Red Fried Rice

I quote from "Spirituality in Patient Care" by Harold Koenig, M.D., Second Edition under the Information on Specific Religions section:

"Mormons eat meat sparingly, but encourage vegetarian foods."

?! Good thing I'm already all over this! Whew. In that spirit, I present another edition of Vegetable Tuesdays, brought to you by your local vegetable-cooking Mormon...

This week's dish was inspired by the Red Fried Rice recipe from The Everyday Chinese Cookbook edited by Linda Doesser. "Inspired" is a loose word here. First I give the recipe as described in the cookbook, and then my own version, using what I had on hand.

Ms. Doesser says of this dish, "This vibrant rice dish owes its appeal as much to the bright colours of the red onion, red pepper and cherry tomatoes as it does to their distinctive flavors."

Ingredients:

115 g/4 oz basmati rice
30 mL/2 Tbsp groundnut oil
1 small red onion, chopped
1 red pepper, seeded and chopped
225 g/8 oz cherry tomatoes, halved
2 eggs, beaten
salt and ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Wash the rice several times under cold running water. Drain well. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, add the rice and cook for 10-12 minutes until tender.

2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a wok until very hot. Add the onion and red pepper and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the cherry tomatoes and stir-fry for a further 2 minutes.

3. Pour in the beaten eggs all at once. Cook for 30 seconds without stirring, then stir to break up the egg as it sets.

4. Drain the cooked rice thoroughly, add to the wok and toss it over the heat with the vegetable ad egg mixture for 3 minutes. Season the fried rice with salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 2.

My version

Ingredients:

1 C uncooked white rice
4 Tbsp olive oil
3/4 large yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 large hothouse tomatoes, diced
4 eggs, beaten
salt and ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Add 2 cups of water to a medium saucepan with some salt. Bring to a boil, add the rice, put on a lid and turn down the heat. Cook for 10-15 minutes until done.

2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion and garlic and stir-fry 2-3 minutes. Add the tomato and stir-fry for a further 2 minutes.

3. Pour in the beaten eggs all at once. Cook for 1 minute without stirring, then stir to break up the egg as it sets for 4-5 additional minutes.

4. Add the cooked rice directly to the frying pan and toss it over the heat with the vegetable and egg mixture for 3 minutes. Season the fried rice with salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 4?


I liked this dish, although I can definitely see why having a tastier tomato/oil/onion combination would result in something with a little more pizazz. Still, it was simple, warm, and tasty and remarkably I didn't find myself minding the egg (although I did mind the pepper). I think it's a good way to use the bland tomatoes that are available in the winter in Rochester. I also found it a little too oil-ly tasting, so I think if I made it again I would reduce the oil somewhat, maybe only 3 or 3.5 tablespoons.

Imagine if I made these with tomatoes from my own garden. Then what a Mormon I would be!

Black Bean and Corn Quesadillas

Stolen right off the presses from: http://kt-recipe-box.blogspot.com/

This recipe is also a Melville classic, one we served multiple times at the Melville house. Always a crowd pleaser, this recipe is a little logistically difficult to do for a dinner party because I prefer to allow guests to make their own quesadillas so they can be eaten fresh. People usually make do though and find the effort well worth the warm, spicy quesadilla. I love these.

Today I served these with pepper jack cheese instead of Monterrey, which made for an even spicier quesadilla. I also doubled the red pepper and used medium heat salsa.

The overall meal included these and the pumpkin-leek soup version 2. I also served chips and salsa and put at each setting a small plate with a fresh kiwi and a seckel pear. The pears were a little unripe, but oh, the kiwi! What a revelation! Such a beautiful little luxury in the dead of winter. I think I shall serve fresh kiwi at every dinner party from here on out.

The illustrious K.T. gives these directions for the quesadilla:

Source: Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons olive oil
3 tablespoons finely chopped onion
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (10-15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 cup salsa
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons butter, divided
8 (8 inch) flour tortillas (GLUTEN-FREE: use corn tortillas)
1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in onion, and cook until softened, about 2 minutes. Stir in beans and corn, then add sugar, salsa, and pepper flakes; mix well. Cook until heated through, about 3 minutes.

2. Melt 1 teaspoon of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Place a tortilla in the skillet, sprinkle evenly with cheese, then top with some of the bean mixture. Fold in half, cook until golden, then flip and cook on the other side. Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling.

Makes 8 "half" quesadillas. Serve with sour cream, salsa, and guacamole.

Pumpkin Re-visited

In the past week I have re-made both the pumpkin pie and the pumpkin and leek soup. Here's the updates on both recipes:

Pumpkin and Leek Soup

I re-made this recipe with the addition of half a red bell pepper added in at the beginning with the leek and pumpkin and pureed as part of the whole soup. I added a little less spice and used whole fat sour cream and the result was a mellower, slightly creamier soup. I also simmered the soup with the lid off this time and found the consistency to be just right after only minor simmering post-puree. I fed this to the missionaries and the Stockman-Broadbents and S. who received it with great enthusiasm (that is all except the youngest missionary from Utah, who I think continued to be skeptical. It's ok. He's only a college sophomore age.)

Pumpkin Pie

I froze 2/3rds of the original dough, and for the second pie I thawed the pie dough overnight in the refrigerator and then warmed it to room temperature on the counter for about 20 minutes. Rolling 1/3 of this thawed dough out was the easiest thing imaginable. It didn't stick and rolled out into a perfect circle. This was a much easier experience than I had with the unfrozen dough, so perhaps in the future I'll plan ahead and only make this pie when I can freeze and unfreeze the dough overnight-ish.

I made the filling the same way but baked it for a little bit longer and chilled it overnight before serving. The end result was a much firmer pie with a better texture that I loved.

I bought whipped cream so I could make a third pie soon. I might be slightly obsessed.

Pumpkin Pie

Another "gem" from Sokolov's Canon of Vegetables. Sokolov says, "This is the canonical dessert at Thanksgiving dinners, even though pie baking would have been beyond the technical possibilities of the Pilgrims in their first harvest season. Really a custard pie, it was a dense, throaty gravity to it." I dare you to refer to someone's voice as having a "dense, throaty gravity." I double dare you if the person is of the opposite gender. First I give the pie recipe, then my interpretation thereof:

Ingredients:

3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup (8 ounces) cold but not frozen lard, shortening, or butter, sliced into thin pats
3 tsp. vinegar
6 Tbsp. cold water
1 egg, for the crust
2 cups pumpkin puree
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 eggs, lightly whisked
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. mace
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup dark brown sugar

Directions:

1. Combine the flour, the salt, and the lard, shortening, or butter in a large bowl. Cut the fat into the flour with a pastry blender or two dinner forks. Keep blending until the dough is well blended but not perfectly blended. The ideal is often said to look like oatmeal, little flecks of flour-covered fat.

2. In another bowl, whisk together the vinegar, water, and egg. Blend this liquid into the dough a bit at a time until the dough gathers itself into a ball. Then divide the dough into thirds and put each third in a Ziploc bag. Squeeze out the air. Then, if you are going to make three pies that same day, refrigerate all three bags of dough. If you are saving one or both bags for a future day, freeze both. In other words, freeze for the future, refrigerate for today. Let frozen dough defrost in the refrigerator for several hours. Let well-chilled unfrozen dough adjust to room temperature for 10 minutes.

3. Roll out the dough into an 11-inch circle between two sheets of wax paper. Strip away the top sheet of paper. Then pick up the dough with the bottom sheet of paper. Flip it over onto a 9-inch pie pan. Press into the pie pan. Press the edge of the crust with the tines of a fork to make a pattern of parallel lines and to crimp the crust against the pan. Trim away the excess, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate.

4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

5. Mix together the pumpkin puree and all the remaining ingredients to make the custard filling. Remove the crust from the refrigerator, unwrap, and fill.

6. Set in the oven on a baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the crust has browned. The filling will seem set to the touch but it will not be completely done until it cools.

Serves 6 to 8.


I used the following ingredients: sweet cream salted butter (cold), white wine vinegar, and light brown sugar. I think dark brown sugar would have made a richer pie-- but I didn't have any, alas. The butter and vinegar combination seemed to work well.

Following the instructions, the pie crust was much too dry and wouldn't absorb the entire flour mixture. I added two additional tablespoons cold water, which then made it too wet. After I refrigerated it for 20-30 minutes, the consistency was great for rolling out, just a tad too sticky but not bad. I used 1/3 of the dough and froze the additional.

I baked the pie 45 minutes at 375 when the power gave out. The crust was browned, but the pie filling was still wet. Even though it cooled, the pie filling was much too soupy for my liking and the bottom crust was not baked adequately. Either it needs to bake longer, or the pie crust needs to be baked for a bit prior to adding the filling, which then needs to bake longer, possibly at a lower temperature to avoid burning the crust.

I served this pie with unsweetened whipped heavy cream (the left-overs in the carton from the 1/2 cup in the recipe), which I though was the perfect complement for the pie.

Overall I think this pie recipe was ok-- the crust was a bit too crumbly for my liking but I could see myself using this crust again. The baking temperatures/times need to be worked out, and dark brown sugar would improve the flavor just a little.

Soupe Au Potiron Et Poireaux

Otherwise known as pumpkin and leek soup.

To help my Vegetable Tuesdays extend into the New Year, I asked for vegetable cookbooks for Christmas and got two: The New Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen (to compliment my copy of the original Moosewood Cookbook) and A Canon of Vegetables: 101 Classic Recipes by Raymond Sokolov. I find Sokolov a bit tiresome and egocentric, but the book has a friendly bright green cover, an attractive type-face, and the recipes are organized by vegetable type.

Tonight is my first night out with Sokolov and I've decided to start with the pumpkin and leek soup. Sokolov says of this soup, "Pumpkin soup is a classic home dish all over France. This soup is an obvious variation on potato-leek soup, less dour, brighter, yet thicker." Brighter is better. It's snowy and cold in Rochester today (like every day) and threatened to ice storm earlier in the morning. I sat through six hours of lecture today and only fell asleep for five minutes. I think that's an all-time high lecture/sleep ratio for me.

Ingredients:

3 cups well-washed, sliced leek (white and tender green parts)
1 pound pumpkin puree or 1 pound raw pumpkin chunks
Salt
Pepper
1 cup yogurt, sour cream, or heavy cream

Directions:

1. Combine the leek and pumpkin with 1 quart water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer until the solid ingredients are very soft, about 20 minutes.
2. Puree in a food mill or processor.
3. Season to taste. Serve hot or chilled. You may stir in the yogurt, sour cream, or heavy cream before serving (at which point adjust the seasoning) or pass a bowl of it separately so that it can be dolloped on by individual guests at the table.

Serves 6.

I used fresh leeks (3 stems), canned pumpkin puree, and 3/4 cup light sour cream and 1/4 cup fat free yogurt from Wegman's for this delightful soup. I left the lid on for the initial 20 minutes of simmering, and upon pureeing the soup I found it too thin so I simmered it on medium heat for an additional 20 minutes to let it thicken slightly. I added the yogurt and sour cream directly to the hot soup and ate it hot. Finding it bland without additional seasoning, I also added generous dashes of cumin, a more moderate amount of mace, and a bit of cardamom and oregano along with the salt and pepper. I found the spiced soup much more to my liking. Overall I found the soup wonderfully warm and subtle, a nice spot in the middle of a night of studying.

I would make this soup again, but not as a main course since it isn't filling enough by itself. I might pair it with a chicken or lamb main course and a hot roll or scone.

Oatmeal Date Drop Scones

So folks. I've been remiss in my Vegetable bloggings. Don't think that because the blog stopped in October that the vegetables stopped. In fact, the opposite occurred. I cooked so many vegetables and other yummy dishes that I skipped a few days that then I was behind and gave up temporarily on the blogging. But I'm back again! With the beautiful non-vegetable recipe that I've made twice: once at Melville for Michelle's birthday dinner and again for dinner with the missionaries here. I'm not a big fan of dates, but this recipe creates a wonderfully balanced scone that complements just about any meal. Fresh dates are the best. Dried cherries or chocolate chips can also be substituted for the dates.

The original recipe is posted on Epicurious from the March 1990 issue of Gourmet. Find it here:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Oatmeal-Date-Drop-Scones-10330

Ingredients:

3/4 cup milk
1 large egg
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 tablespoon double-acting baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
1/2 cup chopped pitted dates

Directions:

In a bowl whisk together the milk, the egg, the brown sugar, and the vanilla until the mixture is combined well. In another bowl stir together the flour, the oats, the baking powder, the baking soda, and the salt and blend in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in the dates and the milk mixture until the mixture just forms a sticky dough. Drop the dough by 1/3-cup measures onto an ungreased baking sheet and bake the scones in the middle of a preheated 400°F. for 15 to 18 minutes, or until they are golden. (Alternatively the scones may be dropped onto a hot greased griddle and cooked over moderate heat, turning them, for 15 to 18 minutes, or until they are golden on both sides and cooked through.)