Madhu Knits and Cooks

Collard Chips are the New Kale Chips (Maybe I'm a Few Years Late to the Trend)

A few years ago, collard greens replaced kale as the hot green superfood.  This declaration may not have been from a particularly reliable source of information, but instead from places like the Food Network.  Well, whatever collards are and however popular or trendy they may be, I learned that they make an equally delicious, if not more delicious, baked chip as kale.  

I simply ripped up some heavily wilting collards from the fridge, eyeballed some olive oil and kosher salt to rub onto the leaves, and baked them.

Eighteen minutes in a preheated 300-degree oven was all it took, with a simple toss of the chips at the 12 minute mark.  

I think I liked these chips better than kale chips because the slightly bitter flavor of the collards came out more in these chips, which made them feel more hearty and interesting than kale chips, which are blander in flavor.  So I can certainly see myself making these again!

Poolish Batard - My First Bread with a Dough Starter!

For several months, if not more than a year, I have had the lovely Breaking Bread book on my shelf.  The book by King Arthur Flour Head Baker Martin Philip contains a wonderful set of recipes, stories, and illustrations on how one can master several different types of bread.  

I have often taken the book off the shelf, admired the pictures, even read a story or two, only to days later replace the book on the shelf.  I'll admit that I have been intimidated by the complexity of Philip's yeast bread recipes as they require actual kneading, several rises, temperature checks, etc. - unlike my go-to no-knead bread approaches.

And then a few weeks ago, I finally resolved that I would finally attempt one of the feared recipes on a slow weekend, when I would have the time for multiple rises.  I settled on the Poolish Baguette recipe, but lacking baguette shapers, I decided to use the recipe to form a batard, a more rounded, rectangular shape than the skinny and long baguettes.

The result was declared by my husband as the best bread I've ever made, and I have to admit it wasn't THAT onerous as long as you have a full morning free to do all of the requisite shaping, rises and baking.

The bread was super crusty, and the inclusion of an overnight starter (poolish) definitely added more depth of flavor, a slight sourness and saltiness that made this feel like almost it's own main course instead of a bland and boring instrument to sop up other flavors and food.

The dough didn't have as many air holes as I expected, so it was fairly substantive.  This isn't a negative attribute of the bread, just a flag that like some no-knead breads, this will serve multiple people instead of airier baguettes.

I largely followed the recipe as is, though I halved the ingredients (using the metric grams to measure them out) to make just one loaf, and I used instant dry yeast, which I proofed before creating the poolish (apparently comes from Poland).

For the dough itself, I didn't pre-proof the yeast, just added the instant yeast as is.  One interesting feature of this book mentioned above is that you do have to measure temperatures of the water, flour, poolish, dough, etc. to get the "desired dough temperature" for the type of bread you are making.  So my instant read thermometer got a lot of unexpected use, which was relatively easy to pick up after reading through the directions.

So day 1, you may the poolish, or the starter for the bread, which is a shaggy dough mixture of flour, water, yeast, and salt.

Twelve to sixteen hours later, check your poolish and its temperature, before adding in additional temperature-appropriate water, bread, yeast, and salt.

Then begins the rises.  First, a two-hour covered rise.

Then a series of 15-minute folds and rises, which at each progressive fold, the dough became more flexible and smooth.

Finally, the gradual shaping, which also requires a number of interim rests and rises for the dough.

Finally, the baking, which I did on the parchment that I had shaped the bread on and did the final rises.  I baked the loaf for 32 minutes before it got a very dark brown crust.  I did back the loaf won a pre-heated baking stone, and did use steam.  

I look forward to making this bread again and again on calm Sunday (or Saturday) mornings.  It is a real winner, with more much sour, salty and rich flavors than no-knead breads!

Roasted Green Beans - Great Weeknight Vegetable Preparation

I'm not sure what inspired me to make this simple roasted vegetable recipe, but whatever it was, I was incredibly pleased with the result.  Salted and crisp green beans and red bell peppers that required almost no work.  Yum!

I didn't really follow any measurements for this 22-minute oven roasting approach, just tossed a bit of olive oil and kosher salt with the green beans and bell pepper slices before putting them in a 450-degree oven.  

I tossed them once halfway through cooking, and then served immediately.  I was surprised by how crisp the vegetables ended up via this method, and how much the natural flavor of the green beans and bell peppers came through.  I wasn't just eating overcooked vegetables, rather felt like a better version of both vegetables.  Heat really worked wonders!  I look forward to making this simple side again and again!

Improvised Red Bell Pepper and Chevre Frittata

I've been on a real frittata roll of late!  Using the successful Broccoli and Feta Frittata recipe as a base, I recently improvised a new frittata with the leftover ingredients in my fridge - red bell pepper, onion, garlic, and herbed chevre / goat cheese.  

The specific ingredient portions I used were 2/3 of a bell pepper, 1/3 of an onion, 2 garlic cloves, and 1.5 oz. of herbed goat cheese, cut into 1/2 inch chunks.

This improvised approach resulted in a truly delicious frittata.  Great creaminess and tang from the herbed goat cheese, subtle sweetness from the onion, and a bright, slightly bitter crunch from the red bell pepper pieces.  I can't wait to have a fridge full of similar leftover ingredients again to make a great weekend brunch frittata!

Sichuan-Style Eggplant - Third Time was Almost a Charm!

Eggplant is perhaps my top cooking enemy, and Sichuan-style eggplant in particular is a feared foe that out masters me every time.  I have tried and tried again, but my homemade eggplant always has a tough, unappealing consistency.  It's almost like eating something that isn't actually edible - simultaneously overcooked and raw.

So when some eggplant arrived in a recent vegetable delivery, my heart stopped a bit.  What was I going to do with these rotund evil bulbs??

Not so much driven by determination to vanquish Sichuan-style eggplant as just a lack of creativity on my part, I re-opened the Madhur Jaffrey World Vegetarian cookbook and turned to the Hot and Spicy Sichuan-Style Eggplants recipe.   And instead of trying to improvise this recipe - at least in terms of technique - I set out to chop and steam the eggplant as directed, an approach I haven't tried before.

Surprisingly the texture was soft and almost melted in my mouth, without having a stringy or tough texture!  Yay, I have mastered eggplant or so I thought to myself.

Unfortunately the disappointment came with the flavoring mix, which resulted in an overly tangy recipe that lingered on my mouth, followed by a slight stomach upset hours later.

My unvetted theory is that inclusion of red wine vinegar in the recipe was particularly problematic, as it most likely caused the over-tanginess of the dish.  However, the whole dish seemed off - slightly sour, somewhat spicy, nothing quite coming together, and just completely unappealing for my palate. 

But at least I mastered an eggplant preparation technique!  I'll take that as a win after years of trying!

Damn Good Queso - Torchy's Queso Comes Home

Torchy's, an Austin, TX-based regional taco chain, makes a damn good queso - or so the restaurant self-proclaims.  Before I tried Torchy's, I was skeptical that their queso could be that good.  I mean, a good queso is a good queso right?  And while you can definitely tell a bad queso from a good queso, I have to admit that I didn't really believe one could find nuance among good quesos.

Of course, how this story ends is that I finally tried Torchy's queso and realized that it really is quite good.  Lots of different spice flavors from multiple types of chiles, and the toppings they put on - "diablo" sauce, cotija, and guacamole - really add to the cheese dip instead of distracting from it.  Now whenever I visit Texas, at least one Torchy's visit is required.  Both so I can eat queso for a full meal, and then have the leftovers for breakfast the next morning (can't let it go to waste!).  

Well now, I can produce a fairly close approximation to Torchy's queso from the Homesick Texan's QUESO book. 

I made some modifications to the recipe, which probably accounts for why it didn't fully turn out like Torchy's.  Well, let me be more specific, I made the modifications to the most critical component of the queso - the fiery red salsa which approximates the Torchy's diablo sauce.  Instead of using actual red chiles, habaneros, I substituted 2 jalapenos instead.  So far less spicier and a much different flavor profile as well.

It was still a really good queso though, so much so that I ate the full portion that I made in a few days.  While my better judgment says that I should halve the recipe moving forward, it's complicated enough that making a full portion makes more sense - but so does inviting friends over to share it with me.

You start by preparing the two salsas - the red salsa is from roasting vegetables and the green salsa is from boiling vegetables.  Each are then blended separately.

To get to the queso component of the recipe, pour all of the blended green salsa into a saucepan, add Velveeta to it, and stir occasionally until the mixture completely melts.

Then the final serving of the queso includes a healthy drizzle of the fiery red salsa, and if you have it, cilantro, cotija and guacamole.  Yum!

Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries - Great Flavor, Less Great Texture (User Error?)

With when some sweet potatoes unexpectedly arrived in a vegetable box delivery, I was inspired to try something new.  I found a spiced oven roasted sweet potato fries recipe after a bit of searching, and decided to give it a go after reading on other websites that cornstarch, the central component of this recipe, is the key to a crispy oven fry.

The flavor of these fries was fantastic with the smoked paprika and garlic powder, but they were not evenly crispy, nor that crispy overall.  I think that part of the reason is that I didn't use even cornstarch for the amount of sweet potatoes that I had, and I also think that I should have cut the sweet potato sticks even thinner.

I also think that I may not follow this particularly approach again because the amount of work that these fries took.  To start, you have to peel and cut them evenly, which took more time than I expected.

Then you soak the sticks for thirty minutes, before patting them completely dry.

Then drizzle the sticks with olive oil, before combining a cornstarch / spice mixture and evenly coating on the sticks.

 

Then finally layer the sweet potato sticks on the baking trays, bake for approx. 30 minutes, tossing once, and then serve after cooling for 5 minutes.

I think I'll probably use this same spice mix (sans cornstarch) in roasted sweet potato cubes or whole baked sweet potatoes in the future to combine the great flavors of this recipe with an easier preparation method.

Indian Cabbage in the Instant Pot - Dish Better Prepared in a Sauce Pan

With my Indian Instant Pot recipes on a pretty good roll, thanks to the Two Sleevers cookbook, I decided to give one of my simplest recipes - a stir-fried Indian cabbage - the Instant Pot treatment.

Unfortunately though, the result was a bit of a watery mess (see pool of water below), and resulted in a more mushy cabbage than I prefer.  This cabbage preparation also required a ton of salt to provide any sort of flavor, so I think Indian cabbage cooking is best suited for outside the Pot.

The recipe though is of course quite easy to prepare - saute the spices before adding the cabbage and then the frozen peas.  Total hands-on cooking time is maybe 5 minutes total.

Chocolate Orange Tart - Wonderful Year-Round Treat

It's not often that I make pies or cakes that can truly be served year-round.  Most have a distinctly summer (think berry or light cream) set of ingredients, or distinctly winter flavors (gingerbread or other spice cakes).  

Enter the Milk Street Chocolate-Orange Tart.  While the orange-chocolate flavor combination does seem to create more of a winter, holiday-time feeling, the base for this tart is actually ricotta, which makes it a creamy and lighter treat.  

The partial almond flour crust also adds a lightness of flavor to the tart, with the orange and chocolate also coming through as accents rather than the primary feature of this delicate dessert.

The best part of this tart?  It's relatively simple to prepare, at least compared to most pies that require far more chilling and prep time for the dough.

To construct this crumbly tart, you simply combine the ingredients in the food processor, press into the tart pan, and then chill once before blind baking (no multiple chills needed to prevent the butter from getting too warm).

After the blind baking is complete (approx. 1 hour and 15 minutes for me), mix together the tart ingredients in the same food processor, pour into the warm crust, and then bake.  I think I overbaked the tart at 33 minutes, but it was still very good with a smooth consistency.

I look forward to making this simple tart again and again!

Semi-Improvised Greek Salad - Easy and Flavorful Light Main Course or Side Dish

Toward the end of our brief Misfits Market run, we found ourselves with a lot of lettuce.  A ton of it.  Well, maybe not a literal ton, but certainly a lot - and of many different varieties.  We started to dream of getting creative with this lettuce bounty (stir-fried lettuce, grilled lettuce, etc), but instead ended up making a lot of raw lettuce salads.  

Perhaps the best salad that I attempted was a modified version of Cook's Illustrated Greek Salad.  The modifications were numerous, but it was a very forgiving recipe base and I was very happy with the results.

To fit the ingredients that we had on hand, I approximately halved the ingredients; used dried oregano instead of fresh; substituted green bell pepper for red; substituted yellow onion for red; and omitted the mint, olives, and tomatoes.  The result still tasted like a restaurant-style Greek salad, thanks to the tangy and flavorful vinaigrette.

This was my first time of marinating the onions and cucumber in the dressing before tossing with the rest of the salad, and this technique did decrease the sharpness of the fresh onion.  I will use this approach with other salads involving raw onion in the future.