Mexican Corn Cakes

Mark Bittman has a new cookbook out about his eating philosophy, Vegan Before 6.  Now, I have to be honest, I find Bittman to be more than a little annoying at times.  I think he's spent so much of his life centered around food writing and the food industry that he doesn't really 'get' normal people.  For example, in the section on recommendations for people who don't like to cook, his advice is to just spend an hour a day cooking in the kitchen.  Hm.  Well, I love to cook, and I don't even spend that much time in the kitchen every single day.  For most people, it is simply not realistic, and it's certainly not necessary for a healthy diet!   I honestly also find the whole obsession with veganism being equated with healthy eating to be off-putting.  For some people, that may be what works for them (and more power to them!).  But, I completely fail to see how a chicken breast, a piece of salmon, and some low fat milk in your coffee are not completely healthy options for everyone else.  Okay, rant over!

That said, VB6 does have some tasty, healthy, and easy recipes in it, so it's worth having for that aspect.  These corn cakes are a great example.  The cakes themselves are vegan, and you can dress them up with any Mexican toppings you like - or, some fresh fruit and yogurt would be great as well for a sweet option.  I was impressed at how well the corn cakes held together without any egg to bind them, and I loved the bits of fresh corn in the cakes to keep things interesting.  We had this dish for brunch, but depending on the toppings you use, I think this could work for pretty much any meal.

Mexican Corn Cakes (adapted from Mark Bittman's VB6)
Serves 3-4

1 cup polenta
1/2 cup whole grain corn flour (such as Bob's Red Mill brand)
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
Boiling water (at least 2 cups)
1-1/2 T olive oil
Spray oil
1 cup fresh or frozen (thawed) corn kernels
To finish: refried beans, sour cream, avocado, and green onions

1. Heat the oven to warm (or whatever the lowest setting is).
2. Combine the polenta, corn flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.  Gradually whisk in 1-1/2 cups of boiling water.  Let the mixture sit until the cornmeal absorbs the water, 5-10 minutes.  Stir in the oil and more boiling water, until the mixture forms a loose batter (I used about 1/2 cup more, your mileage may vary).  Stir in the corn.
3. Put a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.  When the pan is hot, spray with a little oil.  Working in batches, spoon the batter into the pan.  When the bottoms are brown, carefully flip (the cakes are somewhat fragile).  After the second side is browned, transfer to a plate and stash in the oven until all the cakes are cooked.
4. Serve topped with refried beans, sour cream, avocado, and green onions - or your favorite Mexican toppings.

Bell Peppers Stuffed with Potatoes, Feta, and Mint Pesto (and) Carrot-Cashew Salad

Last week, I promised a recipe for mint pesto in my post on fresh mint ice cream - and here it is!  I recently got the new River Cottage Veg cookbook, and was totally wowed - so many fantastic veggie-based recipes to choose from! Everything here looks fresh, delicious, and full of flavor.  Since we'd gotten two big bunches of mint in our CSA, I knew the first thing I made would involve mint.  I totally fell in love with the recipe for vegan mint pesto.  I'm generally not a huge pesto fan - it's okay, but not my favorite.  Switching out the basil for mint and the pine nuts (so expensive!) for almonds really makes this sauce a winner for me.  Because there's no cheese in the pesto, it keeps longer in the fridge and also combines well with dishes that do have cheese in them without clashing.

Here, the pesto is combined with boiled new potatoes and feta cheese, and then stuffed inside bell peppers for a totally delicious vegetarian main.  The stuffed peppers really felt special - I could definitely see making them for a holiday or other special occasion when you want to make sure vegetarians don't feel left out.  I will say that the amount of feta cheese in the filling is high - it's about a 1:1 ratio of potatoes to feta, and I think next time I probably aim for twice as many potatoes as feta.  Either way, because feta plays a starring role here, you'll want to make sure you get a good quality, fresh feta - not the kind that is pre-crumbled in a plastic tub.

Alongside the stuffed peppers is a fantastic carrot salad.  You all know that I love my carrot salads - they're so easy to make, and leftovers keep way longer than green salads.  This particular carrot salad is a great one - orange segments make it a little sweet, while cumin seeds add a smoky note and cashews provide a nutty crunch.  Definitely a winner!

Bell Peppers Stuffed with Potatoes, Feta, and Mint Pesto (adapted from River Cottage Veg: 200 Inspired Vegetable Recipes)
Serves 3-4

For the pesto:
1/3 cup lightly toasted almonds
A large bunch of mint, leaves picked off
1 garlic clove, chopped
Finely grated zest of one lemon
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
Pinch of sugar
1/3 cup olive oil
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt and pepper

For the peppers:

7 ounces small new potatoes

3-4 bell peppers (use less if you have large peppers)

Olive oil
7 ounces good-quality feta cheese

1. Make the pesto.  Put the almonds, mint, garlic, and lemon zest in the food processor.  Pulse until finely chopped.  Add the mustard and sugar, and pulse a few times.  With the motor running, stream in the olive oil to create a thick puree.  Squeeze in the lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper.  Taste and adjust seasoning.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add the potatoes and boil for 8-12 minutes, until tender.  Drain and let cool.
3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
4. Halve the peppers and remove the seeds and ribs.  Rub the outsides with oil, and then place in a roasting pan.
5. Halve or quarter the potatoes, and place in a bowl.  Cut the feta into 1/2 inch cubes and add to the potatoes.  Add about half the pesto and toss until well-combined.  Add more pesto until you get the consistency you like.  Taste, and adjust for salt and pepper.
6. Spoon the filling into the peppers.  Bake 40-45 minutes.  (If the tops look like they're getting too brown  before the peppers are fully roasted, cover with tin foil.)  Serve hot.

Carrot-Cashew Salad (adapted from River Cottage Veg: 200 Inspired Vegetable Recipes)
Serves 2-4

1/2 cup cashews
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 oranges, supremed, juice reserved
2-3 large carrots, peeled
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

1. Toast the cashews in a hot, dry skillet until they just begin to brown.  Add the cumin seeds, and toast for a minute more, until fragrant.  Transfer to a plate to cool.
2. Place the orange segments and and orange juice in a large bowl.  Grate the carrots using a large-holed grater, and add them to the bowl with the oranges.  Splash in a little oil, season with salt and pepper, and stir to combine.
3. Add the cashews and cumin, and toss again.  Taste and adjust for seasoning.

In other exciting news, we brought home a new cat over the weekend!  Leo is a super-snuggly love bug and he's been helping me write this post!  Here's a photo for your viewing pleasure:

Giant Meatballs in Marinara Sauce

I am a huge fan of meatballs, and these were no exception.  Rather than the usual pairing with spaghetti, these meatballs are big enough to stand on their own with some crusty bread on the side.  The whole dish sort of reminded me of deconstructed meatball subs - so much fun!

Although these meatballs were really delicious, making them was kind of a pain.  The meatballs really are giant - 1/4 pound each, or the size of a hamburger.  I initially thought this would make them easy - less meatballs to roll - but it turns out that giant meatballs don't really like to hold their shape in a frying pan!  This particular meatball mixture is pretty wet - and while this meant the final meatballs were moist and not-at-all dried out, they also ended up pretty misshapen!  These were good enough to make again, but next time I would use less liquid, and would also use a lower temperature to brown the meat - they were tricky to get in the pan and flip, and burned easily, so there wasn't a lot of time to fuss around with them.  A firmer meat mixture and lower temperature should solve both of these problems.

Despite the fact that the meatballs ended up sort of flattened and some of them got a bit burned, they were still super tasty!  They combined really well with the simple homemade marinara, and were perfect with crusty bread from our local student co-op.  The leftovers held up well, so I recommend making extras so you have some for lunch or dinner the next day.

Giant Meatballs in Marinara Sauce (adapted from What's for Dinner?: Delicious Recipes for a Busy Life)
Serves 4

For the sauce:
3 T olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped shallots
6 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 large sprigs of fresh thyme
1/2 cup dry white wine
Two 28-ounce cans whole tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup loosely packed torn fresh basil leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the meatballs:
2 ounces cubed crustless Italian or French bread
2/3 cup reduced-fat (2%) milk [I would reduce this to 1/3 cup next time]
1/2 cup finely chopped shallots
5 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 T chopped fresh thyme
2 T Dijon mustard
2 tsp kosher salt
1-1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 large egg
1 pound ground turkey
1 pound ground beef
1/4 cup olive oil
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to serve

1. Make the sauce.  Heat a large pot over medium heat and add the oil.  When the oil is hot, add the shallots and garlic, and cook until lightly browned, 2-3 minutes.  Add the thyme and the white wine and let reduce for a minute or so.
2. Add the tomatoes, crushing them up as you go. Bring to a simmer, and then reduce the heat to medium-low.  Simmer, uncovered, for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove the thyme, and puree the tomatoes with a stick blender if you want a smoother sauce.  Stir in the basil and season with salt and pepper.
3. While the sauce simmers, make the meatballs.  Combine the bread and milk in a large bowl, and let sit for five minutes.  Mush up the bread with your hands, and then add the shallots, garlic, parsley, thyme, mustard, salt, paprika, and egg.  Mix until everything is well combined.  Add the ground meats, and gently mix with your hands until everything is combined.  Form into 8 large meatballs.
4. Heat a large, heavy skillet over medium heat.  Add the oil.  When it's hot, add the meatballs (working in batches - I could fit in 4 meatballs at a time) and cook, turning occasionally, for about 12 minutes, or until browned all over. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain off any excess oil.
5. When the sauce is ready, add the meatballs and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until cooked through.
6. Spoon the meatballs and sauce into serving bowls, top with cheese, and serve hot.

Fresh Mint Ice Cream

We got two huge bunches of mint in our CSA, and I knew right away that I wanted to make mint ice cream with some of it (the rest went into a fantastic mint pesto, which I'll post soon!).  I sort of messed up this recipe, in that I didn't read down to see that after cooking the custard, you were supposed to add 1-1/2 cups heavy cream...so I just poured in the remaining 1/2 cup half-and-half that I had in the fridge, and called it a day.  I was a little worried, but luckily the ice cream was still really rich and delicious.  If you want the real Alice Waters deal, you can go ahead and add 1-1/2 cups of heavy cream in place of the 1/2 cup of half-and-half in step 4.

Either way, this ice cream has a really interesting flavor.  Fresh mint is delicious and so different than the peppermint extract you find in regular mint ice cream.  I loved the herbaceous, minty flavor - definitely something you won't find at the grocery, which to me is a big plus of making your own ice cream at home!  We enjoyed this with a simple vanilla cake.

Fresh Mint Ice Cream (adapted from The Art of Simple Food)
Makes about 1-1/2 pints

6 egg yolks
2 cups half-and-half, divided
2/3 cups sugar
1 large bunch fresh mint, leaves coarsely chopped

1. Place the yolks in a medium heat-proof bowl and whisk to break them up a bit.
2. Combine 1-1/2 cups of the half-and-half with the sugar and mint in a large saucepan.  Warm over medium heat until the cream begins to steam and small bubbles form at the edges - don't let it come to a full boil.  Remove from heat and let sit for 10-15 minutes.  Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer and press on the mint to extract as much cream as possible.  Return to the stove, and reheat until steaming.
3. Pour the hot cream into the yolks in a slow stream, whisking constantly.  Scrape back into the pot and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture coats the back of a spoon (1-2 minutes).
4. Strain the mixture into a clean bowl.  Whisk in the remaining 1/2 cup half-and-half.  Cover, and chill at least 4 hours, until very cold.
5. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the directions on your ice cream maker.

Vanilla Cake

This simple cake is delicious and hits all those 'comfort food' buttons - I think it tastes an awful lot like a less-artificial, homemade version of boxed white cake!  The technique here is interesting - the dry ingredients are creamed into the butter and oil until a dry, sandy mixture forms, and then milk and egg whites are beat in until a smooth, silky batter forms.  I'm no expert, but I think this creates a more tender crumb because the fat coats the flour and prevents the gluten from becoming too tough.  You can certainly use vanilla extract here for a whiter cake, but I really like the flecks of vanilla from using ground vanilla or the seeds from whole beans - it reminds me of vanilla bean ice cream!  I found this cake to be sweet enough that it didn't need any frosting, but it was excellent with a scoop of ice cream - I'll post my recipe for fresh mint ice cream later this week!

Vanilla Cake (adapted from Baking Bites, original recipe here)
Makes one 9-inch round cake

1 cup skim milk
6 egg whites
1-1/2 tsp ground vanilla (or vanilla extract)
2 cups all purpose flour
1-3/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
6 T softened butter
6 T vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9-inch round springform pan.
2. Combine the milk, egg whites, and vanilla in a small bowl with a fork. Set aside.
3. Combine the flour, sugar, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt in an electric mixer and mix on low speed until combined.  Add the butter and oil and mix on low speed until the mixture forms sandy clumps.
4. Add all but 1/2 cup of the milk mixture and beat at medium-high speed for 1-1/2 minutes.  Add the remaining milk, and beat for an additional 30 seconds.
5. Scrape the batter into the springform pan.  Bake 40-50 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.  Let cool before serving.

SRC: Creamy Chicken Lasagna

My partner for this month's Secret Recipe Club was Elizabeth of Food Ramblings. I was initially tempted by some of the delicious dessert recipes on Elizabeth's blog, especially her peanut butter-Nutella swirl cookies and her oatmeal-topped peach cobbler.  But, those both had to wait once I saw this recipe for creamy chicken lasagna - I just had to make it!

I am a huge lasagna fan, as you can see from all the different ones I've posted here: ratatouille, spinach-artichoke, butternut squash-goat cheese, roasted red pepper, hearty meat, and Emilia-Romagna!  This one is a great addition to that collection.  It's super flavorful, and Tim and I both gave it two big thumbs up.  Low fat cream cheese makes for a surprisingly creamy lasagna, while marinara sauce keeps it from feeling too rich.  I love the use of chicken - it's not your typical lasagna ingredient, but it really works here and is easier to prepare than most meat sauces.  If you prefer a vegetarian dish, the chicken could easily be replaced by some roasted veggies or sauteed greens.  Definitely a winner - thanks, Elizabeth!

Creamy Chicken Lasagna (adapted from Runner's World, via Food Ramblings, original recipe here)
Serves 6

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1-1/2 tsp dried basil
8 ounces Neufchatel cheese (low-fat cream cheese), at room temperature, divided
1/2 cup chicken broth, divided
24 ounce jar marinara sauce
8 ounce box no-boil lasagna noodles
3-4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup grated Romano cheese

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add the chicken, and return to a boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook 3 minutes.  Then cover the pot, remove from heat, and let sit 18 minutes, flipping halfway through.  Check to make sure the chicken is cooked through, and then allow to cool.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and spray a 9x13 baking pan with oil.  Set aside.
3. Chop the chicken into small cubes.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the dried basil, 6 ounces of the Neufchatel, and 1/4 cup of the broth.  Add the chicken to the Neufchatel mixture, and stir gently to combine.
4. In another bowl, whisk together the remaining 2 ounces Neufchatel and 1/4 cup broth.
5. Spread 1/3 cup of the marinara in the bottom of the baking dish.  Assemble the lasagna in layers: 3 noodles, a third of the chicken mixture, a quarter of the mozzarella, a third of the Romano, and finally a third of the remaining marinara sauce.   Repeat until you have three layers of filling and four layers of noodles.  For the last layer, top the noodles with the broth mixture from step 4 and the remaining mozzarella cheese.  [I might add another layer of marinara on top next time I make this, as the top layers of noodles got a little too crispy for my taste - but this is just a personal preference thing!]
6. Spray a large piece of foil with oil, and cover the lasagna, oil-side-down.  Bake 45 minutes.
7. Turn the oven to broil, remove the foil, and broil until golden brown, about 3-5 minutes (keep a close eye on the lasagna so you don't burn it!)
8. Let sit for about 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Apple Cake with Orange, Cranberry, and Sour Cherry

This delicious cake can just as easily appear on a dessert plate or as part of a decadent breakfast spread. To me, it's the equivalent of a cleaning-out-the-fridge pasta sauce or frittata, but for baking.  Obviously, what you have to use up in the kitchen may vary from me, but in my case, I had a couple of apples and a couple of oranges on their last legs, a jar of sour cherry jam that was getting a little long in the tooth, and a bag of dried cranberries in the cupboard to round things out.  These ingredients bake up into a moist, spicy cake that's full of fruit and flavor.  I really like that the cake isn't 100% sweet - the tart cranberries, bits of sour cherry from the jam, and slightly bitter orange zest add different dimensions of flavor that really make this cake interesting.

Apple Cake with Orange, Cranberry, and Sour Cherry (adapted from Nigel Slater's Ripe: A Cook in the Orchard)
Makes one 9-inch round cake

220 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
210 grams brown sugar
4 eggs
250 grams white whole wheat flour (or use regular whole wheat)
1 heaping tsp baking powder
1/2 heaping tsp cinnamon
Pinch salt
200 grams apples, peeled, cored, and diced small (weigh after dicing, for me this was 1-1/2 apples)
100 grams dried cranberries
125 grams sour cherry jam (or use another tart jam or marmalade)
Finely grated zest of two small oranges

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and grease a 9-inch round springform pan.
2. Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. In a small bowl, lightly beat the eggs with a fork.  Gradually beat the eggs into the butter-sugar mixture until combined - the batter may look curdled, but that's okay - it will all come together later.
4. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.  Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, fold into the wet ingredients until almost completely combined.
5. In a medium bowl, stir together the apples, cranberries, jam, and orange zest until well combined.  Then, fold the fruit into the batter until evenly distributed.
6. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.  Bake for 70-75 minutes, or until a tester comes out moist but clean.  Cool before serving.