Madhu Knits and Cooks

Sautéed Squash Ribbons - a Unique and Wonderful Summer Treat

I don't remember how I found this recipe, but I am glad I did in the waning days of summer.  This Cook's Illustrated Sautéed Summer Squash with Parsley and Garlic recipe was the most unique preparation of summer squash I have seen. 

The squash is peeled into ~1 inch wide ribbons (beautiful!), flash sautéed, and then dressed with a lemon-olive oil dressing.  That's it!

At first, the squash tasted almost too lemony and tart, but as it cooled, the flavors mellowed out and were fantastic.  I omitted the parsley, which I didn't have on hand, and I think that any sort of herb would be great to add to this dish.  In the future, I can see myself doubling the recipe and serving it as a summer dinner or lunch party side dish.

Milk Street Cauliflower Dengaku - Using Up That Miso for a Sweet-Savory Dish

It's really hard to use a tub of miso.  At least for me.  And the best / worst part is that miso can stay in the fridge for a year without spoiling, so in addition to being difficult to use up, the tub constantly taunts me because there is no reason to throw it away after a few weeks (or months).  

My latest miso-based recipe was Milk Street's Cauliflower Dengaku, a sweet-savory roasted cauliflower dish that also features a nice crunch and sharpness from loads of fresh, chopped scallions and cilantro.

As I was looking at my recipe notes, one of my first entries was "probably won't make again" followed a few lines later, "actually will probably remake."  The difference was that when the cauliflower cooled, more of the flavors came out - from the grated ginger, the rice vinegar, and the honey.  The cauliflower consumed immediately post-ingredient-tossing was a bit more one-note, with the white miso and the scallions being the dominant flavors. 

I also found the recipe a bit mild, so I added some of the Japanese 7-spice chili pepper for more spice and flavor, which I think will be a must add for me moving forward.  I also slightly reduced the amount of scallions to what I perceived to be an appropriate amount, and omitted the pistachios and sake, which I didn't have on hand (instead increased the rice vinegar to make up for the sake exclusion).  I may potentially reduce the amount of sauce moving forward, because some of the sauce pooled at the bottom of the dish post-tossing as well.

The recipe felt more complicated than I would have liked while I initially made it, though in hindsight it really wasn't that bad.  I think the key moving forward is to make sure I am not hungry will preparing the dish :-)

Basically you cut and roast cauliflower in the oven, and then prepare the sauce while the cauliflower is roasting.

Also chop the scallions, cilantros and pistachios while the cauliflower is still in the oven.

Finally toss everything together, cool a bit to get the most nuanced flavors, and serve.

Summer Corn, Radish and Tomato Salad - and to Pull it All Together, Add Tortilla Chips!

While I subscribe to the online version of the Washington Post, I don't think I receive any emails from them about cooking, nor do I regularly check their lifestyle or food sections.  So I am not quite sure how I found their Corn, Radish, Tomato and Tortilla Chip Salad recipe, which looked so fantastic that I was determined to make it before summer produce past its prime. 

So in late August, I made sure to pick up the required ingredients at our local farmers market; boiled and chopped the ingredients; and then mixed everything together in heavy anticipation of what the result would be.

Thankfully the salad lived up to my high expectations - sweet from the tomatoes and corn, spicy from the scallions and radishes, and crunchy from the radishes.  And when I added the final ingredient addition to my portion - crushed tortilla chips - I got a wonderful saltiness in each bite.

I will definitely make this recipe again and again, particularly for large summertime gatherings, because even though I used fewer ingredients than called for in the original recipe, I still ended up with approx. 4 servings.  

I specifically used 3 corns of corn, which I brought to a boil before stripping off the kernels; one bunch of radishes, and one container of sunburst cherry tomatoes.

The only other ingredient modification I made was to increase the amount of apple cider vinegar to get the right level of tang I was looking for.

Summer 2020 can't come soon enough!

Easy, Different and Healthy Party Dip - Spiced Yogurt

Milk Street is quickly becoming one of my top recipe websites.  Chris Kimball has really captured lightning in a bottle the second time with this post-Cook's Illustrated venture.  My latest Milk Street recipe was their Spiced Yogurt Dip, which I made for a recent dinner party we attended.  

This healthy Greek-yogurt based dip had really interesting and unexpected spicy and sweet flavors, from a mixture of ingredients that included honey, coriander, turmeric, cumin, and red wine vinegar (I know - how did they come up with this list?!).  The recipe, somewhat unsurprisingly, was inspired by a Madhur Jaffrey Indian-dip, but the honey and vinegar definitely unique enough for repeated dips and discussion about what the underlying ingredients could be.

The dip also has the benefit of taking nearly no time to prepare, and it uses ingredients that are always in my pantry, including 2% Greek yogurt which I used in place of whole-milk yogurt.

The only downside of this dip was that its flavor profile wasn't quite to my taste.  The coriander in particular I found a bit overpowering (which I generally do with anything requiring more than a bit of this dried powder), but the others who had the dip really loved it.  And coupled with some sliced cucumbers and carrots, this really can be a fast, guilt-free addition to any gathering!

Blue Cheese Buttermilk Dressing - Heaven is a Place in My Kitchen

I've consistently only made one type of salad dressing - vinaigrette.  I've made balsamic, dijon, and various vinegar-based vinaigrettes (red wine, champagne, apple cider, etc.), usually via eyeballed ingredients, but they are generally the same.  Oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and sometimes herbs or garlic.  

Feeling a bit bored by this routine, and also maybe extra hungry, I decided to try making a creamy dressing at home instead.  I mean how hard could it be?

Turns out even easier than I expected.  I very loosely followed a Cook's Illustrated recipe, modifying it so much that it became my own simple and delicious dressing.  The dressing had tang from sour cream, saltiness and creaminess from gorgonzola crumbles, and a sharp tart flavor from champagne vinegar.  Coupled with a buttermilk base, this dressing really made my otherwise simple lettuce meal incredibly satisfying and comforting.

I don't even know if I can provide a proper recipe for this dressing.  I basically used equal parts sour cream and buttermilk, added in maybe a tsp. of champagne vinegar to taste, a pinch of garlic powder and sugar, and enough gorgonzola until it looked "right."

I look forward to making this 3-minute dressing again and again!

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!

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!

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.