Pasta Fagioli...or how to eat like you can afford to.

So what exactly is Pasta Fagioli. It's peasant food. Or my favorite term: Farm Food! (thank you Kim) A big ol' bowl of something hot and flavorful that doesn't cost a lot of money! I don't know about you but I'm all for cheap flavorful food. Let's eat like we can afford to! Now, like everything else I do, this only skirts the guidelines of the traditional Pasta Fagioli. (By the way Fagioli is itailian for bean) So we are making pasta and bean soup. Remember for all you seasoned chefs out there, this site is all about instruction so we go slow and in depth, I assume the person I'm talking to is total newbie when it comes to cooking. Here we go!
I start this soup like I start every other soup, with a good stock. I don't mean get crazy and roast beef bones in the oven and then and simmer in water on the stove for 4 days and strain. Who has the time for all of that? Not me! This soup is what you do after you've made that fantastic roast for dinner and you have all of this great broth in the pan.
You will need:
A roast
Lipton Beefy Onion soup
Salt
Pepper
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Veggies (celery, onion, carrot)
Make roast in the oven, not the crockpot this taste better if it's roasted in the dry heat of an oven-Don't worry you can do this!
-Take a roast, preferably a chuck roast, but whatever you have is fine. Put it in an oven bag, you know the kind you roast turkey's in? It's in the aluminum foil isle. Put your roast into the bag after you've rinsed it well. Season well, salt,pepper,garlic powder,onion powder however much you want. And here is where you can put well rinsed celery, carrots, onion, in if you want to, it adds to the flavor of the broth. (yum!) And add an envelope of  lipton beefy onion dry soup mix.(Yeah, lipton soup is your grandma's secret weapon) This can be salty so watch your salt. Add about a cup of water, you can add more but not much. You are not trying to make soup just a flavorful broth. Tie the bag and bake it in the oven on 300 for about 1 hr and 1/2 depending on how big your roast is.The nice thing about the bag is it keeps the meat moist so you almost can't mess this up! I like recipes like this.
-OK dinner is done and the roast was wonderful. You are amazing! Now your are in the kitchen cleaning up and you have this stuff left in the bottom of the bag. What to do? Pasta Fagioli! Why is this different from traditional pasta fagioli? Well I have no veggies in the soup, and most of them don't start with leftover roast gravy.
What you'll need-
1-16oz box of pasta-shells, elbows, rigatoni whatever, as long as it's on the small size. (Try to catch the pasta on sale and stock up for just such an occasion as this)
Cook your pasta according to the directions, drain-do not rinse in a colander. Put in a bowl with a little olive oil or butter. ( not much)
 1-Large can of tomato sauce, or small can of tomato paste and small can sauce, crushed tomatoes. Whatever you have. Catch the sale at the grocery store..you can even use  leftover spagetti sauce if you have it. Or crushed tomatoes, whatever you have on hand..tomato soup? Why not?
1-can of beans- once again, whatever you have on hand. I would stay away from chick peas-because they have a strong flavor and fava,or seasoned black beans. And definitely stay away from that can of baked beans in the back of your pantry. You want a plain unseasoned can of kidney or navy or white lima something not overpowering.
1-container good beef broth (no cubes please)
Okay we're in the home stretch
Make sure your hands are clean and cut up the leftover roast put it aside.
Put a colander (it's what you drain spagetti in) Hey someone had to tell me! Anyway put this over/in a large clean bowl. Pour all of your broth, veggies everything in the colander. The stuff in the pan is what goes in the colander. It's purpose is to catch the broth and leave all the big pieces. Pick out usable meat and toss everything else. Trust me those veggies gave their lives for a worthy cause!
Okay, the rest of this is easy. You might not have much liquid from the pan, but no matter. Pour it into a pot, add your tomato sauce, 2 cups beef broth and your pasta, beans and meat. Simmer until all is incorporated. Taste.. Hmm..correct your seasoning. It should taste like a rich and tomatoey(is this a word?) broth. Well seasoned but not overpowering. Here's where you trust your instincts. What does it need? More garlic, more tomato sauce? Italian seasoning is nice. Remember this should taste like it is an Italian soup. Taste it again, is it better? Remember, you are not trying to compete with your friends mama's soup. This is your interpretation of an Italian classic. Does it taste good? Eat something sweet and taste it again, sometimes you can't taste the difference in the flavor because your taste buds are overworked!
oops!
Is it over seasoned?
We can fix it. Make more pasta, bigger pasta this time and dump the "soup" in with the pasta.Now you have a pasta ragu. (in other words your tomato sauce has meat in it).No longer soup, now it's noodles and sauce! We can try for the soup another day. The important thing is you have made something wonderful out of very simple ingredients, Serve your Ragu with some garlic bread and enjoy. Take a bow!

Life beyond meat or a Vegan's gotta eat!

It's amazing how limited some of our favorite vegan restaurants are. Here where I live, we have a vegan restaurant like every 2 feet or so. Since we have a higher concentration of non-meat eating, gluten challenged, diary inhibited, raw food loving folks per square foot than say like Guam! Nice for my favorite vegan, however, most of these eateries serve food that has a high concentration of heat without much flavor. Or they serve completely bland unseasoned food. You either have one or the other but you seldom walk away satisfied. I believe that you don't stop loving to eat because you don't eat meat. Home cooking is home cooking and vegans want food that excites the palate just like the rest of us. Incidentally I was a vegan for like 7 seconds. Haha! Yeah, I'd pretty much run over my grandmother for a piece of bacon!

I made this just yesterday and it came out wonderful! One thing to note though,it is not visually appealing. Um yeah that picture isn't mine. Mine is in the freezer. So like I was saying Brown rice looks kind of blah, but most things that are lip smackin good are best to be eaten with close friends and family anyhow. You know I'm right!

You will need a Latin Market or a well stocked Grocery Store 

Black Beans and Red and Brown Rice

-1/2 cup Sofrito- about.com , elboricua.com  

Check these sites out before you begin.

Here's my quick recipe: Once you do this you are never to use anything in a jar labeled Sofrito or Recao You will make this in large batches and freeze and use it in everything except like..pudding. (okay pumpkin?) Haha!

Red Pepper

Green Pepper

Garlic

Cilantro

Salt

Pepper

Cayenne (pinch)

Onion

Olive Oil (or whatever you have)

Run this through a food processor. One of those little ones is fine. I know you were going to pick one up yesterday. This is something you need, it costs about 25 dollars at Shop Rite, probably cheaper at Walmart. I have the best Shop Rite in the world right down the road from me. In fact I almost don't need to go to a cultural market because they have so many of the ingredients on the shelves. I like to shop at the cultural markets because you get better deals, better selections and better prices plus you get to immerse yourself in the culture you are exploring. And ask questions.

This is my version that I throw together in a pinch. Sofrito is totally subjective. Some people add olives, hot peppers (aji dulces) or pimento or whatever.  No rules just guidelines but make sure you maintain the integrity of the dish. Read through the website and get an idea of what you're going for. This is primarily a Puerto Rican food site.(A nod to my Puerto Rican heritage) You can adjust the ingredients any way you like that's why there are no measurements. You will need something to turn the rice red. (You can use Annato powder or I use a packet of Sazon or even Achiote paste if you are a real purist). You can find Sazon in the grocery store, it is a seasoning packet so it will season your food as well as color it. Be mindful of that as you add your other seasonings. Also be mindful that it might have MSG in it. If you choose not to do MSG than you will have to get a suitable substitute from a Latin market. Sazon is a brand name. I have a lot of these ingredients on hand because you know me, when I decide to cook cultural, I go all in; I buy everything and spend way to much money!!

-Brown rice, as in not white rice. It is sold in 1 pound bags in the rice section. Measure 1-2 cups whatever your pleasure. It's generally double the amount of water to rice. So 2 cups water to 1 cup rice. BUT my favorite vegan likes his rice saucy so I add more liquid.

-1/2 can of tomato paste ( you can put in the whole can if you have a lot of rice)

-Adobo seasoning.( It's latin seasoned salt) and no you can't substitute.

-Pepper

-Garlic Powder

-Onion Powder

-A sprinkle of cumin

-Three grains of sugar (really all you need in 3 grains and a wish)

-A can of black beans preferably Goya ( store brand will do)

-2-4 cups good beef broth ( no cubes please) depending on how much rice you used you might not need all of this broth.

Ready?

Fry 1/2 your Sofrito in a little oil till tender (You're going to keep the other half to stir in rice at the very end)

Add your half cup of tomato paste and some Adobo. You want to marry the flavors here.

Add your brown rice, black beans, broth and seasoning. Taste your liquid, what does it need? You want your liquid well seasoned not over seasoned. ok taste it again..good? now add just a wisp of sugar. Just a sprinkle. Taste, hmm..you probably did'nt add enough. A little teensy bit more..now taste it. Notice the balance of the tomato and salt. The sugar balances the acidity of the tomato and the salt in the pot. If you are still not feeling this adjust until its the way you want it. Caution. don't overseason, and do not over sweeten, if you don't trust yourself leave this part out. (But I think you can do it!) When in doubt, better to leave it not perfect and adjust it on your plate rather than destroy the pot.

(Now if I were cooking with meat, I plop a big ol smoked turkey leg or 12 in the pot and let it cook down for 2 or 3 days) Haha!

Anyway where were we? Oh yes you should have a big pot of tomatoey broth with rice and beans in it. The tradional pot to cook rice in is called a Caldero, this is a spanish dutch oven made of aluminum that makes a mean pot of rice because of it's ability to hold steam. It also makes all the seasoned crunchies on the bottom called pegao. I have eaten a plate of this!  No you don't need to buy a Caldero, I have one because I am a cooking nerd but you can use any heavy pot with a good fitting lid )  psst..I have gotten pegao in my rice cooker, in fact that's how I usually do my spanish rice.

So set your pot to boil once it boils turn it down to low. You want it to simmer not burn. leave it for about 45-60 minutes. Try not to take the top off for the first 30 minutes or so stir and replace the lid. Once it's done, the liquid is cooked down and it should still be cooked through. Taste it! umm..this is pretty good right? I try really hard not to stir this while it's cooling or you will have a big pot of mush. Take the top off and wait about 10 minutes. Take the rest of your Sofrito, nuke it for like 30 seconds to take the chill off and put it in your pot adjust your seasoning if you want to and fluff. FLUFF? Yes two forks one in each hand, make like your mixing salad all around the pot. No mixing, fluffing. There.. all done. Feel free to spoon up a bowl.Yay! You  made rice and beans or Arroz y habechuelas! Take a bow! You're a fantastic cook!

Idea- I made a pretty mean beef gravy for the beef chunks that I made for the meat eaters in my family. I poured this over my plate of spanish rice and proceeded to dance around the kitchen! It was soo good. I froze the rice and gravy in individual portions so my favorite vegan could eat through the week. If we were'nt already married I'm sure he would have proposed!!

How to feed "My Favorite Vegan".

Well it is time to remember recipes for my favorite vegan. People sometimes get the idea that folks who don't eat meat don't like to eat hearty. Well not in my house! I married a man who loves to eat, so how do I feed him when I can't use meat? Ya'll know how I love a challenge so the goal is to put together hearty meals, without sacrificing flavor? Well the first thing to remember is that there are no rules. There are guidelines but no rules. I was raised by a southern grandma so I'm not going to abandon my southern roots just cuz I can't use meat. So this is what I did. My dear husband (henceforth to be known as "my favorite vegan") loves spice and heat.  Those two factors open up a world of possibilities for my creativity. Also, and it just gets gooder and gooder here; he loves beans, peas, and Farm Food. You know, the kind of food where you just make it steaming hot and flavorful, and slap it over rice or potatoes. Shoot! give me something hard to do! I know I can do this. Here's a few of my ideas:
I went to my favorite Indian food site about.com and read up on spices. Don't laugh if you want to know about anything you can find it on this site. I wanted to know the basics of what made Indian food taste Indian. Instead of Americanized Indian. Thank you  Patrina Verma Sarkar. ( She runs the site) It's like how to cook Indian food for dummies.
I went at this like a detective, I learned all about lentils (daal) which are similar to peas but not exactly the same. Once I got my list together I looked on the web for an Indian market near my area. Found one, yay! Not only that but I found a spice website just in case I couldn't find what I needed. Here's a tip: When you're getting ready to venture into home cooking from another culture, stay away from your local grocery store. Ask your friends, check the web and shop in culture as much as possible. I went into the Indian market with my list, and everyone was so nice. And yes, I stuck out but I knew I was in the right place. I focused on the food of North India mostly because of the focus on dairy, as soon as I found out that ghee (clarified butter) was one of the main components I was sold. Ok, on to the food.
Yellow Lentils (Moong Daal)
- 1  cup split yellow lentils
-1 onion/1 tsp garlic fried in ghee (or oil)
- 2 cups chicken broth (my favorite vegan likes more of a soup texture but you can use less broth.)
-1/2 tsp Garam Masala- a basic Indian seasoning, this is hot so I only use a little. Remember this is my version not traditional. You can add more, this is just guideline.
-1/8 tsp tumeric
-1/8 tsp cardamom
-sprinkle of cumin-to taste. (for me, too much gives it a latin flavor)
-1/4 tsp of ginger/garlic paste. (a wonderful little find from my Indian Market)
-salt ( to taste)
-chili powder- just a few shakes (once again, this is to taste. This is indian chili powder so it is stinkin hot and bright red (not dark brown like for making chili)  I only use enough to give it a kick.
-1/2 tsp onion powder
-Coconut milk
Put all of this in a rice cooker and go watch a movie. Get one with an automatic shut off  and you can do this.  If you don't have a rice cooker...get one. They cost 25-35 dollars and you can get them at Shop Rite, Target, Walmart. You can get them almost anywhere. If you are really serious about cooking you need tools right? and a rice cooker is multi-purpose tool you have to have.  Really. You'll thank me the first time you want to go shopping and cook rice at the same time.
Ok once this is done cooking, about 20 minutes. Turn it off and run it through with your hand blender. You know the one that looks like a wand. Sigh...I know..here it comes YES you need this. And no they are not expensive about 25 dollars. Why do you need one? Tomato pieces in your soup? Blend them away!  Gravy lumpy? Blend it away! The nice thing is you can stick the blender in  the pot and whisk it around the liquid and it is smooth as silk in no time. No lumps.
So I blend all the lumps away correct the seasoning and add about 1/4-1/2 cup of coconut milk. This adds a nice flavor to the finished product. No, coconut milk is not sweet, it's not even overly coconutty. (my word..obviously)
In fact, on it's own it's quite nursty!  Definitely an aquired taste. BUT it is perfect for spicy foods because it cools the pot but still lets the food retain it's character. Add it a little at a time. You can always add more but once you add too much you have ruined the integrity of the dish and it begins to taste like something else.
Soup done! Now, I fry up a good handful of medium cooked shrimp in some ghee, garlic, salt, and a little pepper. Once they are done, no more than 6 minutes total I throw them in a bowlful of yellow lentil soup and serve this with some whole wheat bread and watch my favorite vegan munch away. (I'll show you how to make whole wheat bread in another post, but for now regular wheat bread will do)
Ideas:
Empty your rice cooker -don't wash it- and put in 2 cups of basmati rice (and only  basmati rice, ) and 4 cups of chicken broth and a little Ghee and a sprinkle of Garam Masala. (yay, more ghee)
Hit the cook button and go watch your favorite 1/2 hr sitcom.
Serve the shrimp and soup over the rice with wheat bread and feed your vegan hearty! Ha!
Serve the soup/shrimp over mashed potatoes seasoned with salt and ghee. ( no rules remember?)
Mix the shrimp and the rice and the soup (yellow lentils) together almost like a cajun gumbo. Total freedom to do whatever you want.  Make this more hearty by adding sauteed scallops in with the shrimp. Use your imagination and go for it.
Things you must have:
Hand Blender
Rice Cooker

Cornbread from scratch??!!

Yes, for all of you that thought that cornbread originated in the blue and white Jiffy box, this may come as quite a shock! Myself included. Here I thought I was making wicked cornbread because I could doctor the stuff in the box. Now there's nothing wrong with making cornbread this way, and you can do it like this forever. I mean who cares as long as it taste good right? Right. So why even bring it up.
Well..one day I went to a southern style restaurant with my dear husband. They brought us out a plate of biscuits and cornbread while we waited..because they know adults can't go long with out eating! Well the biscuits were ok, but the cornbread was wonderful! I kept trying to figure out how they made it. Why was this so wonderful and more importantly why did I care? It wasn't particularly sweet. But that is just a matter of preference. It was  crunchy on the bottom and not too sweet but well balanced. Not cakey or dry, just perfect. In other words it didn't taste like MINE. That began my quest. Since I'm all about the making the basic recipes well, and I obviously don't have much else to do (Not!). I asked the waitress,in my most innocent voice "ahem..these corn muffins are positively yummy however do you make them?" and she told me about how they make them from their own mix that they sold in the lobby. "oh thank you" I said.  I knew full well what my next move was and so did my dear husband  "Um I'm just going to run to the restroom hon," Eyebrows raised he said "ok, don't be too long" After 21 years the man knows me. hahaha So I go and check my make-up just so I was honest and made a bee line for the packaged goods. I quickly found it, and read the back of the box, hmm.. flour, corn meal ,sugar, salt, blah blahh blah. In other words nothing special. I figured I'd better get back to the table before my favorite vegan sends out a search party for me. "Well did you find it? " "Oh yeah, and I KNOW I can make this" Girls I married the right guy, because he engaged me while I tried to figure out exactly how they made this cornbread. I kept taking another bite and closing my eyes as if the process were written on the inside of my eyelids or something. Bless him, he let me.
So what does this have to do with world peace? Uh absolutely nothing! This is an exercise in sheer frivolity. I mean it makes a difference to me, but to no one else. But just in case there are few out there who share my madness here is a recipe from a food magazine I found in my stash. I adapted to fit my limited memory.

So here it is.. a not Jiffy cornbread

What you need:


-A  9x13 pyrex pan. If you don't have one..um yeah you need one.
Half a stick of butter to melt in the pan.
put your oven on 400 and put the butter in and pop it in the oven. You want the butter to brown..not burn. If you don't trust yourself do this before you start making the cornbread.

Ok now to the cornbread..
-1 cup butter softened
(not liquid...once it's liquified it's good for crab legs and corn, and little else. It should still look like a stick of butter, just soft)
-Sugar- I like it sweet so I use more than a 1 cup of sugar, and believe it or not it does not taste like cake. This is a matter of preference. the recipe calls for 1/4 cup of sugar, which is like what I use in my coffee, so whatever suits your taste.
-1 cup of milk.
-3 eggs (beaten)
Mix milk and eggs together after you beat the eggs
-4 cups cornmeal mix (Whoa what?!ok I know. This is sold in the flour section) Quaker makes it in yellow or white cornmeal. There are a few different brands besides Quaker but the basic idea is the same. I have never been able to tell the difference in flavor between white and yellow although I find myself gravitating toward the yellow for some reason.
Cornmeal mix has all the baking powder and salt mixed in with flour so all you do is add your stuff to it. Isn't that amazing! Now truth be told the recipe calls for flour and baking powder and salt to be measured separately but why make it harder on yourself?

Ok what's next?
-Cream your butter and sugar together and use a hand mixer. If you don't have one, get it at Shop Rite for like 18 bucks. It is seriously worth it. Nope..no excuses just buy it. You will thank me the next time you want to be all Betty Crocker and whatnot! (for you guys..pick someone.. um Bobby Flay!..yeah)
Here we go!
-1/2 your milk/egg into butter sugar, mix on low for like a minute, then add 1/2 your cornmeal stuff, mix on low.
- Now rest of your milk/egg (if you need more liquid add a splash more milk)Use a big spoon here..too much mixing makes tough cornbread.
- And finish with the rest of your flour. Stir until just mixed. Two or three big stirs and you should have all of the milk/egg incorporated. You are not trying to stir cake batter here You are going for just stirred so you might have some flour showing but that's ok.
Now pour the goop into your buttered 9x13 pan and bake at 400 for about 25 minutes.
Now in my oven 25 -30 minutes is good. I don't know how hot your oven is so you might have to eyeball it. It looks done when it's done, no guesswork, you can tell. So after 25 minutes open your very hot oven and pull out your cornbread and press down on the center. It should spring back. If not pop it back it for 5-10 minutes.
Take it out and behold the beauty! Take a bow you did it! Scratch cornbread! Yay! You are incredible!