Granola

Here is a good and tasty Granola recipe adapted from Jane Brody.

Granola

1/4 cup butter or extra virgin coconut oil

1/4 cup of honey

3 cups of oats

1 cup of shredded of flaked unsweetened coconut

1 cup of untoasted sunflower seeds

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup of wheat germ

2/3 cup of dried fruit

Melt the butter or oil and honey together.

Mix everything together Except the wheat germ and dried fruit and bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes stirring several times. Add the wheat germ and bake about ten more minutes until golden.

This is the recipe from Jane Brody. I change it a little as I like to add nuts too, and I use dried cranberries or chopped dried apricots and some ground up crystallized ginger.

I have also made it with a multigrained oatmeal style cereal. 

Fennel and Apple Salad

This recipe is a collaboration of my mother and her good friend, Diane. It is a light and refreshing change to your everyday salad

2 fennel roots
2 green apples
1/2 cup chopped mint
2-3 TBLS lemon juice
drizzle of olive oil

Cut fennel roots in half, cut out the heart, then slice as thinly as you can. Quarter each apple, cut out the core, peel and then slice thinly. Layer the fennel and apple as equivalently as possible, toss with lemon juice, olive oil and sprinkle chopped mint on top. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper for a bit of taste.

Optional: if you have lemon infused olive oil you won't need the lemon juice.

Brown Rice & Lentil Salad

This is a recipe that I made off the cuff this weekend to take to a BBQ and it was a good complement to burgers.

I pre-cooked 4 cups brown, basmati rice (or any type of long grain) in my rice cooker. If you refrigerate it just put it in a bowl and break it up so there are no rice clumps.

Then I cooked 1 cup of dry lentils in enough water to cover them and added a bay leaf and clove of garlic. I cooked until they were soft enough to bite into without any crunch and had to add water periodically so they didn't burn. (You can purchase pre-cooked lentils at Trader Joe's that would work perfectly here.) I didn't end up using all the lentils that I cooked - I used approximately 1.5 cups of cooked lentils.

A few hours before I wanted to serve the salad, I added a medium-sized onion minced; approx 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegarette (Melanie's One Cup Salad Dressing); 2 TBLS of salt and 1 TBLS of pepper (add more or less to taste). Seasonings are mostly to allow the rice and lentils to grab some flavor. You might have to add more of each when you add all the final ingredients.

Before you serve, add the following; two bell peppers, minced; 1 cup chopped italian parsley. (For color I added a yellow and orange to contrast with the browns of the rice and lentils however, they are also a bit sweeter tasting than a green bell pepper.) Mix it all together and taste for proper seasoning - add more as needed.

Options: if you don't have the vinegarette made you can just use 1 part olive oil, 1/2 part balsamic vinegar and touch of dijon mustard. Also, I think this needed some scallions to add more kick and boost the greenery.

fast and delicious guilty pleasure

This is a great trick for a quick gourmet shoestring potato fix without the pain.

Buy organic frozen shoestring potatoes. The Whole Foods 365 brand costs about $1.99 a bag, and with no junky additives is perfect. Now preheat you oven to 400 degrees, and place a cookie sheet inside it to preheat. Here's the trick, take the frozen potatoes and toss them in a bowl with about 2 tsp olive or a great flavored oil you may have and some seasoning ( garlic powder, smoked paprika, pepper, chili powder are some suggestions). Now pop onto that preheated pan and bake until crisp.

The difference is a very homemade flavorful potato worth the calories vs. a mediocre oven fry.

Quick and Tasty Pork Tenderloin

I used to love pork chops, but these days they are so tough that I end up using a pork tenderloin. It cooks in about 30 minutes, and you can add a lot of flavor with a simple rub. Here is what I did last night.

I used a small tenderloin and I rubbed it with a mixture of chopped garlic, salt, pepper, and horseradish, then let it sit at room temperature while I got everything else ready. Thinly slice some onions or leeks and saute them in a little olive oil. I used some sliced fresh fennel here too, nice but not necessary. When the vegetables are soft and pale golden, scrape the chopped garlic off the roast and to the pan stirring for a minute or less. Put everything into the pan you are using for the roast, preheat oven to 400, wipe out the saute pan and brown the pork loin. When the meat is browned put it on top of the vegetables. Deglaze the pan with some white wine and pour it over the roast, then pour about 1/2 cup of apple juice over everything and pop it into the oven. Cook for about 30 minutes, less if it's tiny. You want the apple juice reduced to a syrup, and the pork still with a tinge of pink to it.

This is good with mashed or roast potatoes. If you are roasting the potatoes, preheat your pan while you preheat the oven. Use baking potatoes cut into quarters or sixths and start them in the microwave. Cook in the wave for about 4 minutes then take your pan out of the oven, add olive oil and the potatoes (watch out for spattering). Salt and pepper them and then roast them until crisp and golden.

This tastes good with some spinach, and apple sauce on the side is a must.

Comfort Food Meal

Oven baked chicken thighs, acorn squash and risotto - a soul warming dinner that can be accomplished in under forty minutes. The risotto is done in a pressure cooker which makes this easy and quick; a perfect solution for a weeknight.

Set the over to 400 degrees, cut the acorn squash in half, spoon out the seeds and place cut side down in 1/4 inch of water. Bake for 35 minutes.

While this is baking you can set up the chicken thighs. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray with olive or canola oil. Whisk 1-2 egg(s) with a bit of water, rinse the thighs and soak in the egg wash. For four chicken thighs, use 3/4 cup of bread crumbs, 1/3 cup of parmesan cheese and 1 tablespoon of tarragon. Remove the thighs one at a time and coat with the bread crumb mixture. Place in the oven when the squash has approximately 15 min remaining - turning once.

Heat two tablespoons of butter in a pressure cooker and saute half an onion that has been minced. Cook for approximately five minutes without letting the onion brown. Add one cup of arborio rice and saute until lightly browned. Add 2 1/4 cup of chicken broth and 1 cup of frozen peas. Cover and let the pressure build, cook for 7 min. turn off the heat and let the pressure off. Once the pressure cooker can be opened, add and stir in 1 tablespoon of butter and 1/3 cup of parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.

While the risotto is cooking, the squash should be ready. Remove the water, cut each half to again and brush with a glaze; 1 teaspoon of melted butter with 1 tablespoon of cherry sauce (or marmalade). Place under a broiler for five minutes until nicely browned.

Mole Poblano

Every year in the Fall many of my friends and family get together to make Mole Poblano – a recipe of Luis’ mother. If you are not familiar with mole, it is a pungent sauce used in Mexico for meats and fish; this version contains chocolate and several varieties of red chiles – plus a whole lot more. There are numerous varieties of mole using different chiles, different nuts and tweaking all kinds of ingredients. This version is wonderful with roast poultry, chicken enchiladas, and pork. It also adds complexity to chiles or sauces for tamales. The version we make isn't spicy and the flavor of chiles and other ingredients is wonderfully balanced.

The process is time consuming; with all the ingredients in hand it can take you six hours to make this. However, it makes the perfect gift and keeps well so you can have a supply through the year. The portions of the ingredients are based on estimates while my mother-in-law was cooking. She is flexible with the ingredients changing portions as dictated by availability of certain ones. For example, chiles below are for heat and color - if you want more heat add more guajillos, negros and mulato chiles.

The following dried chiles (any of the below can be replaced by its powder form although I don't have a conversion for that);
3 chile negros
10 chiles california
10 chiles anchos
5 chiles mulatos
7 chile pasillas
5 chile guajillos
The following nuts, seeds and other dried ingredients:
1 cup almonds
1 cup pecans or walnuts
1 cup peanuts
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
2 cups sesame seeds
1/2 cup raisins
1 cinnamon stick
salt, pepper and sugar (for taste)
Fresh ingredients;
3 red tomatoes, roasted on the comal, peeled and cored
10 cloves of garlic
1 onion
1 plantain
Things you would probably have taking up space in your fridge/cabinets;
4 pieces of stale french/sourdough bread
2 stale corn tortillas
4 sweet biscuit cookies
Things you will need;
1 tablet of mexican chocolate
bottle or more of vegetable oil
endless supply of chicken broth (boullion helps add salt as well but is optional)
one roast chicken

With all the ingredients on hand you are now ready to start the process. Using rubber gloves (surgical type are best) de-stem and de-seed all the chiles. If you have two people working together you can have person start frying the nuts, chiles, etc. and the other peel garlic and prep the other vegetables. All the ingredients must be fried in the oil except the tomatoes and the chocolate. There is no order to what you fry when but for ease of clean up fry the sesame seeds last. [Frying the sesame seeds should be on a very low setting because they can sizzle and pop everywhere.]

After frying everything, the ingredients will then be pureed in a Cuisinart. The endless supply of broth will help here to keep the ingredients moist enough to form a smooth paste as you grind it down. The frying and grinding take the most time but eventually you will have this thick paste - the consistency of cookie dough. You then put the paste in a large pot, melt the chocolate in some chicken broth and add this with enough extra broth to brng it to the consistency of a thick soup. You will cook this mixture for an hour - adding more broth as needed. You will see towards the end the flavors fuse together and the mole will take on a darker hue.

After all that work, make sure you savor what you made - warm the roast chicken and slather it with some mole.

I purchase canning jars and fill with the mole and freeze once they are cooled down. This makes it easiest to give as gifts. Another good way to store is to pour into ziplok freezer bags, seal and lie flat so they freeze into little pallets.

I will share other ways to use mole seperately.