Apple Walnut Cream Tart (quick)

A few sheets of phyllo (6-12)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp melted butter
3-4 apples, thinly sliced
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
2/3 cup walnuts, ground in food processor until smooth
1/8 tsp salt, preferably lavender

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Toast the walnuts before grinding them if you like; I didn't bother and this turned out fine anyway. Whisk together the walnut butter, egg, milk, salt, and 1/4 cup brown sugar. Set aside.

Saute the apples in 1 tbsp melted butter for about five minutes. Add 3 tbsp brown sugar and set aside.

Mix 1 tbsp brown sugar with cinnamon.

Layer phyllo sheets in 9-inch pie pan. Brush every other sheet with part of the remaining 1 tbsp melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Fold down corners that extend above the rim of the pan.

Fill pan with sauteed apples; top with walnut mixture. Bake in 350 F oven for about 50 minutes, or until center of topping is set.

I was pressed for time and skipped the apple-sauteing step, thinking the long baking would suffice. Because I used my spiffy slaw slicer from Lehman's, the apples were cut thinly enough that this worked. Sauteing them might have been a good idea if they were slightly thicker. It also would have cut down the apple volume a bit.

This turned out very tasty and creamy. The chief taster seemed to like it very much; I found it less satisfying than a plain old apple pie. This is still a good way to use up the end of a phyllo package, and it's quicker than making pastry.

Yay, it's Cabbage! (quick)

1/2 large head red cabbage, thinly sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small red onion, chopped
2 links italian-style or other sausage, peeled and crumbled or sliced
1 apple, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp dried thyme
1 quarter lemon

Over medium heat, saute onion in olive oil until limp. Add sausage and cook for 2 minutes. Add cabbage and all other ingredients except the lemon. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 15-20 minutes, or until cabbage begins to soften. Stir occasionally. Uncover, add lemon, and cook for 10 more minutes or until cabbage is soft, stirring occasionally. Taste and correct with a little bit of balsamic vinegar, salt, or sugar as necessary.

This is a fairly complete one-dish meal, especially with popovers on the side or some other bready thing. It's also a nice shade of deep pink, as are most of my experimental recipes for some reason. My theory is that there are too few good recipes for pink and purple foods like beets, beet greens, and red cabbage, and so I'm disproportionately forced to come up with such recipes on my own. Anybody can cook a normal-colored food, but it takes some doing to serve up something that invariably ends up looking like shredded yard flamingo.

Flamboyance notwithstanding, cabbage and sausage is extremely tasty and this recipe is extremely easy and quick.

Double-Crusted Berry Pie

Crust:

2 1/2 cups flour (I use up to 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt (if you use salted butter, omit at least half the salt)
1 1/2 sticks cold butter (can replace less than half with cold coconut oil)
1/3 cup plus one tablespoon ice water

Filling:
5-6 cups berries, fresh or frozen
3/4 to 1 cup sugar
4-5 tbsp cornstarch (I like a thicker filling and use more cornstarch)
1 tbsp lemon juice

Whisk together flour, sugar and salt. Cut in cold butter, but do not overwork the pastry; leave lumps the size of peas. Sprinkle ice water over and cut in with a spatula. Do not overwork; use water only until the dough just coheres.

Mix the filling ingredients. Place bottom crust in pie pan; add filling; dot with butter; add top crust. Bake at 425 F for 30 minutes, then at 350 F for another 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool for about four hours.

Almost always works out well. The more cornstarch the better; my pie failures usually have to do with runny fillings. Too much cornstarch will generate the gummy filling associated with McDonald's fruit pies and other crap, but I don't mind that problem so much if the fruit is good. Adding whole wheat flour to the pastry definitely brings it down a notch, but it's still more than edible.

Fabulous Roasted Lamb

This recipe was loosely based on the Roasted Butterflied Leg of Lamb recipe in the Joy of Cooking, with the (also loosely interpreted) Tapenade Stuffing variation.

4.5 pound boneless leg of lamb

Marinade:
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives
6 cloves garlic
2 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tsp dried sage
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp dried rosemary
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp ground pepper

Remove as much fat and membrane as possible from the lamb, then unfold and flatten the meat as much as possible.

Mix marinade ingredients together in food processor and process until the mixture forms a smooth paste.

Spread the marinade over the inside of the lamb leg. Roll the meat tightly and tie with kitchen string. If any marinade leaks out during rolling, spread it over the outside of the roll. The roll will not look neat; mine was sort of an amorphous ball.

Refrigerate for 2 to 24 hours.

Remove from refrigerator about 1/2 hour prior to cooking. Preheat oven to 325 F. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and slowly roast the meat for about 1 1/2 hours. It is not possible to speed up this process; roasting slowly at a low temperature ensures that the meat remains tender and pink, but not rare, throughout. If you have a meat thermometer you might check the meat for doneness at this point. Having no such thermometer, I stabbed mine with a knife and peeked around for doneness; it seemed a little too juicy and pink in there, so I raised the temperature to 425 F and roasted for another 15 minutes to make sure.

This turned out perfectly. I was expecting more of a showing from the marinade/stuffing, but it kind of disappeared into the meat somehow. The original recipe called for two cups of olives, but I suspected that might be too powerful and salty a stuffing, so I pared it down substantially and added much more garlic, a significant hit of mustard, and some herbs that I liked. The very very center of this roast was still a tad rare, but the outside edges got only to medium well done, and remained very tender. It turned out to be the best lamb I've had in a while.

The 4.5 pound leg, after I removed at least a pound of fat, made about six servings.

Matt's Favorite Blondies

These are adapted from some Sheila Lukins book:
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
2 tbsp instant coffee powder
1 tbsp hot water
2 eggs
1 1/2 tbsp vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 heaping cup chocolate chips

Grease a 9x13 baking pan.
Melt coconut oil, butter and brown sugar together over medium-low heat in a saucepan. Dissolve coffee powder in hot water; add to oil-sugar mixture and stir. Allow to cool.
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
Stir together the flour, baking powder and salt, then beat into the rest of the ingredients in three additions.
Stir in the chocolate chips, then spread in prepared pan.
Bake about 25 minutes. Cool completely and cut into small squares.

These were pleasantly moist rather than cakey. The middle ones, slightly underdone, verged on gummy, but nobody other than me seemed to notice. With lavender salt, and with a bit of extra cooking to caramelize the sugar and oils together, these were unusually complex-flavored for mere cookies. They went well with an excellent V. Sattui red.

Japaneseiness

Argh, I haven't updated this blog for a month now! But now I'm back. Part of that month was spent off traveling anyway, so it doesn't count. I've been cooking Japanese food the past couple of days. Here are the favorites so far:

Zucchini and Onions
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 medium zucchinis, cut into thin strips
2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
ground black pepper
Warm the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in onions, and cook 5 minutes. Add zucchini, and cook, stirring, about 1 minute. Stir in teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, and sesame seeds. Cook until zucchini are tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in ground pepper, and serve immediately.

Teriyaki Braised Chicken
4 chicken thighs
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 small dried pepper, seeds removed
Place all ingredients in a saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Increase heat, turning thighs frequently, and cook until liquid has reduced to a sticky glaze. Serve over rice.

Japanese Pumpkin Salad
1 small pumpkin or butternut squash, seeded and quartered
salt
freshly ground black pepper
olive oil for basting
8 oz frozen chestnuts (I used vacuum-packed)
Dressing
1.5in fresh ginger, grated
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tbsp sesame seeds
4 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp sesame oil
3 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1. Preheat the oven to 425F.
2. Roast the pumpkin, sprinkled with salt and pepper and drizzled with oil, for 20 minutes, then add the chestnuts and roast for a further 15 minutes.
3. Leave to cool.
4. If using butternut squash, roast for 30 minutes before adding the nuts.
5. Scoop or chop the squash and chestnuts into bite-sized pieces.
6. For the dressing, whisk the dressing ingredients together, pour over the salad and toss well before serving.
(This was the chief taster's very favorite dish of all.)

Braised Japanese-style Mushrooms
6 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in boiling water
1/2 tbsp sake
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
Remove the stalks from the mushrooms. Mix the sake with the soy sauce in a cup.
Heat a dry non-stick frying pan, then add the mushrooms, gill side down. Cook for 2 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
Turn the mushrooms over and cook for about 2 minutes more, stirring occasionally, until water starts to come out.
Pour in the sake/soy sauce mixture and keep stirring for 30 seconds to 1 minute, turning the mushrooms over, until most of the liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms are shrunken and well-flavored.
Serve hot; or cool in pan and serve at room temperature. Can also be sliced.

Soba with Sesame Seed dressing
1/2 cup sesame seeds
8 ounces dried soba noodles
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
1 sheet nori, rolled and cut into thin ribbons
Cook noodles in boiling water for 5 to 6 minutes. Drain and rinse well with cold water.
Mix together the vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, garlic, and sesame oil. Add the noodles, and toasted sesame seeds. Toss well, then stir in the nori ribbons. Let the dish sit for 30 minutes at room temperature before serving. If serving the chief taster, who hates cold noodles, toss it in the microwave for 1.5 minutes before serving.

Some recipes I'd like to try:
Black Moon's Japanese Recipe Page
Marinated Daikon and Carrot
Chicken Katsu
Just Hungry's Japanese Page
Kake's Japanese Page