Stuffed peppers

September 27, 2011 at 14:45 (Other, Recipes)
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Well, it’s Autumn and no two ways about it.  The mornings are chilly and most of the summer fruit is no more. But much more delicious stuff is still available, and ready to make the coming cold more bearable. Of course, now that the sun grows dim, we have to prepare more complicated meals, to make up the lack of fire without with the fire within.

So, as an autumnal treat, I have prepared one of my more complicated recipes for You : the Hungarian stuffed peppers. As with all stuffed dishes, it requires some work, since the stuffing has to be prepared first, and the actual meal later. However, it’s not as demanding as it could be, because the peppers themselves are practically ready to go. Well, what did You expect? I like cooking, but I’m allergic to hard work, so ‘more complicated’ means, around here, ‘requiring 40 minutes’ preparation.’

The peppers used here are ‘Hungarian wax’ peppers, not the more popular bell peppers (capsicum annuum ; English nomenclature is quite confusing here. Apparently, C. Columbus is to blame), which have the best shape for what I have in mind right now.

Ingredients:

  • Hungarian peppers – one or two per person, depending on their size.
  • Rice – usually a glass (250 ml) is enough
  • Onions – as much as You like
  • Garlic – three cloves minimum
  • Soy meat/meat/mushrooms – really, the last ingredient is entirely up to You. If You want it to be ready really fast, go with mushrooms, although this tends to give the dish a mild taste and somewhat spongy texture, as mushrooms do. If You’re looking for optimal nutritious value, soy meat is perfect, and it will make the peppers keep longer if there are any left over than actual meat.
  • Seasoning : cayenne pepper or chilli powder, oregano and basil, laurel leaves.

You will also need some tomatoes or tomato purée to prepare the sauce in which the peppers shall be cooked.

Preparation

First, prepare the stuffing. There are two ways this can be done, although one of them I have never tried. The old-fashioned way given by a Hungarian cookbook I have is to leave the rice raw while preparing the stuffing, and the other is to have it cooked beforehand. I will go with the latter, as this is the way I always do.

Frying the stuff

So, cook the rice. The actual amount of everything depends on how much peppers are You using, so I’m skipping quantities here. Dice the onions and cook them in a frying pan on a small amount of oil. Add some garlic and, as the onion changes colour (white to gold, never brown), put the third ingredient of Your choice. I always go with soy meat for a bit of protein. Fry all that for a moment, then add the rice. It can go straight from the pot, no worries here. Mix everything and season it to suit Your taste. ( Just a tip here – if You want the dish to be spicy, You have the choice of achieving this with the sauce or the stuffing. In my opinion, go for the stuffing. It’s easier to counter a hot meal with a mild sauce then the other way around. Of course, if You want to make both extra-spicy, be my guest.) Good seasoning choices here include chilli powder and all sorts of pepper, but also savory, oregano, basil and turmeric for extra colour.

Now that the stuffing is ready, leave it off the stove so that it won’t burn, and prepare the peppers. They need to be hollowed out, but left intact to accommodate the stuffing. Of course, they are hollow in themselves, so what You really need to do is simply cut out the stems and the cluster of pips underneath. The easiest way to do this is to take a pointy knife, stab it vertically into the pepper and cut around the stem. (Be sure to dislodge all the remaining pips, they aren’t tasty.)

Use a small spoon to put the stuffing inside the peppers and take care not to rupture them or they will fall apart during cooking.  This is where the difference between raw and cooked rice comes in : if You use cooked rice, it won’t change its volume anymore (well, not significantly) so You can fill them up. When dealing with raw rice, You must allow for the volume change and leave some space.
Once filled, put the peppers in a wide, flat pan (do not try to cook them vertically, this never works) so that You can turn them around. Now, there are two ways this could go : You can prepare a real tomato sauce, with onions, garlic and all that, or You can just pour some water, add some tomato purée and spices and be done with it. What You prefer is up to You, but if the peppers themselves are well made, they don’t really need an elaborate sauce. To get the best of two worlds, You can add a spoon of cream to the sauce near the end. Cover the pan and leave them to simmer in the sauce, remembering to turn them gently around from time to time. Don’t let them stick to the bottom – You won’t be able to free them without ruining the effect.

Serve them in their own sauce, accompanied by a salad or another vegetable – french beans are my favourite. Since they are stuffed with rice, these peppers don’t need a side order of it. Mostly, they are a meal in their own right, which is great.

Leave a Comment

Thyme (thymus vulgaris)

July 8, 2011 at 12:16 (Ingredients)
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.
- Midsummer Night’s Dream

The common thyme. Strong, fresh scent, beautiful, small leaves and the resilience of something much bigger and tougher. This ancient herb has been used by many nations throughout the world since antiquity, respected for its antiseptic and preservative qualities that could be profited of by cooks, medics and even embalmers. Even nowadays, many throat remedies are still made of thyme, coltsfoot  and marsh mallow, despite all the progress in pharmacology.

Thyme is an easy herb to keep, even in a pot on your windowsill. It likes sunny spots best, but will actually make do anywhere, as long as there’s some direct light. It does not need a lot of water – indeed, too much of it can hurt the plant – and will struggle along even if You forget about it for a week, which makes it a good start for beginner herbalists. Even dried up and brown, the plant will regain almost all of its strength when taken care of.
If You want to have some fresh thyme at home, the best way to go about it is to buy a live plant. Thyme is very difficult to raise from seeds and is usually propagated by cuttings, even by professionals. If You bought a plant and want to put it in a pot, remember that thyme is a survivor ; it has evolved to withstand harsh conditions and those are the ones that suit it best. The most important thing here is to keep the soil well-drained. But don’t worry : just take the intended pot and fill the bottom with a 3 to 4 cm layer of stones (gravel or sea pebbles, anything small) and the rest with soil. This will make Your plant feel right at home.
Thyme can also be used to great effects in gardens, as it really is rather decorative, very resilient and can take severe cold well. An interesting fact is that ants like to make nests among thyme roots, and gardeners have successfully drawn ants away from an undesirable spot by planting thyme bushes somewhere else.

Culinary uses

Because of the strong aroma, thyme herb is a great seasoning for all those dishes that need an extra zing. Meats of all kinds can benefit greatly from being marinated in olive oil and thyme (and will keep longer).  It’s a great ingredient for all kinds of salads and casseroles where the taste would otherwise be too bland. The only problem is that the leaves are very small, and if You have a live plant, You’ll have to pick quite a lot of them and it becomes tedious after a while. But that’s hardly a real disadvantage.

Medicinal uses

Thyme is most commonly used as an antiseptic, due to high concentration of essential oils. Most common use for it are throat infections, which can be treated with infusions, thyme oil (it’s hard to make as it has to be distilled twice, so at home best stick to infusions) or some more complicated recipes I will not dwell on right now. It is also used to stimulate the digestive system and can raise blood pressure, although not enough to be any danger to patients suffering from hypertension. Usually. Of course, ultra-high concentration of thyme oil should be avoided by them, but then again, it’s not likely to come across that sort of dose anyway.

Magic uses

In magic, thyme can be used to great effect. Due to the strong and persistent nature of the plant, it can be used in charms  to grant courage and resilience. The potent, healthy aroma invigorates the spirit and clears thought similarly to lavender, but with more emphasis on action. Thyme can also be used to ward off nightmares, be it the fresh herb, the dried herb used in a witch bag, or incense. It is definitely worth to keep this small, but noble bush at home.

3 Comments

Cheese

February 28, 2011 at 12:06 (Basics, Cooking tips, Ingredients)
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

‘Cheese is good. Cheese is alive’.
- Granny Weatherwax, in The Wee Free Men

CheeseThere might be something more to life than eating cheese and drinking wine, but quite frankly, there isn’t much of it.
Fame evaporates and so do lovers (metaphorically speaking, I hope), but a good cheese will wait in the fridge faithfully, intent only on being eaten*. It may not be as glamorous and exciting as some exotic fruit, or as showy as caviare or some fancy dessert. But it’s damn tasty, that’s for sure.
Right at the start of this little blogging folly of mine, I promised to explore the cheese subject in-depth. A good opportunity has just presented itself – my love of cheese is well-known to those close to me, so they’ve been presenting me with many dairy delicacies lately. It’s not every day You find five different kinds of cheese at home, so I couldn’t let this pass unnoticed.

Cheese is one of the oldest foods in the world – older than bread, surely, because milk-giving animals have been domesticated before humans learned to grow crops. Nothing conclusive is known about the exact place of its origin, but it seems logical that cheese originated more or less everywhere: all humans need to eat and are likely to experiment widely in that field, and milk was available pretty much to every ethnic group out there.  So if You’re feeling like giving Your respects to the ancestors, cheese is a good bet.

There are thousands of types and varieties of cheese, since all those Peoples who got the idea have been working on it ever since. They can be classed by many different criteria, such as type of milk used (cow, sheep, goat etc.), texture or type of fabrication process and so on. Since all this is not really that useful and can be read elsewhere, I will stick to my own examples. As seen on the picture, we have:

The blue vein

Made using a special variety of mould, these cheeses have a very characteristic apparition and a peculiar, strong taste. Can be made from any milk, but the most famous one, roquefort, is only allowed to bear the name if made from sheep milk and in the caves near Roquefort-sur-Soulzon.
When dealing with those, it’s important to remember that they are, for all intents and purposes, covered with mould. Do not wrap them up with other cheeses, even other “mouldy” ones. It’s also a good idea to wash the knife before using it on something else, unless You do want to spread the mould everywhere.
Strong, dry red wine is necessary – anything weaker will lose to the taste of cheese immediately. Incidentally, the “vein” can be anything from blue to green to red to even purple at times.

The ‘standard’ semi-soft

There’s actually nothing standard about them, seeing as the category is only semi-valid by itself, but those cheeses are the most popular around the western world – Gouda, Edam or Maasdamer, those are the cheeses that You will put on a sandwich most often. They can vary greatly in tastes and shapes, and their biggest advantage is being as close to ‘universal’ cheese as possible: they can be sliced for toast, grated for pizza or pastas and cut in large bits for fried cheese cutlets.
These cheeses keep well and start spoiling from the surface, so the places in question can be cut off without losing the rest. Just remember not to leave them unwrapped as they dry out and become unusable.

The soft-ripened cheese

Made of most varieties of milk, using a special kind of mould, but having almost nothing in common with the blue veins. Amazing, isn’t it? Those are the brie, camembert, coulommiers, or brique (all French examples, because I’m writing what I know). This kind of cheese does not, usually, keep at all, as it is intended to be eaten in one sitting. Tastes range from mild and creamy (brie) to sharp and piquant (ripe camembert). Always with red wine, dry or semi-dry, never sweet.
Mostly eaten individually, just like the blue veins, but some salad and pasta recipes call for them.

‘Hard’ cheeses

Those are the ones that crumble rather than cut and go ‘knock’ when You tap them. Grana padano, parmiggiano, peccorino – Italy is the leader here, as this kind of cheese is intended to be grated and used as a condiment for pasta (sometimes roasted meat). Assembled in big molds and aged for years, sometimes, they can be undistinguishable from their thick wax crust, until tasted. There is no mistaking their taste, and I’m not going to attempt to describe it. They are expensive, but worth the price.
Can be eaten individually, but are at their best with pasta. Indispensable for more “modest” types of spaghetti sauce, like aglio et olio or puttanesca, where a lesser cheese will make a dissonance.

I can go on much longer like this, but feel obliged to stop now for the sake of my dear Readers. And for a bite of brie.

ΦΦΦ

* I don’t need love,
For what good will love do me?
Cheddar never lies to me,
For when love’s gone,
Cheeses last on…
;)

2 Comments

Carrot soup

February 15, 2011 at 18:31 (Recipes, Soups)
Tags: , , , ,

That’s life’s blessin’, darling. It always goes on.
- I wish I could remember where I read that.

Carrot soup ingredientsNo matter what happens, life goes on, which can even be jarring sometimes. Whether You got your heart broken one too many times, lost your job or can’t even find one to begin with, there always comes the moment when You have to look facts in the face: life goes on. And this means we have to eat.

So, regardless of all the chaos that’s made its nest in my life and ignoring all the little worry worms that pester me constantly, I’ll be continuing to cook and to tell You about it. Hey, You read blogs at your peril. But since I’m still adjusting to the situation, I’ll start with something simple. I believe this is actually the first soup recipe to appear here on KW.

Ingredients

  • Carrots – two per person minimum
  • Onions – half an onion per person
  • Celery root – depends on its size, but half a root should do
  • Water
  • Olive oil – two spoons maximum
  • Seasoning: pepper, basil and (if You’re into it) salt

Tools

  • Blender, or
  • Sieve and pestle

Preparation

Carrot soup in makingIn a pot of a sufficient size (depends on how much soup You want to make), heat up the olive oil. Dice the onions and put them into the pot. While the onions cook, dice the carrots and the celery root (yes, yes, You need to wash and peel them first. Thank you, Captain Obvious ) and add them to the pot. Fry all the vegetables for a moment, but be careful not to let the onions brown. When onion browns, its taste changes and we don’t want that here.
So keep on stirring the vegetables on the oil for a while – preferably untill they get a pale-gold sheen, or the onions are on the verge of browning – and when You feel they’re ready, pour the water in.
Now all You need to do is keep the pot on the stove, boiling, but not too violently. The vegetables need to be soft enough to mix smoothly, so the best way to go about this is to keep the pot over a small fire, cover it and go read something for about an hour.

If  You’re not using a blender, boil the vegetables longer – the softer they are, the easier You can run them through a sieve (basically You just fish the big bits out with the sieve, and then rub them around it with the pestle untill they mash). If You have a blender, You can shorten the boiling phase.
Mix the soup in whatever way You deem appropriate, then, and season it to suit your taste. It works best with fresh, aromatic herbs such as basil, mint or rosemary, with some pepper to spice things up.

Carrot soup

This is quite a nutritious soup, but it does not rest heavily on the stomach. It can be used as the first course if You’re planning some heavier dishes later. For health reasons,  it’s definitely worth recommending to frequent computer users, just like every other carrot-based meal.

Leave a Comment

Carrot and sunflower salad

December 16, 2010 at 15:42 (Recipes, Salads)
Tags: , , , , ,

I’ve never been one for diets. The only carrots that interest me,
are the number you get in a diamond.
- Mae West

Carrot salad ingredientsThis statement from one of cinema’s greatest sex symbols should really get more exposure, even though I agree with the first part more than with the second. Diamonds don’t really interest me, but as women and girls all around the world obsess over their weight, hurting themselves to conform to unattainable standards, Mae West remains, even in her forties and fifties, a stunningly attractive woman. Really, see for Yourselves. And I don’t think she either wore size 8 or was depressed about it.

While I admire her joie de vivre and witty comments, I’m ready to argue that carrots have actually quite a lot to offer.  Not only do they contain a vast amount of carotene (making it a vitamer of vitamin A, one that is very important for all of us computer users), but they can be used in a number of interesting, tasty ways. I’m going to start easy, however, with a carrot and sunflower seed salad that goes perfectly with gratin dauphinois You saw here lately.

Ingredients

  • Carrots – one per person
  • Sunflower seeds – as much as you like but a handful at least
  • Garlic – one medium/small  clove
  • Sauce base – this can be mayonnaise, sour cream or plain yoghurt, depending on Your preferences (and diet)
  • Olive oil – one teaspoon

Preparation

Peel the carrots and grate them, but not too thinly. If  You use a very  mince grater, carrots will leak juice that will interfere unpleasantly with the sauce. Mash the garlic with olive oil (it will go much easier with it and the aroma is wonderful). This is best done in the same dish You plan to be serving the salad in, because it spares You the task of scraping up the mortar, or whatever You are using, and cleaning it, while losing half the garlic in the process.

With the garlic mashed and ready, add whatever You chose as sauce base. Mayonnaise and cream can support a bigger amount of garlic than yoghurt, so choose as You like it. Mix the mashed garlic with sauce base and sunflower seeds, before adding grated carrots. This will ensure even distribution of the seeds. You’re done!

Carrot and sunflower seed salad

This is quite a strong, piquant salad, so it can be used for dishes that need spicing up – fat, roasted meats, rich, creamy bakes etc. I made it when visiting my parents one day, to go with my mother’s Famous Roast Chicken (capital letter justified, believe me) and the salad vanished before the meat did. Extraordinary.

2 Comments

Gratin dauphinois

December 6, 2010 at 20:01 (Other, Recipes)
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Du pain, du vin, du gratin
- almost a French proverb.

Gratin ingredientsWinter hit us hard this year, probably to even the score with a particularly fine Autumn. When it’s -16 Celsius (3.2 Farenheit) outside the window and a heavy layer of snow covers everything, it looks beautiful, but that’s about it. The cold creeps into our houses, saps our strength and even grocery shopping becomes a feat of survival.
So what does a smart Kitchen Witch do in such circumstances?
Bakes gratin dauphinois.

This traditional French dish originates from the Dauphiné region and is only one of many bakes (or casseroles, if you wish) that French cuisine has to offer. It is also one of the simplest, and just perfect for the freezing weather that we are experiencing right now.
The delicious smell that accompanies its baking will, together with the warmth from the oven, instantly fill Your house with comfortable, cozy atmosphere. The aroma is also very delicate, so it will not linger unpleasantly. The dish itself is very sustaining, and of course delicious. It has the additional virtue of being gluten-free.

You will, obviously, need a casserole to cook this. Be prepared for some scrubbing afterwards, but I assure You, it’s worth it (I use an old clay casserole that’s been in the family for generations. It looks really menacing, all brown-black and with the words “heat-resistant ceramic” in heavy gothic script. Wonderful.) This is a very easy recipe and requires minimum supervision, so You can put it in the oven and go about Your business.

Ingredients

  • Potatoes – about three per person, unless You’re dealing with real potato fans (or huge potatoes).
  • Sour cream – for covering the surface,  so the exact amount of cream depends on the dimensions of the dish.
  • Milk – the amount of milk depends on the amount of potatoes.

Yes, those are all the ingredients You need. Don’t add anything: no cheese (that would be gratin savoyard), no bacon, no salt, no pepper. Trust me. Or, at least try it once as it is before deciding whether it needs seasoning.

Preparation

Peel the potatoes and slice them. Not too thinly, because then the slices will stick together and won’t allow milk to flow in between. Remember they will shrink as they bake. About 4 mm is a very good thickness here.
Oil up the casserole (or coat with butter if You’re feeling generous) and fill it with layer after layer of potato slices. The best way to do this is to imitate the way bricks are being put, with edges overlapping and covering loose spaces. However, You don’t have to worry about gaps too much.

Gratin in making

Layers of potatoes, half-covered with cream. You can see the milk level on the left.

Actually, the slices sticking to each other flatly are worse than gaps, because when You’re done with potatoes, You need to pour in the milk. Not as much as to cover them all and drown them, but about two-thirds of the whole height. It’s best for the milk to flow freely between the potato slices, because their baking in it is what gives this dish its unique taste. Hence the need to avoid impenetrable potato walls and columns. All this looks confusing in writing, but shows plainly on the photo.

With milk sloshing around the potatoes, You can coat the surface with cream. As it bakes, it turns into a smooth, creamy golden blanket, the most delicious part of the dish, so You might want to be generous about it.

Baking

Once You’ve put on the cream, You’re done! Just put the whole thing into the oven and watch out not to overdo the heat – You must remember that the whole dish should bake smoothly. Too big a fire would result in the bottom layers burning and the top ones still being raw.
Since the heat must be mild, it bakes slowly. The thicker the layer, the slower it cooks, so You need to plan Your timing. My “greatest” achievement in this field was 2 hours in the oven, but it was a huge portion put over a coward’s fire – my first gratin. Still, be prepared for an hour+ of baking.

Gratin dauphinois

When the crust develops a golden tint with brown patches, it’s ready.

Gratin dauphinois is a strong, filling meal and, in all probability, will suffice to feed a number of people on its own. The only company it needs is a salad, to supply vitamins and refreshment (carrot and sunflower salad goes great with this), and dry, white wine.

3 Comments

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.