Sesame Soba Noodle Salad

This recipe came from Women's Health magazine (October 2008), and tasted fantastic. It was even better today when I John and ate the leftovers for lunch. Plus, I was running late, so I had to take it with me to 1st Pres for the Foundations & Frameworks meeting,

I felt pretty cool sitting down and whipping out my chopsticks.

Sesame Soba Noodle Salad

8oz soba noodles
1 c frozen shelled edamame
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
1 1/2 c thinly sliced scallion
1/2 c chopped fresh mint
1 large orange
2 Tbsp white miso
3 Tbsp sesame oil
2 Tbps soy sauce
1/2 tsp crushed red-pepper flakes

1. Fill a 6-quart saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Add noodles and edamame and cook for 6 minutes.
2. Empty into a colander and rinse well with cold water. Drain and place in serving bowl.
3. Grate orange to produce half teaspoon fine zest. Juice orange to produce 3 Tbsp liquid. Place zest and juice in a small bowl and whisk in remaining ingredients, plus salt to taste. Pour dressing over noodle mixture.
4. Toss gently and refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow flavors to blend. Serve cold or a room temperature. Serves 6.

SB notes:

• I couldn't find soba noodles at Kroger (just udon), so I went to Fresh Market.
• I had some Minute Miso mix on-hand so I used that instead of just miso.
• Shredding carrots is a big P.A.I.N. with a box grater. I used 3 carrots, which was about right.
• I don't zest. I used 3 Tbsp Simply Orange orange juice, plus 1/4 tsp orange essence.
  

Cassoulet with Lots of Vegetables

Even my kids ate this (after I made them). Super-yum, from Mark Bittman, author of Food Matters. I got it out of Runner's World.

Cassoulet with Lots of Vegetables
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 pound Italian sausages, bone-in pork chops, confit dug legs, or duck breasts, or a combination (I just used a couple of boneless skinless chicken breasts)
1 Tbsp chopped garlic (I used minced)
2 leeks or onions, trimmed, washed, and sliced (I used leeks, white and light green)
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch lengths
3 celery stalks, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 medium zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch pieces, or 1 small head green cabbage, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (I used zucchini)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 cups chopped tomatoes, with their juice (canned worked great)
1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley leaves (I omitted)
1 Tbsp fresh chopped thyme leaves (I used 1/3 Tbsp dried)
2 bay leaves
4 cups cooked white beans, drained (I used canned canellini)
2 cups stock, red wine, or bean cooking liquid
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste (I forgot this)

1) Heat olive oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat, add the meat and cook, turning as needed, until the meat is deeply browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and drain off all but 2 Tbsp of fat (I didn't drain anything; there was almost nothing left).

2) Turn the heat to medium and add the garlic, leeks (or onions), carrots, celery, and zucchini or cabbage, and sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, their liquid, the reserved meat, and the herbs, and bring to a boil. Add the beans; bring to a boil again, stirring occasionally, then reduce the heat so the mixture bubbles gently but continuously. Cook for about 20 minutes, adding the liquid when the mixture gets thick and the vegetables are melting away.

3) Fish out the meat and remove the bones and skin as needed. (I just shredded the chicken). Chop into chunks and return to the pot along with the cayenne (oops!). Cook another minute or two to warm through, then taste, adjust as necessary, and serve.

Soup Box

I'm sure most of you do this, but I was telling my aerobics class, and some of them had not heard of it, so I thought I'd post it. I'm also sure that I will get more ideas from y'all - the real creative ones!

Growing up my mom always kept a soup box in the freezer. For us it was a large Tupperware box. Anytime she had a small amount of leftovers she'd add it to the box. That 1/4 cup of butter beans, or spaghetti sauce that was left with no noodles, rice, etc. - she'd add it to the box in the freezer. Eventually, you can take it out, add some stock or broth, maybe a can of diced tomatoes and have a large pot of soup. I've only done this a few times, because in all honesty - since there is only two of us, we can usually make any amount of leftovers work. But it has come in handy when we have a large amount of something and are tired of eating on it. After the third or fourth time, it can get old. I've added chicken, roast, all kinds of stuff, and it usually turns out pretty good.

Peach and Creme Fraiche (or Greek Yogurt) Pie

I found this recipe at another blog - Food goodness

from: Smitten Kitchen

Yum! This is really delicious and beautiful. I couldn't find creme fraiche, so I decided to take a risk and try Greek yogurt instead. It turned out fine. I don't know how different it would be with creme fraiche, but it was really tasty with the yogurt. I was wary about how the yogurt would take to baking, but it was totally fine. It didn't separate.... just kind of baked up firm. I also used a pre-made pie crust from the store, because I loathe making pie crusts.

1/2 recipe All-Butter, Really Flaky Pie Dough, chilled for at least an hour in the fridge (recipe on Smitten Kitchen's blog)

Streusel
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
3 to 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cold (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Filling
1 1/2 pounds ripe (4 to 5 medium) yellow peaches, pitted and quartered
2 to 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
5 tablespoons crème fraîche* (or Greek yogurt)


Prepare pie dough: Roll out pie dough (see Smitten Kitchen's page for a tutorial) to about 1/8-inch thick and fit into a regular (not deep dish) pie plate, 9 1/2 to 10 inches in diameter. Trim edge to 1/2 inch; fold under and crimp as desired. Pierce bottom of dough all over with a fork. Transfer to freezer for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400°F right before you take it out.

Make streusel: Stir confectioners’ sugar, baking powder, salt and three tablespoons flour together in a small bowl. Add bits of cold butter, and either using a fork, pastry blender or your fingertips, work them into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add additional flour as needed to get crumbly. Set aside.

Par-bake crust: Tightly press a piece of aluminum foil against frozen pie crust. From here, you ought to fill the shell with pie weights or dried beans, or you can wing it like certainly lazy people we know, hoping the foil will be enough to keep the crust shape in place. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove carefully remove foil and any weights you have used, press any bubbled-up spots in with the back of a spoon, and return the crust to the oven for another 5 to 8 minutes, or until it is lightly golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. Reduce oven temperature to 375°F.

[P.S. If you're not overly-concerned about "soggy bottoms" (in the words of Julia Child) you can save time by skipping the par-baking step. Given the light nature of the filling, odds are good that it would not become excessively damp even without the parbake.]

Make the filling: Sprinkle quartered peaches with sugar (two tablespoons will make a just-barely-sweeteened pie; add the other two for a still not overly-sweet but sweeter pie) and salt. Let sit for 10 minutes. Spread two tablespoons crème fraîche in bottom of par-baked pie shell, sprinkle with one-third of the streusel and fan the peach quarters decoratively on top. Dot the remaining three tablespoons of crème fraîche on the peaches and sprinkle with remaining streusel.

Bake the pie: Until the crème fraîche bubbles and the streusel is golden brown, about 50 minutes. Cover edge of crust with a strip of foil if it browns too quickly. Let cool on a wire rack at least 15 minutes before serving.

I (SK) stored this in the fridge, due to the crème fraîche, and found that I liked it even better cold, with the flavors better married.

* Make your own crème fraîche: It’s true! You can make a version of it at home, using these instructions.

I (Judith) used greek yogurt for a substitute for crème fraîche as suggested by Food goodness blog. This pie was good, but not great. I would like to try it again with crème fraîche to see if that made a big difference. By the way, this was a Martha Stewart recipe to begin with....and it is still on her website.