Farro cakes on a bed of kale

I've been wanting to make a farro-based main dish for a while, but usually I just use it in salad, and it's been too chilly for me to get excited about a cold dinner. I played around with the idea of this farro cake for a while before going for it. I've made grain cakes before, and I just kind of made this one up. It's awesome, if I do say so myself. The farro is nice and chewy, and the liberal use of parmesan gives them a really nice deep cheesy flavor. It took me a little fiddling to get them to hold together. First, I just added one egg, but it was kind of just a dry-ish mash. I added a second egg, and it was too wet, but then I threw in some Panko crumbs, which absorbed just enough egg to get the cakes to hold together well. The kale complements the cakes nicely, but I have a pro-kale bias.

Farro cakes on a bed of kale

Makes about 10 cakes. I had 2 at dinner, and Jon had 5. So it serves 2-5 people, I guess.

1 cup farro (or a little less; you want 2 cups cooked in the end)

2 cups vegetable stock

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 cup onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

8 grape tomatoes, quartered

1/2 tsp ground marjoram

1/2 tsp dried thyme

.65 oz grated parmesan or asiago cheese (I just got an electronic kitchen scale! If you don't have one, it's probably 1/3 cup grated by a microplane.)

2 eggs, well beaten

1/4 cup Panko or bread crumbs

4 kale leaves

Cook farro by combining farro with broth in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower heat to a simmer, and cook for about 25 minutes, or until water is absorbed and farro is tender. Set aside.

Heat oil in a medium frying pan. Add onion, then a few minutes later, garlic, tomatoes, marjoram, and thyme. Saute until everything is soft. Set aside.

Place 2 cups farro in a medium mixing bowl. Add vegetable mixture and cheese. Stir in eggs and Panko or bread crumbs.

To cook the cakes, heat a crepe or nonstick pan over medium heat until it is very hot. (Add a little oil if your pan needs it; ours doesn't.) Take a big spoonful of farro mixture, plop it on the pan, and mash it down with the back of the spoon so it's even and fairly flat. Cook for 3-5 minutes, or until the bottom is golden brown. Carefully flip it and cook on the other side until that side is done as well. The cakes didn't seem very liable to burn, so you don't need to be too worried about them getting overcooked.

In the leftover oil from the vegetable pan, saute the kale. Serve farro cakes on top of a bed of kale.

Two things to do with olive oil

As I mentioned in a recent post, we got some really good olive oil recently. It's this stuff from California.

In the past, I've mostly stuck to imported Greek and Italian olive oils, but they had samples of this out at a local grocery store, and it's a great finishing oil. It's fairly bitter and grassy and assertive, but still fresh. While dousing bread in olive oil and balsamic is awesome, I've been trying to highlight this excellent oil in other ways as well. Here are two recipes I made this week that tasted good and let the olive oil stand out. The bulgur salad is a variation on something we do pretty often. The crostini came about because I saw a pickled cherry recipe in a recent Bon Appetit and just had to make it. (By the way, I didn't pit the cherries before pickling them, and I think they're fine.) It's pretty good, but I'll probably tinker with it when I make it again. I find it a little too acidic, and I feel like the cherry flavor would stand out more if I left them in the hot liquid for a shorter amount of time and decreased the vinegar a bit. But the rosemary is great in there! This seemed like a logical way to use up some pickled cherries. I think the crostini would be even better with a nice creamy chevre in place of the feta, but feta was what I had.

Bulgur salad

1 cup coarsely ground bulgur

pinch of salt

3/4 cups halved grapes

1 celery rib, thinly sliced

a big spring of mint, leaves julienned

juice of 1/2 lemon

olive oil

Bring 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil. Add the bulgur and a pinch of salt, turn off heat, and let bulgur steam until the water has been absorbed. If all the water has been absorbed and the bulgur isn't tender enough, add another 1/4-1/2 cup of water, bring to a boil, and turn off heat to let it steam a little more. In the meantime, place the grapes and celery in a medium mixing bowl. Add the cooked bulgur and dress with mint, lemon juice, and oil. Serve by itself or over a regular salad with lettuce, tomatoes, red peppers, and cucumbers, like I did.

Pickled cherry and feta crostini

Makes 1. Increase as necessary.

1 slice Italian bread

2 tsp crumbled feta cheese or a big smear of goat cheese

4 pickled cherries, pits removed and cherries chopped into 8ths

Black pepper

Olive oil

Toast the bread. I don't have a toaster, so I spread a little butter on it and fried it for a few minutes in a skillet, but toasting/grilling/broiling would work too. (I didn't want to use the oven for just one piece of bread.) Place cheese on bread and add cherries to the top. Sprinkle with black pepper and pour a little olive oil on it.

Evelyn's Bob's Red Mill

Nothing major here. Just sharing a nice oatmeal alternative for chilly mornings. We call it Evelyn's Bob's Red Mill because we started eating Bob's Red Mill 5-grain cereal instead of oatmeal a while back. It's about $3/lb, but we discovered we can buy the rolled grains in bulk and have a similar experience. I think what I like about it is mainly that the rolled grains are thicker than regular rolled oats. I figure the mix of grains is probably healthy, too. The Whole Foods near me has these grains in bulk for prices ranging from $1.19-1.99/lb, so it's significantly cheaper than buying the packaged one. I think I've seen rolled triticale and quinoa in addition to the grains below, but they didn't have any on my most recent trip.

Here are the toppings I've been using recently:

-1/4 cup frozen blueberries, 1 tbsp brown sugar, 1 tbsp ground flax seed, 10 chopped hazelnuts

-8 fresh raspberries, 1 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tsp whole chia seeds, 10 chopped hazelnuts

I really like having the cold fruit because then I don't have to wait very long for the cereal to be cool enough to eat. The flax seeds and chia seeds add omega-3's and extra fiber. I'm not usually into supplement-ish food, but I saw these on sale, and I figure it can't hurt. Plus I like to feel like a weird health food nut every once in a while.

I hope I don't seem to be callously undercutting Bob's Red Mill. I find it to be a good, if sometimes slightly expensive, brand, and I often buy their whole grains and flours. It's just good to know there's a cheaper alternative to this particular product, and this is really what we've started calling it.

Evelyn's Bob's Red Mill

This is just a suggestion. Any combination of rolled whole grains would be good.

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup rolled wheat

1/2 cup rolled rye

1/2 cup rolled barley

1/2 cup rolled spelt

Stir together. Store in a sealed container at room temperature. To cook, bring 1 cup water to a boil and add 1/2 cup grains. Cook, stirring occasionally, until water has boiled off.

Rye berry salad

This is an antidote to the avocado milkshake and ice cream recipes I have been posting. It's just a simple, healthy, grain salad made with stuff lying in my fridge. I had picked up wheat and rye berries at Central Market ages ago and kept them in my freezer. When we were clearing out space to store the ice cream, I remembered them and decided to use some of them. Wheat and rye berries are the most natural form of wheat and rye. They take a long time to cook, but it's not active time, so this was a pretty easy meal. Pretty much any leftover cooked vegetables you have would be good in this, too.

Rye berry salad

Makes approximately two dinner-sized portions and one lunch for the next day.

1 cup whole wheat or rye berries

4 leaves kale

Sesame and vegetable oil

Cherry tomatoes (I think we had 10.)

1/2 cup cooked adzuki beans

1/4 cup sunflower seeds (I used pumpkin seeds, but I think sunflower would be better.)

1 oz goat cheese, crumbled

Salt and lemon juice to taste

Place the rye berries in a pan and cover with plenty of water. Bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook until berries are soft enough for your liking, about an hour. (Tip: when you test a few, they should feel a little softer than you think you'd like them to be. They seem firmer when you're eating a whole bowl of them than when you test them.)

In the meantime, wash and chop the kale leaves. Saute in a generous amount of mixed vegetable and sesame oil until wilted. (This will basically become the dressing for the salad.)

Halve cherry tomatoes. When the rye berries are cooked, combine all ingredients, including the oil from the pan with the kale, and mix well. Season with salt and lemon juice to taste.

Amaranth-kale griddle cakes

I recently bought whole amaranth for the first time. It is a small grain that reminds me a lot of quinoa. I ate some just as the whole grain, but I also saw this recipe in How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman and wanted to try it out. Next time I will probably double the amount of kale I use, and I'll add more salt. Those changes are reflected in the recipe. This recipe was quite nice. The amaranth has a lot of texture, which is really nice and chewy in these cakes. And you know how I feel about kale. This is a perfect "breakfast-for-dinner" food. Not sweet like a lot of breakfast-for-dinners are but still good with maple syrup. Many different things could be subbed for the kale, or you can omit it altogether. I think peas or sweet potatoes would be particularly good.

Amaranth-kale griddle cakes
1 egg
1 cup chopped sauteed kale
1 cup cooked amaranth*
1/4 tsp salt
Black pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp almond milk
1 tbsp fresh thyme

Using a fork, beat egg slightly. Beat in kale. Stir in amaranth, salt, and pepper. Stir in flour and baking powder. Add almond milk and try to make the mixture into a stiff batter. You may need to add a bit more almond milk. Stir in the thyme.

Heat a nonstick crepe pan over medium until it is hot. Plop the amount of batter you want down on the pan. Cook, turning once or twice, until both sides are lightly browned. Serve plain or with maple syrup or yogurt or a giant serving of kale.

*Cook amaranth like quinoa: Cover in twice its volume of water, bring to a boil, and let simmer until grain is done, about 15 minutes. Drain if necessary. I think 1 cup dry amaranth probably gives about 2 1/2 cups cooked, but don't hold me to it.

Bulgur Texas Chili

I found this recipe perusing the "food in a bowl" tag on Molly's blog a few weeks ago. I'm a Texan, but I never knew that our chili isn't supposed to have beans. (My mom is from Ohio, so I didn't grow up eating particularly Texan foods.) All the chilis I've ever made were bean-based, so I was glad to expand my horizons with this bean-free recipe. I've tried using bulgur in chili before, and it was pretty disappointing. I think there wasn't enough in the recipe, so it was just an occasional textural oddity. This chili is chock-full of bulgur, and it definitely doesn't taste or feel like meat, but it gives the chili a really good chew. I omitted the cayenne pepper in the recipe, but it was still kind of spicy for wimpy me. (Jon, of course, added hot sauce to his.) Other than that, both of us really enjoyed this chili, and I'll just use a little less chili powder, or a milder chili powder, next time. We served it over cornbread. If it had lasted longer, I would have liked to try it in Frito pie, but it was gone too quickly. I hear that Molly is entering this chili in a vegetarian chili cook-off in Austin this Sunday. Check it out if you're in the area, and good luck, Molly!

Bulgur Texas Chili

1 or 2 tablespoons oil
small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne (optional)
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 cup bulgur
3 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 can rotel (I used mild)
1 can water
2 tablespoons tomato paste

Fry the onions in oil until they are soft, about five minutes. Add the garlic and cook another 30 seconds. Add all the spices and stir to combine. You can leave out the cayenne to reduce the heat a bit. Add the bulgur and stir everything together again. Combine the soy sauce and ketchup and pour the mixture over the bulgur. Stir continuously until combined.

Pour in the can of rotel (or about 10 ounces diced tomatoes). Fill the can with water once and add to the other ingredients. Add the tomato paste and stir everything once more. Bring everything to a boil and then turn the heat down to a simmer. Simmer covered for 20 minutes.

Taste and adjust the seasonings. If the chili is too dry for your taste, add some water. Serve over Fritos, cornbread, or tortilla chips. It's OK with me if you serve it over rice, but Molly disagrees.

Pineapple peanut butter stew with millet

It sounds odd, but pineapple and peanut butter are both good in savory dishes. I've seen several versions of peanut or groundnut stew, but this is the only one I've seen that (brilliantly) adds pineapple. This is a recipe I got from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home, and I think it was my first exposure to kale. You can use any green in it, but kale keeps a lot of texture when cooked, which is nice in this dish. I think millet is the perfect grain for this dish, but couscous and rice are good too. This recipe makes 2-4 hearty servings, depending on how big the bunch of greens is.

Pineapple peanut butter stew (from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home)
Pineapple tidbits are best for this, but crushed pineapple or pineapple chunks are perfectly acceptable. You want pineapple that is packed in pineapple juice, not sugary syrup. Fresh pineapple would be great, I'm sure, but if I've gone to the trouble of disassembling a pineapple, I'm not about to cook it in a stew.

1 cup hulled millet

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 cups undrained canned pineapple (20 oz. can)
1 bunch greens, washed and sliced (5 cups or more)
1/2 cup peanut butter
Tabasco sauce to taste (1 tsp or more)
Salt
Cilantro, chopped, for garnish
Crushed peanuts, for garnish

Combine millet, 1 3/4 cups water, and a large pinch of salt in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for about 20 minutes, or until water is gone. If it's still a bit crunchy, add a couple tablespoons of water at a time and cook until tender enough.

In a large pot, saute onion and garlic in oil for about 10 minutes, or until the onions are lightly browned. Add the pineapple and its juice to the onions and bring to a simmer. Stir in the greens, cover, and simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring a few times, until greens are wilted. Mix in the peanut butter and Tabasco sauce and simmer for 5 minutes. Add salt to taste. Garnish with cilantro and crushed peanuts if desired.

Quinoa salad with peas and pine nuts

This dish has four ingredients (five if you count water), and I don't think it could be improved. I intended to dress it with sesame-lemon dressing, but it was so darn good without it that I left it alone. Later I did try it dressed, and it was not nearly as good. The pine nuts are so rich and toasty that the dressing just seems sharp and unnecessary. Jon says I should call this a salad, but I think the pine nuts make it somewhat pilaf-y as well. I could definitely see this served in a butternut or acorn squash for an attractive Thanksgiving treat.

It's funny, I normally have quinoa in the pantry, but I don't actually cook it very often. This week, I've made it three times, and now it's all gone. I guess making it the first time just reminded me how good it was, so I made it some more. I think quinoa is a really good dish to take in for lunch if you don't have leftovers handy. The quinoa itself only takes about 20 minutes to cook, and while it's cooking, you can prep whatever veggies, beans, or nuts you want. You have a healthy, tasty lunch in just 20 minutes.

Quinoa salad with peas and pine nuts

1/4 cup pine nuts
3/4 cups quinoa (I used a mix of white and red)
generous pinch of salt
1 cup frozen peas

First, toast the pine nuts. I spread them out on a tray in the toaster oven and click "toast" and take them out the moment I can see that they've started to brown. You can also toast them in a dry skillet over medium heat. Set aside to cool.
Combine quinoa with 1 1/2 cups water and a large pinch of salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed. Stir in the peas and pine nuts. It's OK if the peas are still frozen. The heat from the quinoa will defrost them, and they'll bring the temperature of the quinoa down so you can eat it sooner. Serve warm or room temperature, not cold.

Quinoa lentil salad

I made this dish kind of on a whim last Friday to use up some extra lentils we had. We liked it so well that I made up another batch of it this morning before going to school so we could have it for lunch. It is a really quick dish. I think it could definitely become a potluck/picnic standby for me. Although it has a lot in common with my famous lentil salad, it is much subtler. I think of it as lentil salad's sophisticated older sister. We used French green lentils, which might be called de Puy lentils in your supermarket. Regular brown lentils would work fine in here, too. I don't think red lentils would work very well because they get so mushy. According to wikipedia, quinoa is high in protein, fiber, and iron. It also has a pleasant taste and texture, similar to white rice or millet. I used 1/4 red quinoa and 3/4 white for a little color contrast, but I think the taste and nutrition of both kinds is the same.

Quinoa lentil salad

1 cup quinoa
2 pinches salt
1 1/2 cups cooked lentils (from about 1/2 cup dry, I would guess)
1/2 cup fresh herbs, finely minced (I used thyme and oregano, but rosemary, basil, dill, and even mint would probably be nice)
2 stalks celery and some celery leaves, chopped

Red wine vinegar
Dijon mustard
Black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil

In a medium saucepan, bring quinoa, salt, and 2 cups water to a boil. Lower heat and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes, or until water has been absorbed. Mix together cooked quinoa, lentils, herbs, and celery. Whisk together a mild vinaigrette from remaining ingredients and dress the salad. I don't include amounts because I wasn't really paying attention when I made it. Just do what feels right.

Creamy polenta

I just learned by reading mollyjade's blog that October is the Vegan Month of Food, and there are a bunch of bloggers writing about their favorite vegan recipes all month. I didn't get the memo in time, so today's recipe is made with cream, but this month I will try to highlight some of my favorite vegan recipes. For those of you who care, I have added a vegan tag, so you can search just for those if you want. (I have delusions that there are hordes of you out there searching my blog for inspiration.)

Today, however, we are swimming in cream. I ended up taking home some leftover roasted eggplant, squash, onions, tomatoes, peppers, and garlic from a church dinner on Sunday. They were tasty, but a big pile of roasted vegetables isn't quite a meal for me. I wanted a grain to go with it. I considered rice, bulgur, bread, pasta, and quinoa, but none of them sounded right. Finally I hit on polenta, and it sounded perfect. It worked like a charm. This would also be good with sauteed greens or a chunky tomato sauce.

Creamy polenta (recipe from the back of a parmesan cheese container I bought in 2003)

2 cups broth (I used 1 1/2 tsp Better than Bouillion dissolved in 2 cups water)
1 1/3 cups water
1 cup cornmeal (doesn't have to be labeled "polenta")
1/2 cup cream or milk
1/4 cup grated parmesan, romano, or asiago cheese

Bring the broth and water to a boil over high heat. Add the cornmeal slowly while whisking to prevent lumps. Mine always has lumps anyway, but they're small and few in number. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring constantly, for about 15-20 minutes. The recipes always say "until mixture is pulling away from the sides of the pan", but I'm not patient enough, and it's usually thick enough for me after 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the cream or milk and cheese.

Bulgur Salad

I make this dish every now and again, often changing it a bit. It is a good summer dish, cool, light and a little more complete then a regular salad. Here is the latest incarnation. You can put a lot of other stuff in it. Evelyn really likes sliced red grapes.

1 cup dry bulgur (I think we use medium grind)
Tomatoes (grape tomatoes are our current favorite)
Red pepper
Cucumber
Scallions (for me; Ev doesn't like them)
Goat cheese (or Feta)
Lettuce, Sorrel and arugula from Ev’s garden

Dressing:
Lemon juice
Red wine vinegar
Olive oil
Salt

Prepare the bulgur by bringing two cups of water to a boil in a small saucepan. Stir in bulgur and turn off heat. Let it steam until the water is absorbed, about ten minutes. This makes a lot of bulgur. You might want to save some for later. I've heard that it can be frozen, but I haven't tried. In the meantime, chop up the vegetables and whisk together the dressing. Once again, dressing amounts are up to you. A 1:3 ratio of acid to oil is "standard", but we prefer 1:1 or so. When everything is done, stir it together. It's good served warm or cold.