Madhu Knits and Cooks

Great Vegetarian Mexican Rice - Incredibly Flavorful Side Dish

Finding a good vegetarian Mexican rice recipe has been a challenge during my eight-year serious cooking run.  Most recipes seem to result in incredibly bland or salty dishes, and none generally taste as good as one can find at a restaurant (which should lead me to doubt what exactly they put in the "vegetarian" rice when I am out...).  

For some reason though (sadly, I don't remember why!), I decided to shelve my pessimism recently and tried the Cooks Illustrated Mexican Rice recipe.  The first time I made the recipe, I halved the amount of rice but kept a whole onion and two small tomatoes for it.  The result was amazing - flavorful and also moist and yet not mushy.  It was also very easy to make because most of the cooking occurs in a dutch oven placed in the oven instead of taking up space on the stove top.  

The second time I made the recipe, I made the full recipe portion but ended up with slightly less than the tomato/onion liquid called for in the recipe by using one onion and two tomatoes.  The result the second time was more bland, though it was still good.  The next time I make the recipe, I will probably use 3 - 4 tomatoes and 1.5 onions because I don't think it will overpower the dish.  

The bottom line is that this is an excellent vegetarian Mexican rice recipe that can be a quick side dish to add to any meal - particularly because while the rice cooks in the oven, one has the whole stovetop set available for preparing other meal elements (beans, tortillas, etc.).

MadhuKnitsandCooks.com Guest Post by Elizabeth - Jacques Pepin Chickpea Ragout

A historic moment for MadhuKnitsandCooks.com - a guest post!  And a guess post from a blogger extraordinaire in her own right - my friend Elizabeth.  Please check out her wonderful description of a recent Jacques Pepin vegetarian recipe attempt:

Jacques Pepin's Chickpea Ragout

Because my TV antenna only picks up two channels right now - CBS and a slew of PBS stations - I watch a lot of French chef, Jacques Pepin.   Julia & Jacques, Fast Food My Way, the Essential Pepin, all of these shows I began to watch more as background noise.  But slowly, I began to realize that Jacques Pepin is awesome (you have to see him de-bone cod!).  I don't consider myself a cook, let alone a chef, but he makes everything seem so easy and everything seem so scrumptious.  And he seems so non-judgmental.  If I messed up a little, he wouldn't judge.  He would provide constructive criticism and encourage me to do better.   I could do this.  I could make Jacques proud.

So, at the suggestion of Madhu, I took out one of his cookbooks from the library - Jacques Pepin's "Fast Food My Way" (btw, she is right that you should always check out a cookbook from the library before buying it - I have a number of cookbooks that I rarely use because when I got them home to try, the recipes were just too complicated). Fast Food My Way is not about greasy hamburgers and french fries.  Rather, it conveys Jacques' philosophy that you can make good, hearty meals with fresh ingredients in a short amount of time.

I decided to try his chickpea ragout as my first venture in Jacques' pantheon of recipes.  The reason I chose it is that aside from the scallions and the parsley, all the other ingredients I had in my house.  However, to save a little extra time, instead of freshly diced tomatoes, I used canned diced tomatoes (2 cups is about two cans) and to make it a full vegetarian dish, I used canned vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.  Prep time was five minutes.  Cooking, about 15 (letting it just boil).  This was fast, easy, and little clean-up. 

Even with those changes, the dish was delicious.  It tasted very fresh and full (although I do think the fresh diced tomatoes would have made it even better).  I decided to eat it with white rice which was a good idea because when I allowed the soup to boil uncovered for a "few minutes" at the end to reduce the liquid, I ended up letting it go for about five minutes without watching it.  As a result, I had very little soup (ragout is French for soup).  If you want more a soup, definitely only let it boil in the open for a minute; two at the most. 

The only thing is that I thought it could use a bit more of a kick.  This dish doesn't add any spices (just garlic, scallions, onions and a little bit of parsley).  I don't cook with a lot of chickpeas, so I don't know what usually goes with them, but I think the next time I might throw in some cumin.  Or do you have any suggestions?

So far so good with my culinary idol.  Chickpea ragout is classic Pepin - you should give it a shot.  

 

Spicy Jalapeno-Cheddar Cornbread - Probably Not a Recipe Repeat

I have been thinking about making a cornbread for several months, yet somehow have not found the motivation to buy the one ingredient I generally don't have on hand - buttermilk.  Realizing that several months - even a year perhaps - had passed with cornbread on my mind, I finally decided to try a Cook's Illustrated recipe for Spicy Jalapeno-Cheddar Cornbread recently.  

Unfortunately, the recipe did not turn out fully as hoped.  The cornbread was a little dry (perhaps due to the cornmeal I used?) and the flavor was slightly egg-y.  Sadly, in the future, I think I will look elsewhere for cornbread recipes.

Chinese Radish Salad

To say that I am looking forward to spring would be a complete understatement of my anxious anticipation of warmer weather and greater food variety.  I am more than eager to say goodbye to our local winter staples of butternut squash, kale, brussel sprouts, swiss chard, and even radishes, which are a relatively new vegetable variety in our kitchen.  Sadly, I have reached a mental wall with what I can do with these ingredients, so please spring - arrive soon!

In what may be my last real attempt to try something new with these ingredients, I consulted the stand-by Madhur Jaffrey World Vegetarian cookbook several weeks back to use up some market radishes.  I settled on her Chinese Radish Salad dish, simply because I had all of the other ingredients on hand and the recipe stated that the prepared radishes would keep for two weeks in the fridge.  The only changes I made from the recipe as written were to use regular soy sauce (instead of "light soy sauce"), eyeballing the measurements of the ingredients, and having the radishes before pounding them with a plastic masher.  

The result was surprisingly tasty - salty, crunchy and a bit of bite from the raw garlic and sauce mixture.  I mostly ate the radishes with some rice on the side, but also ate them plain as well.  If the farmers market continues to have radish bags, I may actually pick another soon despite being sick of these roots dominating our selection the past several months :-)

Cook's Illustrated Drop Biscuits - Maybe Only to be Used in a Pinch in the Future

Still catching up a long back-log of posts, so this one, like many to follow, will be relatively short.  I made a half batch of Cook's Illustrated drop biscuits recipe because I liked the simplicity of the recipe and wanted to ingest a lot of carbs :-)  The recipe was pretty easy to follow, and required only a few ingredients which is a nice change of pace for CI recipes.  

I used a silicone cupcake holder to measure out the dough, and I think I ended up with one of two more biscuits which explains why my 13 minutes of baking time seemed to overbake the biscuits.  The biscuits were fine - really nice out of the oven, but generally didn't have that much of a flavor to them.  So generally, I think I'll follow one of their more complicated biscuits in the future and save this one for when I need to make a quick batch of hot biscuits.

Very Simple Rosemary-White Bean Dip/Spread

Perhaps in anticipation of the upcoming holiday season, a few months back I became focused on eating a delicious white bean dip.  I didn't have parsley on hand to make my standard white bean dip, so I checked on CooksIllustrated.com and found a white bean spread that they recommend using on bruschetta.  The white bean spread is paired with arugula, balsamic and red onions, but because I was trying to stick to ingredients on hand, I decided to just make (and eat) the spread without those accompaniments.  

The dip/spread turned out wonderfully - very flavorful and incredibly simple to make.  I ate the dip with pita chips and toast, which was a fine (could be improved upon) pairing.  I will definitely be making this dip again.

Simple Roasted Cabbage - Easy Way to Use Up Leftover Cabbage

For some reason, I have never thought about roasting cabbage even though I have roasted a good number of other vegetables over the years.  Thankfully, I recently tried roasting cabbage in an attempt to use up a 1/2 head of leftover cabbage from a recent Indian cabbage preparation.  I had searched for cabbage recipes online, and ended up finding references to a Cook's Illustrated roasted cabbage wedges recipe though I couldn't find the actual recipe on the CI website.  The "recipe" though is pretty simple and basically the standard recipe for roasting any vegetable - cut into uniform pieces, cover with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.  I put the cabbage in an oven at 450 degrees, and roasted for approximately 20 minutes or until the cabbage started to brown.  The roasted cabbage that resulted makes a perfect, low-calorie side to any fall/winter main course.

Summer Corn Soup - Very Light Opening Course

Several weeks ago, when summer corn was at its apex, I decided to use some leftover ears in the fridge to make a corn soup.  I didn't fully know what I was doing, but with a parmesan rind on hand (that is supposed to be a good soup additive, right?), I thought I could figure something out.

The result was pretty good - perhaps a little light for the soup I was trying to achieve, but still pretty flavorful despite its thin consistency.  I think this soup would be an excellent summer meal starter, and is definitely a good way to get through any extra summer corn (which sadly has passed us by this year!).

Summer Corn Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp. vegetable/olive oil
• 1 leek, white and light green parts washed and diced
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder (would substitute 2 cloves minced garlic - unfortunately I did not have garlic the day I made this soup)
• 1 piece parmesan rind (I used a 5 inch by 1 inch piece, broken in half)
• Corn kernels from 2 ears of corn
• 3 cups water
• Salt
• Lime or lemon juice (optional)
• Fresh herbs (optional)

Directions:

• Heat oil in soup pot until shiny on medium-high heat.
• Add leeks, garlic powder and 1/2 tsp. salt.  Cook until leeks are tender.
• Add 3 cups water and bring to a boil.
• When boiling, add corn kernels and lower heat to a simmer.  Cook for at least 5 minutes, adding salt, citris juice, and/or fresh herbs to taste.
• Remove rind and serve warm.

Corn Fritters - Unfortunately Sound Better than They Taste

Quick post about the Cook's Illustrated Corn Fritters recipe:  unfortunately, they sound better than they actually taste.  I perhaps used too much corn because the mixture didn't stick together than well (3 ears, 1 of which was grated), and during the frying, some of the kernels popped which made it a somewhat dangerous cooking experiment.  

The ultimate result wasn't that great as well - just far too eggy, and otherwise bland.  I had added a minced serrano and removed the dijon mustard from the recipe, simply because I didn't have it onhand.  I think that ultimately, I just may not like fried foods with an egg base that much?

Delicious Roasted Tomatoes with Garlic, Gorgonzola and Herbs

Another Giada book from the library, another Giada success!  This time, I checked out the Giada at Home book and decided to make the Roasted Tomatoes with Garlic, Gorzonzola and Herbs.  I really enjoyed the final product, and can definitely envision making some variant of this dish for dinner parties.  My modifications to the recipe follow the picture of the roasted tomatoes below.

I used only 2 "artisanal" tomatoes I purchased at the farmers market, and to fit the reduced number of tomatoes, I halved the olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper.  I also just eyeballed the panko bread crumb and gorgonzola mixture proportions, which resulted in maybe a 1/2 - 3/4 cup of the mixture?  

The book version of this recipe and the online recipe linked above differ slightly in their recommendations - one calls for plum tomatoes and the other roma.  The market tomatoes also worked out well, so would not hesistate to use any tomato in this general type of variety!