and cardamom and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the can of tomatoes along with their juices. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to medium-low and cook for 15-20 minutes, until the liquid is mostly reduced. Add the cilantro and cook for two minutes. Remove from heat and allow sauce to cool. Pour cooled sauce into a food processor and process until mostly smooth.

For the filling, she used this recipe:
Meat Momo Filling
from Taste of Nepal by Jyoti Pathak

2 ½ lbs ground beef, lamb, or whatever you prefer
1 c. cilantro, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped (about 1 c.)
4-5 scallions (both white and green parts), finely chopped
3 fresh chilies, chopped (seeds removed if you don’t do spicy)
2 T. vegetable oil (use only if the meat is very lean)
4 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 ½ tsp. garam masala
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
½ tsp. ground tumeric

Note: please, in order to avoid injury, use gloves when chopping the chilies. Just buy a box of disposable gloves and don’t sass. I’ve found that washing my hands afterward is never enough. Their are always some lingering burning juices! Though it makes for funny stories when someone touches a sensitive area with pepper hands, the pain is very intense. Don’t inflict it on loved one…or even enemies for that matter, I guess.

Tip: chop the chilies last, keeping the gloves on for mixing the meat. This way you don’t have to take your rings off, etc.

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients and ½ c. of water. Cover the bowl and let it rest for 10 minutes, at room temperature, allowing the flavors to blend.

Rachel will now explain how to put it all together…

Assembling the momos: We use dumpling wrappers made from flour and water that we find at an Asian grocery near our apartment. You might be able to find egg roll wrappers at your grocery store, which I think might work—we don’t use them because Parker is allergic to eggs. (wf note: I use "gyoza wrappers" found in the frozen section of my Asian market. I buy a couple of packages and keep them in the freezer. The same is true for the chilies, put them in a zip lock in the freezer and take them out as you need them. My Asian market sells a massive amount of chilies for really cheap in the fresh produce section. Also, it'd be good to keep your garam masala in the freezer as well, as you probably don't use it very often).

Holding a wrapper in one hand, place about 1 tablespoon of filling in the center and use the other hand to gather the edges and seal the stuffing inside by squeezing the edges tightly (wf note: I fill a small bowl of water and keep it beside my “assembly” area. I dip my finger in and cover the outside border of the wrappers—I’ve found this helps to seal them). Take care not to stuff it too full, or it will leak. Keep the filled momos and the unfilled wrappers covered with a damp cloth or paper towel.

Spray a steamer tray with cooking spray. Fill the base of the steamer with 3 to 4 inches of water and bring it to a full boil over medium-high heat. Place the momos in the steamer basket (don’t let them touch or they’ll stick together and fall apart when you try to separate them), set over water, cover and steam for 10 minutes. I have found that using a rubber or silicone spatula to gently lift the momos from the basket seems to work well to keep them from tearing apart when you transfer them to a plate.

These momos are excellent. We got home from D.C. late Sunday; Monday night we had momos for dinner. We've made this dish 3 times since and that's saying a lot given that we hardly do repeats in our house. The recipe above makes a ton of momos. The other night we scaled it down and only used 1 lb. of ground beef (our preference) and had enough for dinner and lunch the next day.

Momos are great dinner party food. A month or so ago we hosted a really successful get-together that couldn't have been easier. I simply made the fillings: a meat and a veggie, and everyone wrapped the momos together. I wish I had pictures, but that was during the interim of no camera. Kids got creative with their wrapping skills. We had team veg on one table and team meat on the other. It was real sweet.

The veg filling went like this:
Tarkaari Ko Momo
Mixed Vegetable Filling
Also from Taste of Nepal by Jyoti Pathak

2 tab. Vegetable oil
1 c. onion (1 medium)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tab. Ginger, minced
1 ½ tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
½ tsp. ground tumeric
1/8 tsp. black pepper
½ head cabbage, shredded (2 c.)
2 c. fresh spinach, coarsely chopped (I used swiss chard)
1 med. Carrot, shredded (1 c.)
1 c. cauliflower florets, cut into ½ in. pieces (I used more chard and cabbage just because they needed to be used)
1 medium potato, peeled, boiled, and finely chopped (1 c.) (I think sweet potato would be great)
1 tsp. salt

1. Heat oil over med-high heat. When oil is hot, add onion and garlic, cook 3-4 minutes.
2. Add ginger, coriander, cumin, cayenne, tumeric, and black pepper. Stir for 30 seconds.
3. Add cabbage, carrot, spinach, cauliflower, potato, and salt. Continue cooking and stir until the liquid evaporates and the mixture is nearly dry. This step is important so that the filling will not soak through the wrapper.
4. Cool until room temperature.

The veg filling was oh so spicy, not too much for me, but you might scale back the spice if you aren't into that kind of thing. You can really use any assortment of veggies...whatever you have around.

I haven't made the following recipe, but wanted to present it as an option:
Tofu Momo
Also from Taste of Nepal by Jyoti Pathak

2 tab. Vegetable oil
1 med. Onion, finely chopped (1 c.)
4 c. chopped fresh mushrooms (about 1 ½ lb.)
2 c. firm tofu, chopped into small chunks
2 med. Red potatoes, peeled, boiled, and finely chopped (2 c.)
1 small red or green bell pepper (1 c.)
2 hot green chilies, finely chopped (wear gloves!)
2 med. Garlic cloves, minced
1 ½ tsp. ginger, minced
¼ c. cilantro, finely chopped
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. cumin, ground
¼ tsp. coriander, ground

1. Heat oil over med-high heat. Add onion and cook until it softens, 3-4 minutes.
2. Add mushrooms, tofu, potatoes, bell pepper, green chilies, garlic and ginger. Cook stirring frequently until all the water has evaporated.
3. Add cilantro, salt, cumin, and coriander.
4. Let cool to room temperature.

So that's momos. They're great. We're planning to make them for sibs weekend in two weeks!

Spring Rolls Two Ways & A Birthday Picnic

Oh my, sometimes the best things we put on our table are the simplest. I was craving some deluxe spring rolls, fresh not fried.


potential fillings: cucumber, cilantro, romaine lettuce, avocado, mango, carrots, scallions, and peanuts. Sauce options: a delicious tamarind shoyu sauce from 101 Cookbooks & some peanut sauce from a bottle (very god actually--Whole Foods brand)

You can't seem to find fresh spring rolls anywhere around here. If only I could be as lucky as my friend Amanda who lives right down the street from the best Thai place ever: Jasmine.

Making spring rolls at home is easy and fun, though. We really should do it more often. I like to make a big platter of potential fillings and everyone (in this case it was just me and Mark) builds their own, so to speak. On this particular evening, Mark opted for massive spring roll burritos, filling them to their breaking point, which required the use of many napkins. I had trouble rolling mine as well, so I chopped everything up and ate with a fork thinking of ways to turn it into a salad. I guess it had been a while since I had printed the sauce recipe, because it is actually for a salad!

The sauce was incredible and I think it'd be a great one to have around for a stir-fry.
Tamarind Dipping Sauce
from 101 Cookbooks

2 tablespoons natural sugar, preferably maple sugar or evaporated cane juice
6 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon tamarind concentrate
1 tablespoon shoyu
1 teaspoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon finely slivered seeded red serrano or Thai bird chile

Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan, and warm over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Remove the pan from the heat and mix in the lime juice, tamarind concentrate, and shoyu, stirring until smooth. Let the mixture cool slightly, and then stir in the cilantro, garlic, and chile. The sauce should be tangy and slightly sour. The sauces will keep, covered and refrigerated, for up to 5 days.

Makes 1/2 cup.

When Bethany invited us to her birthday picnic at Arrington Vineyards, I knew I wanted to make the salad with the roasted shallot peanut sauce mentioned in the original post. Bethany's birthday parties are always a good time. Last year we had a picnic at a winery in Shelbyville and fabulous meal prepared by Dylan. I'm still thinking about that Thai Basil ice cream!

Anywho, here's what this year looked like:




Israeli Couscous salad prepared by Dylan


Lentil Salad


My interpretation of Heidi's Spring Roll Salad with Roasted Shallot Peanut Sauce


B'day Cake

Today was not a good day for a picnic as it was 56 degrees and raining, but it was a nice set up as they had outdoor heaters at the winery. I'd definitely like to go back on a nice day. This winery was very picturesque. Not to mention it's owned by Kix Brooks...oh, Brooks & Dunn, you've been good to us.

Steak & Peanut Butter

My mentor teacher was so excited when she saw my lunch the other day. She exclaimed, "Oh, that looks and smells so good. Is it pot roast?" No, I tell her, it's steak and peanut butter. I realize that sounds kinda gross and she immediately becomes uninterested. I didn't mean it that way, but it's true. It is steak and peanut butter and it's pretty good.

With my teaching responsibilities dying down, I've come back to recipe reading. I couldn't be more pleased because for a while I thought I might never be inspired by cooking again.

I do think it was a good experience to learn how to cook like "real people" with simple no-nonsense recipes for chicken breasts and a requisite rice cooker (I love this appliance...a wedding gift from Sandy Sprankles--my favorite name ever. It automatically shifts itself to warm once the rice is cooked. You don't have to watch it or time it).

I found this recipe in an old issue of Everyday Food.

Skirt Steak & Bok Choy Stir-Fry

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 tablespoon honey
2 garlic cloves, minced
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 pound skirt steak, thinly sliced crosswise
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 large head bok choy, cut 1 inch thick crosswise
4 medium carrots, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced on bias
cooked rice, for serving (We had brown rice seasoned with Asian garlic and chili paste)
1/4 cup peanuts, chopped

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, mix soy sauce, vinegar, peanut butter, honey, and garlic; season with pepper.
2. In a bowl, toss steak with cornstarch; season with salt and pepper. In a large nonstick skillet with a lid, heat oil over medium-high. Add 1/2 of steak; cook, tossing, until browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate; repeat with remaining steak.
3. To skillet, add soy mixture, bok choy, and carrots. Cover and cook, tossing occasionally until tender, about 5 minutes. Return steak to skillet; cook until heated through, about 5 minutes. Serve over rice; sprinkle with peanuts.

I loooooove bok choy. The spines are very celery-like in texture, but without the acrid taste of actual celery. I kind of freaked out when I realized the stir-fry to sauce ratio and doubled the sauce. I do not think this was a wise decision. It was still really good, but I think the flavors would have been more subtle and less peanut butter and steak if I'd had some patience and taken into account that the bok choy would obviously wilt down.

This reaction came from my experience with recipes from the Everyday Food magazine. I absolutely adore this publication, but it's mostly for the stylistic elements of it. The photography charms the pants off me, but the recipes are very simple and sometimes I wonder why they take up space with the repeated information (I've been a subscriber for a little too long, but you let an issue show up late and I'm calling their customer service department immediately).

Sometimes simplicity is best, but I adhere to the advice of Bobby Flay (I can't believe I'm invoking his name; I can't stand to see or hear him. I will not tell you what I think he looks like.): cook it less and season it more.

We also had some lovely Asian Cabbage Slaw (also from Everyday Food):


Ingredients:
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 milliliters rice vinegar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
2 teaspoons sugar
Salt
1/2 small head shredded Savoy or green cabbage (I used green)
1 cup fresh cilantro leaves
4 scallions, cut into matchsticks
1 grated carrot
1/2 fresh jalapeno, minced

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, and 2 teaspoons sugar; season with salt and whisk. To dressing, add 1/2 small head shredded Savoy or green cabbage, 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves, 4 scallions, cut into matchsticks, 1 grated carrot, and 1/2 fresh jalapeno, minced, and toss to combine.

This was delectable...and only gets better with age. I adore raw cabbage. Pickled foods like this are good for digestion. The macros have a dish like this with every meal.