Gevirts: quick cheap easy good food – Page 14

Octopus and polenta

Really, you eat octopus?

Yes, it’s yummy! They sell it frozen at our regular grocery store, but every time I ask for it, the people behind the counter act startled, like they can’t imagine why anyone would buy octopus. But the kids like it, it’s not expensive, and a little goes a long way.

[Added later: I actually have trouble eating octopus now, as I become more aware of how smart they are. On the other hand, I eat pork, and pigs are pretty smart too. YMMV.]

How to make braised octopus with polenta:

In a medium-sized saucepan, heat 1/4 cup of olive oil over medium heat, and then saute a chopped onion in the oil until it is soft. Add 3 cloves of minced garlic, 1 teaspoon of cumin, a teaspoon of coriander, a cup of frozen tomato sauce from last summer (or a tablespoon of canned tomato paste and a cup of water), and a large pinch of salt. Cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes. Chop the octopus into bite-size pieces and add that, with a cup of water and a teaspoon of cayenne pepper, and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for ten minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the polenta. Put four cups of water in a large saucepan and bring the water to a boil over high heat. When the water boils, slowly pour in 1 1/4 cups of polenta (coarse-ground cornmeal), stirring constantly. Let the polenta cook for about two minutes over medium-low heat, and then it is done. If you want more solid, sliceable polenta, spread it thin on a cookie sheet to cool.

Go back to the octopus sauce and add a bunch of spinach or other greens, a handful at a time, until it is wilted. Simmer uncovered for five minutes while you finish the polenta. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

Vegetarian or vegan?

Neither, but make it with chickpeas and it will be.

Can I keep this for later?

Yes, like most stews this one will taste better the next day, when the polenta will be more solid and the flavors of the stew will blend better. It won’t freeze well though.

Oatmeal cakes

Yummy use for leftover oatmeal

In Scotland, where people pretty much lived on oats, it used to be pretty common to let oatmeal get cold and solid and then slice it up to eat for lunch. These oatmeal cakes are another version of that idea. I serve them with salmon or lox because that’s another common Scottish food.

How to make oatmeal cakes with salmon and spinach:

Put three cups of leftover oatmeal in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add three eggs and stir. Heat 1/8 cup of olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat and ladle the oatmeal batter out into four pancakes in the oil. Let the pancakes cook until they are browned on one side, then flip with a spatula and brown them on the other side, about two minutes on each side.

Meanwhile, in another frying pan, heat 1/8 cup of olive oil and saute a bag of spinach in it. You may have to add the spinach gradually as it wilts to fit all of it in the frying pan. Use salad tongs to keep the spinach moving so the bottom doesn’t burn. When all the spinach is wilted and bright green, turn off the heat.

Put an oatmeal pancake on each plate. On the pancake, put a serving of Greek yogurt, then spinach, and on top of that a piece of lox. Squeeze lemon over the top if you like. Serve with sliced apples.

Vegetarian or vegan

This can be made vegetarian by leaving out the salmon, or substituting some feta cheese for the salmon. To make it vegan, use extra water for the oatmeal and stir the oatmeal while cooking it to make it gloppy. Let it get cold and jelled, and then slice it – you won’t need egg to hold it together. Use capers with the spinach instead of salmon or feta cheese, and substitute garlic tahini sauce for the Greek yogurt.

Noodle soufflé

Fancier Noodle Kugel

My mother always made this noodle souffle on Christmas, as a brunch to keep us going until Christmas dinner, and get us away from the chocolate. It’s essentially a noodle kugel with beaten egg whites to make it a souffle, and a bunch of dairy added,s but it’s more exciting to eat than a plain kugel, and was always a big favorite. Nowadays I usually make it for dinner, rather than brunch, but it makes a good brunch for company. It bakes a long time, so you can make it ahead and pay attention to your company, and then just take it out of the oven all ready to go.

How to make noodle souffle:

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Put a large saucepan full of water on to boil. When it boils, add a pound of flat egg noodles as for kugel and cook them al dente, so they’re still a little bit chewy.

Meanwhile, grease an oven-proof casserole and put a stick of butter in it. Melt the butter in the microwave (or in a saucepan if your casserole can’t go in the microwave). Add a whole container of cottage cheese (one pound) and a cup of whole-fat Greek yogurt. Or, use a pound of ricotta you make yourself: heat a half-gallon of milk to warm, add 1/4 cup of white vinegar, stir until it curdles, and strain.

Separate 3 eggs and add the yolks to the cheese. Add two tablespoons of sugar and a large pinch of kosher salt, and mix. If you want to, add a cup of raisins and/or a chopped apple.

When the noodles are done, drain the hot water and rinse off the noodles with cold water in the colander so the starch on the noodles won’t make them stick to each other. Add the noodles to the cheese mixture and mix.

Use an electric mixer (or a whisk, if you’re feeling energetic) to beat the egg whites into stiff peaks and fold them into the cheese mixture. Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top of the souffle and bake for about 40 minutes, or until set in the center.

Vegetarian or vegan?

Noodle souffle is vegetarian, but butter, eggs and cheese keep it from being vegan. It’s not too hard to make a vegan noodle kugel. In the early fall we usually eat noodle souffle with sliced cantaloupe. Once the melons are gone by, noodle souffle is also good with a pile of candied carrots or applesauce.

Can I keep noodle souffle for later?

Yes, this souffle will be good reheated for a week if you keep it in a sealed tupperware, but it won’t freeze well.

Noodle kugel

The wonders of Pyrex

My grandmother made this noodle kugel in a large Pyrex bowl, which had the advantage that she could mix it up and bake it in the same container. I don’t myself have a big Pyrex bowl, but I always remember hers fondly. She had this set of three; I suppose my mother must have them now.

(Update: she does! I’ve been using them at her house.)

How to make noodle kugel:

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Put a large saucepan full of water on to boil. When it boils, add a pound of flat egg noodles and cook them al dente, so they’re still a little bit chewy. Drain the hot water but don’t rinse the noodles.

Dump the cooked noodles into a large Pyrex bowl (or a greased casserole) and add four eggs, 1/4 cup of sugar, 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, 1/2 cup of raisins, and maybe a chopped apple if you want. Bake about 40 minutes or until set in the middle and browned on top.

Vegetarian or vegan?

Noodle kugel is vegetarian, but the eggs keep it from being vegan. A vegan version would need to use vegan noodles, and a mixture of silken tofu and applesauce to make it set firm in place of the eggs. If you want meat, eat this with roast chicken, as my grandma did. Otherwise, noodle kugel is good with a pile of candied carrots, or applesauce.

Can I keep noodle kugel for later?

Yes, kugel will be good reheated for a week if you keep it in a sealed tupperware, but it won’t freeze well.

Nachos from scratch

Why from scratch?

I grew up on the East Coast, where I never had nachos or any other Mexican-type food, so I’m not like a native nachos-eater. I like nachos, but I find it disturbing that people say they “made nachos” when all the ingredients are foods that are already heavily processed like corn chips and canned beans and bottled salsa and grated cheese. Nachos in this form are expensive, and seem like something invented by processed food companies to get you to buy more processed food, instead of like a healthy heritage recipe of native people.

So I set out to see if I could make acceptable nachos from scratch. The result’s not exactly like the processed food nachos, but I like it. It does take about an hour and a half instead of fifteen minutes though. And even this isn’t really from scratch – you’re not making your own cheese or yogurt, though you could.

How to make nachos from scratch:

Hopefully you have already made salsa ahead of time and can just get the salsa out of the freezer. At breakfast-time, put 1/2 cup of pinto beans in 3 cups of water and leave them to soak all day. About an hour and a half before dinner, pour off what’s left of the water, add 3 new cups of water, and set the beans on to boil in a medium-size saucepan.

Now get to work on the tortilla chips. Preheat the oven to 425 F. In a medium-size mixing bowl, mix two cups of masa harina (a fine-ground cornmeal) with 1 1/2 cups of water. Form the dough into golf ball size balls. Put the balls on baking sheets, spaced about six inches apart, and smush them flat with the palm of your hand. The tortillas should be about six inches in diameter. Bake until they begin to brown and turn crispy, about fifteen minutes. Let cool and then break the tortillas into chip-size pieces (but keep the oven hot).

While the beans are still cooking, make the guacamole and grate a pound of cheddar cheese (unless you want vegan nachos).

When the beans are soft, mash them with a potato masher or an immersion blender. Pour some vegetable oil in a frying pan, put the beans in, and stir them around for a while (that’s the “refried” part.) Put a layer of tortilla chips on a baking sheet, and cover it with a layer of the refried beans. Over that scatter a layer of the grated cheese, and then another layer of chips, another layer of beans, and another layer of cheese. Bake the nachos for about ten more minutes, or until the cheese is melted. Serve with guacamole, salsa, full-fat Greek yogurt, and plenty of green salad (chopped lettuce).

Vegetarian or vegan?

Naturally vegetarian. You can make it vegan by leaving out the cheese and yogurt, or you can make it carnivore-food by adding a layer of chopped chicken or sauteed ground beef.

And will it keep?

No, it will get soggy. Eat your nachos right away.

Moussaka

Good for company dinners

One problem of eating mostly meatless dinners is what to serve when people are coming over, to make it seem like a party. For several years we just bit our tongues and served roast beef or salmon when people came to dinner, but around here we have people to dinner nearly every weekend night, and that got to be more meat than we were willing to eat, and you can’t serve people salmon *every* time they come over.

What we’ve settled on for now is stews like lentil stew or lamb stew, and casseroles like lasagna or this delicious moussaka. The stews are quicker to make, but the casseroles look prettier. Allow two hours to make this one: the first to make it and the second to cook it while you enjoy appetizers and a glass of wine with your guests.

How to make moussaka:

Peel two medium eggplants and slice them into rounds about 1/8 inch thick. Also peel and slice three large baking potatoes. Saute a chopped onion in 1/4 cup of olive oil in a medium-sized frying pan. When the onion is soft but not brown, add 1 can of tomato paste and 1/4 cup of water, or a cup of tomato sauce from your freezer.

Also add a bunch of chopped parsley – it’s fine to use a lot of parsley here, and if it’s near the end of winter you may already have a lot of parsley growing in your yard. Add 1 teaspoon of allspice (or cinnamon), and a large pinch of freshly ground black pepper.

Add two eggs and 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese (the stuff in the green cans is okay here, but it will have more flavor if you use whole Parmesan and grate it). Add 3 large button mushrooms, sliced thin.

Let the tomato sauce simmer for a while, and meanwhile make the white sauce. In a small saucepan, heat another 1/4 cup of olive oil over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of flour, and mix with a wooden spoon until the oil and flour are well mixed, and then for another half a minute. You’ve made a roux.

Slowly – slowly! – add two cups of milk. You must go slowly at the beginning or your sauce will break apart and be ruined. You can go faster once you’d added the first half cup.

Cook, stirring constantly so it doesn’t burn on the bottom, until the milk sauce thickens and simmers, then take the pan off the heat. Take the tomato sauce off the heat too.

Break four more eggs into a small bowl. Add a little bit of the hot milk sauce to the eggs, a drop at a time, until the eggs are pretty warm. Then slowly add the eggs to the rest of the milk sauce. Be gentle and patient. Now add another 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan and some salt and pepper to the white sauce.

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Use a little olive oil to grease a casserole dish or pie pan and sprinkle a layer of bread crumbs on the bottom of the pan. Arrange a layer of eggplant slices on top of the crumbs.

Cover that with a layer of red sauce, then a layer of potatoes, then a layer of red sauce, then a layer of eggplant, and so on until the pan is full.

Pour the white sauce over the whole thing, letting it run down and fill up any holes. Bake for an hour. Remove from oven and let the casserole stand for ten minutes before cutting so it will get more solid. Serve with a big green salad.

Vegetarian or vegan

Just naturally vegetarian! Enjoy! Sorry, I don’t have a vegan version of moussaka.

Can I keep this for later?

Sure. Put the leftovers in a tupperware in the refrigerator, and the flavors will blend and it will be even better than it was at first. You can reheat it for about four or five days. You might need to add a little salt after reheating to bring out the flavors.

Matzobrei

What is matzobrei?

During Passover, if you’re following the rules, you can’t eat bread – and that includes pancakes and waffles and toast! People eat matzoh instead. And for a brunch, instead of pancakes, they mix matzoh with scrambled eggs, and that’s matzobrei. But at our house, we eat matzobrei for dinner too, because we just love it so much! My grandma served matzobrei with cantaloupe, but cantaloupe isn’t locally seasonal in April, so we usually have ours with applesauce or strawberries.

Sweet or savory?

Some people eat matzobrei sweet, like pancakes, with maple syrup on top. In my family, we never do. My grandma served matzobrei plain with salt, and that’s how we eat it too. But you can do as you please 🙂

How to make matzobrei:

Take two matzot for each person, and put them all in a colander. Break up the matzo into bite-size pieces (some can be bigger). Run the whole colander under running water until the matzot are soggy. Heat two tablespoons of butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. When they melt, pour in the soggy matzot and stir occasionally with a spatula. Meanwhile, crack two eggs for each person into a bowl, and mix. You can add 1/4 cup of milk per person if you like. Once you’ve got the eggs mixed, and the matzot are beginning to look a little drier, pour the eggs on top of the matzot and mix it all together with the spatula. Keep mixing and spreading the matzobrei out, mixing and spreading, mixing and spreading for about two or three minutes, until the egg is all cooked. Serve hot, with salt and pepper.

Vegetarian or vegan

Matzobrei is just naturally vegetarian. If you want a vegan version, you could make a tofu scramble with matzo in it instead, though I have to admit I haven’t tried it.

Chicken soup with matzoh balls

First the soup:

Put a chicken carcass (the bones of a roasted chicken with most of the meat off) in a large saucepan and add enough water to cover it. Bring the water to a boil and then lower the heat and simmer.

Meanwhile, chop an onion, two or three peeled carrots (my grandma did them as long carrot sticks, and that’s what I always do), and two or three sticks of celery (diced), and throw them in too. Simmer the soup for about half an hour, and then lift out the chicken bones with a slotted spoon, and use a fork to pull off the meat. Toss the meat back into the soup again, salt to taste, and serve over the matzoh balls.

I know some people add garlic or lemon, but my grandma didn’t, and I don’t either.

Heavy or Light Matzoh Balls:

So both my grandmothers made chicken soup with matzoh balls. My father’s mother made matzoh balls that were dense and heavy, and my mother’s mother made matzoh balls that were light and fluffy. I don’t know how my grandmothers achieved this difference, and I’ve never been able to figure out how to make the dense ones. So this is a recipe for light, fluffy matzoh balls.

How to make matzoh balls:

Put a large pot of water on to boil. You need a *different* large pot of water from the one you are making chicken soup in. In a small bowl, mix together two tablespoons of olive oil and two eggs. Add 1/2 cup of matzoh meal, 1 teaspoon salt, and two teaspoons of water. (Some people insist that it helps to use seltzer water but I haven’t found that it makes any difference.) Mix it all together and put it in the refrigerator for half an hour, or in the freeze for ten minutes (not longer or it will freeze!).

When the water is boiling, take the matzoh ball mixture out of the refrigerator and scoop out enough to make a ball the size of a bouncy superball – smaller than a golf ball. Use your fingers (wash them first) and palms to roll the ball round, and drop it into the boiling water. Repeat until you have used up all the matzoh ball mixture. Some may fall apart, or small bits may fall off, but that’s something you have to live with. Let the matzoh balls cook in the boiling water for about twenty minutes, and then take them out with a slotted spoon.

Vegetarian or Vegan?

There’s no easy way to make vegan matzoh balls, but they are vegetarian. You could just make flour and water dumplings.

Will matzoh balls keep?

Matzoh balls are better fresh; you can eat them reheated the next day, but they do not freeze well.

Mac and cheese

Poor people’s food?

When my partner was about ten, his family was really poor for a few years following his parents’ divorce, while his mom got back on her feet again. They ate a lot of macaroni and cheese, and he’s always disliked it since as poor people’s food. But this version certainly doesn’t taste like budgets – it’s not that expensive to make, but it’s rich and creamy enough for anybody.

How to make macaroni and cheese:

(takes about an hour, but you can do something else for the last half-hour)

Boil a large saucepan full of water and cook a pound of macaroni with one large chopped bunch of broccoli in it. Meanwhile, grate 8 ounces of Parmesan cheese, 8 ounces of Gruyere cheese, and 8 ounces of sharp cheddar cheese. When the macaroni’s tender, drain it in a colander and rinse with cold water to get the extra sticky starch off. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Now make the cheese sauce: in a large stewpot, melt 1/2 stick of butter over medium heat. Add 1/4 cup of flour and stir with a wooden spoon until the butter and flour are mixed. Stir and cook 30 seconds more, and then begin to slowly pour in 3 cups of whole milk (or 3 cups 2 percent milk and a cup of Greek yogurt). Be careful at first not to break the sauce. Add the milk in a slow stream and make sure the butter and flour are absorbing it. You can add the last two cups faster. Once all the milk is added, keep heating and stirring until the milk is nearly boiling and thickens into a sauce. Cook one more minute, still stirring, and then add the three kinds of grated cheese. Keep stirring until it’s all melted. Pour in the macaroni and broccoli, and stir until it is all mixed. Butter a casserole pan or a 9×12 roasting pan and pour in the macaroni and cheese. Scatter a layer of breadcrumbs on top.

Bake for twenty minutes covered (I just put a cookie sheet over the pan), and then uncovered for ten minutes more. If the breadcrumbs aren’t browned enough after that, turn on the broiler for a minute, but watch your oven carefully so it doesn’t burn and ruin the whole thing.

Vegetarian or vegan

Macaroni and cheese is vegetarian, but not vegan.

Can I keep macaroni and cheese for later?

Yes, this will be better the next day, and you can keep it in the refrigerator, well sealed up in a tupperware, for a week. It won’t freeze well though.

Red Lentils/ Sweet Potatoes

Colorful, bright, delicious

This is another stripped-down version of several recipes from the New York Times – everybody loved it, whether with rice or with the corn pakoras. It’s very colorful and pretty on the plate, good for company. But caution: this is a lot of recipe to do all at the same time without help. Consider making some or all of it in advance.

How to make the red lentil dal:

In a medium-sized frying pan, heat some olive oil and saute chopped onion until soft. Meanwhile dice a red sweet potato and add that, cook 5 minutes until softened. Meanwhile, mince some garlic and ginger and add that. Stir. Add a cup of red lentils, and then the spices: red pepper flakes, coriander, cumin, turmeric, salt, pepper, all in generous quantities. Stir and then add a can of diced tomatoes and 3 cups of water. Cook uncovered until lentils and sweet potatoes are soft, stirring occasionally, about half an hour. Top with chopped cilantro and some shaved coconut (sweetened works fine).

How to make the colorful rice:

In a saucepan, heat some oil. Add chopped onion and bell pepper, and saute until softened. Add turmeric, cloves, and cinnamon, and a spoonful of mustard, and saute. Add rice and mix, then add water, and a chicken or vegetable bouillon cube. Cook on low heat until the rice is done. If you make it ahead, you can get a nice crust on the bottom while you’re letting it sit and keep warm.

How to make the corn pakoras:

If you don’t feel like rice, this is another good accompaniment for the red lentil dal. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix 1/4 cup chickpea flour, 3/4 cup regular flour, 1 cup cornmeal, 1.5 tsp salt, a teaspoon of baking powder, and a fair amount of turmeric, cumin, fennel, red pepper flakes, ginger, and mustard. Microwave a package of frozen corn until it melts. Then in a food processor, grind it to a rough mush. Add to the batter. Melt half a stick of butter in the microwave and add that. Add chopped green onions and cilantro. Add water as necessary to make a batter. Fry in small pancakes in a frying pan in batches. (Also good with lime wedges and chutney, if you don’t want it with the lentil dal.)

Nice for parties.

We ate this with Greek yogurt on top, and salad or sauteed spinach (with tarragon, pepper, lemon juice) on the side

Vegetarian or vegan

Just naturally vegan (if you leave out the yogurt and use vegetarian stock or water)! Enjoy!