Arugula Pesto

This is another one from the unposted archives.  It is, however, a timely one.  Tara and I have been in a dinner rut recently, falling back on dishes that rely heavily on tomatoes. While they're good, I really need to make an effort to seek out some tomato-free pasta (and other) dishes.

I was doing a search on tomato-free pasta dishes and what came up were tomato-free pasta sauces that included things like beets, roasted red peppers, and sometimes squashes.  That's all well and good, but I need something fairly easy and that doesn't require lots of steps.  Then, as I was going through my draft posts, I happened upon this one for pesto.  And I literally hit myself on the forehead.

How could I have ever forgotten pesto as a great, tomato-free pasta dish?!  (Incidentally, it is also onion-free and could be made garlic-free.)  The preparation is fairly simple and can probably be done in under 15 minutes.  Basically, in the time that it takes to cook your pasta, you could have the pesto ready.    

Arugula basil pesto

Use this recipe as more of a suggestion and starting place than a concrete, hard and fast rule.  With the seasonings, garlic, olive oil, etc., start with a little bit and keep adding until you are satisfied with your result.  Also, use all pine nuts or use all pumpkin seeds.  Toast the nuts or don't toast.  Use more basil and less arugula.  Etc.  Basically, make it yours.

Updated 4/3/12 to add: Arugula can be a little bitter.  If your pesto is too bitter, add more basil to counter balance.  If that doesn't work, top your final dish with a good amount of shredded Parmesan.  I find that works for me.

You can use a mortar and pestle for small batches, but definitely break out the food processor or blender for bigger jobs.

Ingredients

• 2 large handfuls of arugula
• 1 very small handful of basil leaves
• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
• 2 teaspoons garlic*
• ~ 1/4-1/3 olive oil*
• 1-2 tablespoons lime juice (optional)
• salt and pepper (to taste)
• Freshly grated Parmesan (to taste, but at least 1/4 cup)*

Directions

Pulse arugula and basil in food processor a few times. Add pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, and garlic; pulse a few times. Turn your food processor on and drizzle in olive oil through the feed tube. Turn off the food processor and check the consistency; add more olive oil and pulse if you need to.  Add in a bit of lime juice, maybe a teaspoon or so at a time, and pulse; check the flavor as you add until you get it to where you like it.  Add salt and pepper to taste and pulse to disperse; again, check the flavor as you add until you're satisfied.

Serve with pasta and sauteed mushrooms.

Notes:

1. You can make this garlic-free by leaving out the garlic (duh...).  The arugula has a nice, spicy kick, so the garlic probably wouldn't be missed.  You might need to punch up the lime juice and pepper to compensate, though.  I haven't tried it, but let me know how it works if you do.

2. As you can tell from the photos, we like our pesto on the paste-y side where it's almost as thick as a spread, so we use only a little bit of olive oil - just enough to thin out the mixture a bit.  Most people seem to like their pesto thinner; if you are one of those, use more olive oil.

3. Regarding the Parmesan, if you are baking a large batch and planning to freeze, don't include the Parmesan.  Sprinkle the Parmesan on your dish when you mix in the pesto.  If you are not planning on freezing, you can mix in the Parmesan while everything is in the food processor.  That said, we rarely add Parmesan to the pesto anyway, because Tara doesn't like it on her pasta so much.

Oatmeal whole wheat bread

Ignore the fantabulous background and focus on the totally awesome looking bread.

Now that the blog is up and running, I can finally get to those posts that have been languishing in my cue for over a year.

When I first started making homemade bread, I was super excited because I conquered (mostly) my fear of yeast and - Hello! Homemade bread!

But, unfortunately, I haven't made any bread in a while.  Tara isn't much of a fan (she likes plain ol' white bread) and there's only so much that I can eat.  Because of that, it either goes bad or I have to freeze it for some yet-to-be-determined use.  So, I just kind of...stopped.

However, looking at these photos is making me hungry for some fresh bread.

I had a few problems with this dough.  Mainly, it was incredibly large and very unruly. It didn't just double; I think it quadrupled in size. I've learned a little bit more about bread-baking and now realize that the dough rose too much, probably because it was super humid and warm.

I also converted the yeast in the recipe from active dry to instant or rapid rise without reducing the amount; that may have played a part as well. I have fixed the amount in the recipe below.

I should have proceeded with the shaping and baking when the dough was the right size, not according to what the recipe said. I'm learning that, while the recipe is important, some skill and experience is also helpful.  This is true of any baking or cooking, but it seems especially important with bread-baking.

I somewhat prefer the free-form loaf look, but I'm also a little scared of making a sandwich loaf.  (It's silly, I know, but still...baby steps.)  My loaf was probably no more that 2 and a half inches high at it's tallest spot. 

I paired this with a few things, but my favorite was a smear of organic tomato paste (it must be organic,  Trust me; it's totally worth the extra few cents.) and soft cheese like cream cheese or those Happy Cow wedges.  I'm sure it would be a great sandwich bread, especially if you like whole wheat, slightly sweeter breads.  Mine wasn't exactly conducive to sandwich making, though, because of its funky shape.  

Little visitor. 

Oatmeal Whole Wheat Bread
barely adapted from Cafe Fernando, adapted it from “Good to the Grain” by Kim Boyce.

I mixed the dough in my stand mixer, but I will give instructions for doing it by hand.

Ingredients

• 2 cups warm water
• scant 2 tsp instant / rapid rise yeast
• 3 tbsp unsulphured molasses
• 2+1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 cups bread flour (or all-purpose flour)
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 1 tbsp kosher salt

Directions

Stand mixer: In the bowl of a stand mixer, add yeast, water, molasses, melted butter, oats, and half the flours.  Using the paddle blade, blend until smooth. Stir in remaining flours with a wooden spoon.  Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let stand for 30 minutes.

Add salt to the dough, attach the bread hook to the mixer and mix on medium speed for 6 minutes, until the dough no longer sticks to the sides (add a tablespoon or two of flour if necessary).  While the dough is mixing, lightly butter a large bowl.  Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead it a few times. Proceed below.


By hand: Combine half the flour with the oats and yeast in a large bowl and stir to blend.  Add the water, molasses, melted butter and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth.  Stir in remaining flours.  Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let stand for 30 minutes.  Lightly butter a large bowl.  Add salt to the dough.  Knead until smooth, about 10 minutes.  Proceed below.

Put the dough into the buttered bowl, cover with a towel or saran wrap, and let it rise for about 1 hour, or until it is doubled in size.

Free-form loaf shape: Scrape the dough onto a floured work surface. Shape the dough by bringing the sides of the dough to the bottom.  Squeeze and pinch the seam closed tightly.  Do this a few more times, making sure that you shape the loaf into an oval shape the last time.  Put the dough on a lightly floured surface, sprinkle with a little flour, and cover with a towel or plastic wrap.  Let rest until the dough puffs slightly, about 20 minutes.  Pinch the bottom of the oval to seal the seam as best you can.  Sprinkle all over with flour and put on a well-floured baking sheet.  Let rise, covered, until it doubles in size again, about 1 to 2 hours.  


Sandwich loaf shape: Shape it into a square, then fold it down from the top to the middle and then up from the bottom to the middle (just like you fold a letter). Bring the top and bottom edges together, pinch and seal.  Place the dough in the pan with the seam side down, and press it gently into the corners of the pan. Cover the dough with a towel or plastic wrap, and let it rest in a warm place for about 1 hour, or until the dough doubles in size again.

About 30 minutes before you're going to bake, heat the oven to 450F.  If you have a pizza stone, put it on the bottom rack.  If you don't, on the oven floor, put a shallow ovenproof pot (I use 2 old metal bread making pans) half-filled with ordinary (but clean) rocks.  Boil some water.  Just before putting the bread in the oven, carefully pour boiling water to just over the top of the stones.  Close the oven door.  A minute later, put in the bread and start baking, turning the heat down to 400F.

Bake until the internal temperature of the bread is at least 210F on an instant-read thermometer, about 40 to 60 minutes.  Remove and cool on a wire rack.

Banana oat muffins

Today it's National Banana Bread Day.  I could tell you that I had this post planned out on purpose, but I'm totally not a liar.  We'll call it kismet instead.

Tara finished the Pumpkin Cranberry muffins from last week and I wanted to make another healthy muffin.   I wanted to try something a little different and since we had bananas on the counter that were getting past their prime, banana bread muffins were a no-brainer.

I've recently discovered how wonderful bananas and cloves are together.  There's only a touch of it, so you don't actually taste it (as in, it doesn't taste like Christmas).  Feel free to up the amount if you want the flavor a bit more aggressive or present.  Don't skimp on the cloves if you have some. Also, you can add cinnamon, nutmeg, or ground ginger if you'd like, but I found just the pinch of cloves and touch of vanilla were more than enough of an accent to the banana flavor.

These muffins are surprisingly light and tender.  I think it's because of the 2 eggs (the original recipe only had 1).  They're also very buttery, which is odd because there is no butter, whatsoever.  I've had this happen before with other banana breads, but I'm still curious about it.  Has anyone else noticed buttery banana bread when there was no butter?

Banana Oat Muffins
Adapted from allrecipes

Yield 14 muffins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose, whole wheat)
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8+ teaspoon (generous pinch) cloves
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup coconut oil (or other non-flavored oil like grapeseed)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Heaping 1 cup mashed bananas (about 4 medium bananas)
• 1/2 - 2/3 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional, but highly recommended)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400.  Grease muffin cups or line with liners.

Combine flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, soda, salt, and cloves.

In a large bowl, beat the egg lightly. Stir in the milk, oil, and vanilla. Add the mashed banana, and combine thoroughly. Pour the flour mixture into the banana mixture and stir a few times, until most of the powder is mixed. Fold in your nuts, if using, until everything is just combined.

Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 15 to 18 minutes.  Let cool in the muffin pan (although, I dare you not to be seduced by the amazing smell and eat one while warm).  Use a butter knife around each muffin to remove, if needed.

Cranberry orange clafoutis

We don't fuss too much over Valentine's Day.  Rather, I should say that I don't fuss too much over V-Day.  I'm a minimal kind of gal when it comes to most holidays.  Tara, on the other hand, is sort of a holiday maniac.  (It has taken us years to find a happy medium.  Compromise is the key to a healthy and long-term relationship folks.) 

Anyway, because of my holiday mentality,  I usually suck at gift-giving, particularly with romantical events.   So, I tend to fall back on the tried-and-true fancied-up homemade dinner and dessert to make it more gift-appropriate.  Dinner was an easy choice of Penne a la Vodka, which is Tara's favorite meal that I make.  For dessert, I had originally thought about doing something strawberry (you know, because it was V-Day), but as soon as I saw the recipe for Cranberry Orange Clafoutis over at BowlLicking, I knew I had to make it. 

I'm so happy that I went with this dessert. Cranberry-orange is one of Tara's favorite flavor combos.  Plus, the preparation was simple and quick (prep was 5 minutes, tops), but it looked elegant in a rustic sort of way.

So often, it's hard to find a high-impact dessert that's easy to make for two.  Inevitably, there's always one ingredient that refuses to be broken down further (I'm talking to you, "one large egg".) or there's an odd fraction of an ingredient (1/8 cup plus 1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon?).  This recipe, however, was pretty reasonable; it was easily halved (or scaled up) and, if you're using an egg replacer, you could break it down even more.

Despite the heavy cream, egg, and sugar, the dish was rather light.  I'd call it a mix of a souffle and a custard (like creme brulee).  Don't skimp on the butter and sugar coating on the dish; it adds a nice caramelized crunch to the edge.

This recipe is extremely flexible, based on the multiple variations I saw when I did a super-quick Google search.  Check below the recipe for gluten-free and dairy-free variations.

Cranberry Orange Clafoutis
Barely adapted from BowlLicking, who adapted it from Martha Stewart

Yield: 4 small servings

Ingredients

• 1/4 tablespoon unsalted butter (or nondairy alternative), melted, for ramekins
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon+ granulated sugar, divided
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (or gluten free alternative)
• heaping 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• Pinch ground ginger (optional)
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (3/8 cup) heavy cream (or non-dairy cream alternative)
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (3/8 cup) whole milk (or non-dairy alternative)
• 1/4 teaspoon orange oil (or 1/2 teaspoon orange extract or 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest)
• 3/4 cup fresh or thawed frozen cranberries
• Powdered sugar, to dust

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F.  Brush melted butter all over the bottom and sides of 4 small ramekins; sprinkle 1 tablespoon (or more as needed) sugar all over.

Whisk together 1/4 cup sugar, flour, salt, and ground ginger (if using) in a medium mixing bowl. Whisk together egg, cream, milk and oil (or extract or zest) in a small mixing bowl. In two additions, whisk the wet mixture into the dry mixture.

Pour the batter into the prepared ramekins. Scatter cranberries evenly on top. Bake on top of a baking sheet (to catch any overflow) for 15-20 minutes, until puffed, barely set in the center, and light brown around the edges. Allow to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes or so. As you can tell from the pictures above, the mixture will rise pretty high while cooking and then fall while cooling.

Dust with powdered sugar. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe Options

Gluten-free:  Use an appropriate flour substitute such as pre-made GF flour or a nut flour.

Dairy-free:   Use whatever non-dairy milk you prefer to replace the milk.  To keep with the richness in this particular recipe, I would substitute the cream with the separated coconut milk from the can (the white-stuff on top after it separates).  Finally, you can use a non-flavored oil or non-dairy, soy-free butter substitute in place of the butter to coat the ramekins (like this Organic Coconut Spread that I talked about in my last post on Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins).

Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins

It's been a little while since I've posted over here. But what's over a year break to you and I? We're just (hopefully) gonna pick right up and keep going like nothing ever happened.



I will, however, give y'all a brief update on how things have been with us. I recently started another blog. It's a dessert blog with a focus on ice cream. Go check it out over at Scoops of Sunshine.  Tara has been focusing on her jewelry business, Flipside Creations, and has recently started a part time job as a tour guide down in Miami.  Tara has wanted to be a tour guide for ever and it totally suits her.  Unfortunately, she has to be in the sun for over 9 hours a day and she only gets quick snack breaks throughout the day, so she has been having some problems with her AIP.

We've been a little lax about our food choices and eating right, especially for Tara and her Porphyria.  For example, Tara has been eating things like Pop Tarts, chips, and cookies for her snacks for work.  She rarely eats a "real" breakfast, choosing to normally drink a glass of rice milk and maybe grab a banana for the road.  So, I've taken it upon myself to start making better treats for her.

These cranberry pumpkin muffins are perfect snacks because they're portable, quick to eat, and don't need refrigeration. 

Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins
Adapted from Cooking Light Annual Recipes 1997

Makes about 16 muffins

I made a few changes to the original recipe, mostly based on what I had on hand, but also personal preference.  See the notes below for my verdict and possible substitutions.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup orange juice, fresh-squeezed if possible
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup chopped (halved or quartered) cranberries (dried is OK, just make sure they're sulfur free)
• butter or oil to grease the pan
• Optional topping: 2 tablespoons chopped pecans or pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
• Other optional ingredients: ground ginger, crystallized ginger, orange zest or extract/oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease muffin cups or line with liners.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices in a large bowl.  Make a well in the center.  Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, eggs, OJ, and butter.  Add the orange zest or extract/oil, if using.

Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir a few times, until most of the powder is mixed.  (Don't worry, we'll get it all in there.)  Fold in your cranberries and crystallized ginger, if using. 

Spoon batter into muffin cups.  Fill to the top for nice, domed muffins.  Sprinkle with chopped nuts or seeds, if using.  Bake for about 20 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center of a few muffins comes out clean.  Make sure to check about halfway through to see if you need to rotate the pan(s) around.  Cool in pan for 5-10 minutes.  Remove from pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Verdict and notes

I liked the bread well enough, but I would definitely make some changes if I were to make it again.  The flavor was a little flat and I think some ginger would improve the taste dramatically.  Also, I bet throwing in some crystallized ginger would be awesome.  I'm not normally a fan, but it would amp up the complexity a bit.  Finally, I think a little (not too much) orange extract or oil would have been good.  If you're squeezing the orange juice from an orange, zest the orange and throw zest in the batter with the liquids.

As for substitutions, quick breads are usually very forgiving, so don't fear:
(1) Feel free to use any squash or sweet potatoes in place of the pumpkin.
(2) We use whole eggs in the house, but the original recipe used an egg substitute.  Also, I bet egg whites would work, too.  1 egg equals 1/4 cup of substitute. 
(3) I'm a firm believer in butter is better, but I think coconut oil would have been really tasty.  Also, Earth Balance makes an Organic Coconut Spread (flash site) that is vegan and is soy free.  It does, however, have canola oil in it.  The coconut flavor is mild and only initially noticeable.