Whole baked squash / Bean and corn fritters /microwave popcorn

My son thinks it's amazing and stupid (amazingly stupid?) that I've never made microwave popcorn; it seems perfectly reasonable to me since I've never owned a microwave. This has come up because lately I've been thinking about, and wanting popcorn, and our hot air popper was left at our house in Wisconsin when we came to Seattle. I assume the renters are using it, and we don't have a popper here, nor do we have an appropriate pot to use for popping corn on the stove. I don't think I can use a pot belonging to the people who own the house we're renting as it could get wrecked by popping corn in it. At least that's been my experience. After half-heartedly looking for a used air popper at Goodwill (though truthfully, we don't really want to accumulate more "stuff" since we have to move again in July), my son pointed out we have a microwave, and could make microwave popcorn. But that stuff is expensive and usually has flavorings and chemicals I don't want to eat. After doing a little Internet research, I've learned you can make your own microwave popcorn in a paper bag. I'm curious to try this to see if it works for me. Obviously it works for others but ya never know until you try it yourself. Has anyone tried this?

So I've learned a new trick this week. Actually it was the second new trick. The first was learned by my husband this past weekend — he learned to bake a squash whole. That's right, no grunting, groaning, teeth gnashing or cursing while trying to cut open a winter squash that seems to be made of steel. He just put the whole thing into the oven and took it out an hour later all soft and easy to open. It happened to be a spaghetti squash which we served with artichoke spaghetti sauce and steamed kale. (I think my husband would eat artichoke spaghetti sauce every day, whereas I prefer a little variety.) You can find more complete instructions here. I found this post after my husband had learned the trick elsewhere, and it's a good description of what to do.



Rambling on, I saw a recipe in Vegetarian Times for chickpea croquettes. I was particularly interested in making this recipe because it contained a whole cup of chickpea flour, and I'd just recently purchased a bag. Once in the kitchen, of course, I realized that yes, I had the chickpea flour, but almost none of the remaining ingredients. Since I changed the recipe so much, I think it will be OK to print it.



I didn't love the croquettes the first night I made them — the taste was good but the texture was weird — almost sandy. I cooked a bunch and served them with the leftover artichoke sauce (not a good idea), a wok-full of a bok choy-related green with garlic, and steamed rice. I wasn't planning to blog about them because they just weren't up to the standard I adhere to for blog posts. I put the leftover, uncooked mix into the refrigerator.



The next day I took the leftover mix, added frozen corn, and fried the fritters in a small amount of oil in the wok. I don't know if it was the overnight rest in the refrigerator or the addition of the corn, but they were FANTASTIC. Perhaps the steam from the frozen corn changed the texture, or maybe the batter just needed more solids in there with all that garbanzo flour. The corn definitely improved the taste and texture. If you make these, eat them hot off the griddle, when they're at their prime. I ate mine unadorned, and they tasted great, but I can see them topped with a sauce of Veganaise and salsa. I'm posting the recipe with the corn included. I know I'll be making these again.



Bean and corn fritters

• 1 cup chickpea flour
• 1 teaspoon chipotle powder
• 1 tablespoon dehydrated onion
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt (I tend to use less salt)
• 3/4 cup hot water
• 1 15-ounce can canellini beans, rinsed, drained and partially mashed
  
• 4 to 6 green onions, chopped (about 1 cup)
• a large carrot, grated (about 1 cup)
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro (or parsley)
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels

1. Whisk together the chickpea flour, chili powder, salt, chipotle powder and dehydrated onion. Whisk in the hot water.
   
2. Stir in the green onions, carrots, cilantro, corn and beans.
3. Form into fritters and cook in a small amount of cooking oil on a medium-hot, non-stick pan or griddle. You could also use well-seasoned cast iron. You can use a 1/4-cup measuring cup to mold the fritters, if desired. Fill the measuring cup about halfway. (You don't want them to be too thick.)
   
4. Cook until the bottom is brown, about 4 to 5 minutes, then flip and cook until the fritters feel firm and done, about 3 to 4 minutes. I like to press them down a bit as they cook.

I ate mine plain for breakfast but I can see them rolled into tortillas with lettuce and salsa, or even stuffed into pita for lunch or dinner.

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Stuffed squash / squash muffins

Those gorgeous winter squashes are just so hard to resist, sitting there all colorful and shapely in bins and boxes at farmers markets and coops. There's a growing collection of squash at our house that we know we should use, but no one wants to cut up. Cursing to myself is not uncommon whenever I try to open a winter squash, and knives have been known to break in the process. I think the cook's friendliest squash is delicata - it's not only sweet and delicious, it opens without a fight. Delicata doesn't store well, though, and the time had come to use ours. The squashes were all split, cleaned and baked until tender, and several were stuffed with the filling for Harvest-Stuffed Acorn Squash from "The Vegan Table" by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. (I got the cookbook for my birthday.) This dish was just as tasty as the other recipes we've tried from "Vegan Table," but really, this post isn't about stuffed squash. It's about finding a delicious use for leftover squash ...

It's about MUFFINS — soft, spicy, sweet, yummy, warm, fragrant muffins. I hate to brag about my own muffin recipe — it's so unattractive — but these were really irresistible. I've had three, so I should know.



I wanted to base the muffins on a gingerbread recipe I used to make, but when I realized my favorite gingerbread recipe hadn't made it to Seattle and was back in the Midwest, and I wouldn't be able to use it as a guide, I started looking for a replacement. But I couldn't find just what I was looking for. I wanted to make muffins with leftover squash, and spice them with fresh ginger. I also wanted to try the coconut oil I just bought (to make tuilles), but wanted to keep the fat to 1/4 cup. I also wanted to keep the amount of sugar fairly low. I worked out the proportion of liquid to dry and here's the result:



Gingery spice muffins

• 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
• 6 tablespoons water
• 3 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate
• 1/4 cup water

• 1-1/2 cups white whole wheat flour (stir well before measuring, spoon into measuring cup and level with knife)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (non-aluminum)

• 1/4 cup organic virgin coconut oil
• 1/4 cup evaporated cane juice
• 1/4 cup agave nectar
• 1 tablespoon fresh, finely grated ginger (I used a microplane), don't skimp
  
• 1/2 cup mashed leftover squash or canned pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350˚F • lightly oil 12-cup muffin pan

1. In a small bowl, mix together the flaxseed and 6 tablespoons water. Set aside for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, whisk in (or use a wooden spoon) the orange juice concentrate and additional 1/4 cup water.
   
2. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, salt, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, baking soda and baking powder.
3. In a large bowl, with a wooden spoon, beat together the coconut oil, sugar and agave until combined and kind of fluffy. (takes about a minute) Mix in the grated ginger. Add the flax mixture and thoroughly combine.
   
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet. Gently stir and fold until well-combined. Do not over-mix.
5. Divide the batter among 12 muffin cups and bake for 20 minutes or until done. Turn out onto a rack to cool. Enjoy warm or cool.
   

Vegan fudge from DD&D / kabocha-beet soup

I always say I shouldn't do attention-requiring tasks at night when I'm tired. They should get done early in the day when I'm more alert and fresh. Maybe if I'd tried to repair my torn winter boot when I had more time and energy, I wouldn't have super-glued that toothpick to my finger. And if I'd made the DD&D vegan fudge in the morning instead of at night, rushing to get it done, I might not have left out an ingredient!

It's all okay. The toothpick and my finger are separated, and the fudge looks a little rough but tastes great. I made Ricki's fudge with just a minor, intentional, logistical substitution of almond butter instead of macadamia nut butter, and was spreading it into the pan wondering why it was so hard to spread. "Seems a little stiff," I was thinking as I struggled to smooth it out and make it even. Then I looked up and saw the agavé nectar sitting on the counter. Oh. There was supposed to be a half cup of that. Too late, but will it be sweet enough? Soft enough? YES! For me anyway. I guess the chocolate chips, though bittersweet, were already fairly sweet, and the apricots and orange zest added the nicest flavor. Maybe it's a little firmer than intended...



I found it a bit hard to cut after its refrigeration period, so my pieces are somewhat uneven; more like the chocolate bark my father used to love so much than neat little fudgy rectangles. The question now is, must I eat this batch myself and make a new one with the correct ingredients and finer cut for those I was planning to share it with? After all, I DO want theirs to be perfect. I am motivated by only the highest intentions. What would you do? I'm thinking of making this again and covering it with finely crushed toasted almonds.

Kabocha-beet soup



I actually made the candy over the weekend. Tonight (Tuesday) I had to made some actual nourishing food for dinner. Not that fudge isn't nourishing, in its way, but it's so cold here right now that I wanted something hot to go with the fudge. We had a kabocha pumpkin that needed to be used, so squash soup seemed the obvious choice. It's so easy and tastes so good that I make it often. I was looking around in the fridge for some root veggie like a turnip or parsnip to add a different flavor. What I found was a beet. Beets are the one vegetable from the CSA box that are most likely to end up in our compost. We mean to eat them, but beets are just not my favorites.



Feeling virtuous, I grabbed that beet and headed to the sink. Even peeling the beet under water, I managed to spray my light grey sweatshirt with tiny red dots. Beets are so mean. Well, I cooked the squash and the beet in the pressure cooker, and sautéed a lot of onion and garlic in the wok. When everything was cooked, the ingredients were combined in the pot to be puréed with the wonderful immersion blender. I added my usual white miso and truffle oil, but the squash was so sweet it needed something more. I added umeboshi vinegar, sambal (a preparation of chopped chiles and vinegar) and chopped green onions. The beet added a rich earthiness (and super intense color) to the soup and the vinegar and spices worked perfectly to balance the sweetness of the squash. Everyone said, "this soup is really good!" And it was. Who wudda thunk it?

note: Beets take longer to cook than squash. You can compensate for this by cutting the squash into large pieces and the beet into small pieces.

Easy, creamy butternut squash soup with truffle oil

Recently, while my son was visiting from Seattle, we went to a shop I've been meaning to explore ever since it first opened. Vom Fass is a shop originating in Germany•, that sells bulk artisan oils and vinegars which are decanted from kegs. For some reason, our little city has the first, and so far only, U.S. store.

Confronted with a large room full of kegs of exotic sounding products, we just stood there and stared until the very friendly and extremely knowledgeable shopkeeper handed us small spoons and invited us to taste anything we wanted. Even that was daunting, but we gave it a shot. I tried to limit my tasting so as not to get too confused, but Aaron tasted widely. In the end, I chose a truffle oil made with extra virgin olive oil and a balsam cherry vinegar that can be used to made fizzy-water drinks as well as for more traditional recipes. There are bottles in sizes starting at 50 milliliters that you purchase with the idea of bringing them back to refill. I got 100-milliliter (a little more than three ounces) bottles.

I'm still thinking about the avocado oil I tasted. Did you know that avocado oil, in addition to being good for skin and hair, has a very high smoke point and is good for cooking? And it tastes exactly like avocado. Next time.

Now for the butternut squash soup. I made dinner the way I'm most comfortable cooking, and the way I cook most often—no recipes. The plan was to use the pressure cooker to create a fast and easy soup. (I've been making simple soups in my pressure cooker for 20 years so the basics are pretty much cemented in my mind. But you could also bake or steam the squash.) And to try out my Cuisinart Smart Stick immersible blender. I've had the blender for quite a while but never tried it! I mostly make soup in an enameled cast iron pot, and you're not supposed to use an immersion blender in that 'cause it might scratch, so using the pressure cooker was incentive to try the blender. We have winter squash from the CSA piling up so I picked the largest butternut squash. It was huge, but I wanted a lot of soup left over for lunches. I won't give an exact recipe but just general guidelines for using the pressure cooker. (I have a six-quart stainless steel Aeternum pressure cooker.) I cut the squash into large (two inch?) chunks and peeled them. Butternut has an edible skin, but I wasn't sure how the blender would deal with the skin, so I peeled off the thinest possible layer.

I sliced a medium onion and sautéed it in the pot with a little extra virgin olive oil. When the onion was translucent, I added the cut squash. I added water just below the top of the squash, and brought the pot up to pressure. I turned down the flame a bit and cooked it for 10 minutes at pressure. I brought the pressure down by running cold water over the lid.

I added a blob of sweet white miso to the pot and went at it with the immersion blender. In no time at all and with virtually no effort, I had a pot of ultra creamy squash soup. I couldn't believe it—no messy blender to wash; no multiple filling and emptying into an extra pot. As I've said before, pressure cooked vegetables are so flavorful that not much is needed to season them, so I took a minimalist approach. I added a scant teaspoon of truffle oil, a few grinds of black pepper, the juice of one lime and some minced parsley.

A co-worker groaned when I told him about the oil and said it was way too much. What do I know? It was a large pot of soup, and it tasted sublime. There was a faint earthy mushroom flavor that was not at all pronounced or overwhelming.



To go with the soup, I put brown basmati rice into the rice cooker with chopped up red Hungarian peppers and a teaspoon of dried chipotlé powder. When it was cooked I added a large handful of baby arugula and a small amount of grated Teese.

On the side we also had some steamed broccoli Romanesco; just about the weirdest looking vegetable I've ever seen, but the CSA grows it. It looks like it was created in a math lab. (Yes. MATH lab.) It was sweet and delicious and served unseasoned. Unfortunately, the photo didn't turn out.

•note #1: For terrific Wisconsin-made vinegars, I recommend Colleen's Tough Times.

note #2: Don't have an immersion blender? No Problem. I used to make this soup using my regular blender. Just blend it in batches and pour it into a second pot.

note #3: Usually when I make this soup, I don't cook the onion in with the squash. Instead, I sauté three or four onions in a separate pan and then blend them with the squash once it is cooked. You get a rich onion-flavored soup this way. Or use the pressure cooker for the onions and then remove them to cook the squash.

Tofu squash curry with swiss chard

My son and daughter-in-law have a large garden in their back yard and one of their most successful crops is swiss chard. You know, anyone who plants swiss chard in their garden is bound to have success. It's hard to fail with this prolific leafy green. Growing it is good for your gardening self-esteem, but when you have a lot of it, you should eat it. Swiss chard has been off my list of favorite vegetables for a long time — maybe this has something to do with my past success at growing it, and eating it and eating it and eating it...But after having this fabulous curry, I'm thinking of growing it again. My kids all tend to cook "free-hand," but I've been forcing them to pay attention to ingredients and quantities so they can share their creations with me, and I can post them on this blog. My son made this dish, and he said in the summer he uses summer squash and zucchini, but his favorite way to prepare it is with winter squash. He said he peels and bakes butternut squash in the oven until it's soft, and then uses it in this recipe. We used to have a Thai food cart on campus that used both summer and winter squash in their squash curry all year. I like the idea of cooking with the seasons, so this recipe will be presented with summer squash.


Tofu squash curry
• 1 pound block extra firm tofu, cut into 1" cubes
• oil for browning tofu
• tamari or soy sauce
• 1 can light coconut milk
• small can bamboo shoots, cut into strips
• 1 to 2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste (Thai Kitchen is a good one)
• 1 tablespoon Sucanot or similar organic unprocessed sugar
• 1/4 cup basil (Thai basil if you can get it)
• 3 small summer squash, cut into chunks (or 1 butternut squash peeled and baked until soft)
• large bunch of swiss chard, washed well and roughly chopped, tough stems removed
• cooked (brown) rice

1. Lightly brown the tofu in a small amount of oil in a dutch oven. Sprinkle it with tamari as it cooks. (about 1 to 2 tablespoons) Remove tofu to a bowl.
   
2. Dissolve the curry paste in 1/3 of the coconut milk. (Curry paste varies in spiciness and some are really hot. Use more or less depending on how hot you want the dish to be. Use caution if you are unfamiliar with red curry paste.) Place in the dutch oven and simmer for five minutes.
3. Add sugar, tofu, squash and remaining coconut milk. Cook until squash is almost done.
4. Add chard and cover. Steam for several minutes. Remove lid and mix.
5. Add basil and cook a couple of minutes longer until flavors are blended and vegetables are cooked.
6. Serve over rice.