Chickpea Masala

I'm struggling a bit to adapt to this gluten-free life.  But here's a quick and easy recipe that I love - and to my surprise, my kids love, too!  Serve this over basmati rice for a quick, easy, healthy, and delicious dinner.

Chickpea Masala

1 onion, finely minced
3/4 cup carrots, diced
2 cans (15 oz) chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1 inch ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped (or use 1 teaspoon ground)
juice of 1 lemon
zest of 1/2 lemon
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1  teaspoon garam masala
2 Tabelespoons catsup
salt to taste
fresh cilantro, chopped, for garnish and last-minute flavor

1. Heat a bit of canola oil in a medium deep pot.  Add the onions and carrots.  Saute until onions are golden brown.
2. In a blender, puree the tomatoes, garlic, ginger, and 1/2 cup of the garbanzo beans.
3. When onions are brown, add the remaining ingredients to the pot, except the fresh cilantro.  Let simmer, covered, for 15-20 minutes, until carrots are tender.  Garnish with cilantro and serve over rice.

This Week's Changed-Life Plan

It's been a difficult week.  On Wednesday, I was diagnosed with either gluten intolerance or Celiac's Disease.  Still waiting for the test results, but regardless of which outcome it is, I have to figure out how to eat and live without gluten.  Wheat, barley, rye, most flour, pasta, bread, baked goods - all are gone from my life.  I'm still in a bit of shock and denial, and I have reached the point of sadness and depression yet - but I'm sure they'll come.

So my new challenge is making meals that I can eat and the boys in my house will enjoy.  They should not have to live without pasta and bread just because I do.   Fortunately, as gluten intolerance has become more common and high-profile, there are a host of books, websites and products that cater to this population.

So, this week's plan:

Saturday:  Microwave Risotto with Chicken and Asparagus 

Sunday:  Roasted Chicken with lemon and garlic, roasted potatoes and carrots, roasted Brussels sprouts.  (I'm roasting 2 chickens so I have leftovers throughout the week).

Monday:  Mixed green salad with chicken, apples, dried cranberries, and caramelized pecans.

Tuesday:  Chicken Tacos with avocado, tomato, sauteed peppers, and black beans

Wednesday:  Garbanzo Bean Stew with steamed basmati rice

Thursday: Grilled hamburgers with Sweet Potato fries, white potato fries, and coleslaw with vinaigrette

One of the hardest things is desserts.  I LOVE brownies, cakes, pastries, beignets, pies, and all kinds of baked goods.  Combining this with the fact that I need to lose some weight, I need some good answers for dessert.  I crave something sweet after dinner, and so do my boys.  So here are my dessert plans for the week:

Fruit with Chocolate Fondue:  Chocolate fondue is super easy to make, and it's a great way to get the boys (and me!) to eat a ton of fruit.  You can dip almost any fruit - we love bananas, strawberries, diced pineapple, and sliced mango.

Sliced strawberries macerated in sugar and tossed with a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar - alone or over vanilla ice cream!

Dark Chocolate-covered caramels - I like Reisen - I can eat just 1-2 and be perfectly happy for dessert.

Greek yogurt flavored with vanilla and sweetened with Splenda - creamy, delicious, and healthy!

That doesn't look like a bad menu to me!  The weeknight meals are quick and easy.  Maybe I can get through this week without feeling deprived.

Dinner is somewhat easy because I'm used to planning, so making adjustments is not hard.  Breakfast and lunch are much harder, because I generally don't think about them until mealtime.  I am not in the habit of planning these meals.  I'm used to grabbing a quick breakfast that I can eat in the car - peanut butter toast or English muffins with Laughing Cow cheese are my favorites, with a banana.  So I'll have to make a little more time in the morning and scramble an egg, make a smoothie, or mix fruit and yogurt with a gluten-free granola. The food is not as hard as adjusting my schedule to sit down and eat.

Lunch is more challenging.  I'm so used to going to one of the delis and grabbing a sandwich.  I can't just grab soup because most commercial soups either contain pasta or are thickened with flour.  I think I'm going to have to start making lunches at home and bringing them into the office.  It's probably much better for my health and my wallet.  It's just more work and more time - and lots of planning.

Thanks for reading.  I'll keep posting Now We're Cooking recipes over the course of this week.

Chef Dane's Offers Now We're Cooking Meals

One of my favorite competitors when I was in the meal assembly business was Chef Dane's Kitchen in Santa Clara.  Chef Dane Mechlin came into Now We're Cooking soon after we opened, on a reconnaissance mission to see what was going on in the industry.  We quickly became friendly and we regularly checked in with each other to see how things were going.  I also checked out a number of other assembly kitchen in the area, and I thought Dane's food was by far the best.

When Now We're Cooking went out of business, Dane began delivering meals to pickup locations in the Tri-Valley area.  Although he doesn't do home delivery in this area, he does deliver freshly-made meals to Crow Canyon Wines in San Ramon and Gene's Fine Foods in Pleasanton.  

He's now expanded his menu to include a number of favorites from Now We're Cooking.  I've given him recipes of a bunch of your favorites (in exchange for a VERY generous donation to my kids' school auction).  He's incorporating them into his menu, a few at a time.

In March, he's offering three of your all-time favorites:  Marinated Skirt Steak with Bleu Cheese or Shallot Butter (he's adding sesame noodles, too!); Southern Pulled Pork Sandwiches, which he's improved with a side of Linguica Baked Beans; and Hoisin-Glazed Meatloaf.  In addition to these dishes, he has other delicious offerings, including Thai-Coconut Bouillabaisse and Chicken Puff Pastry Pot Pies.

Place your order at Chef Dane's Kitchen in Santa Clara.  Let him know about your Now We're Cooking favorites, and I'll make sure he gets those recipes, too!  Thanks so much to Dane for keeping some of our favorites available.

Academy Awards Party Menu

I love to host parties.  However, my friends have picked most of the traditional holidays for their annual parties.  BJ has the 4th of July, my sister-in-law has Christmas Eve, Rebecca has Memorial Day, and Heather has Labor Day.  So when I was trying to find an occasion for my annual party, the only thing I could think of was the Academy Awards.  I don't care much about the Academy Awards. Since I've had kids, most of the movies I've seen involve animation or talking animals.  But it's a reason to host a party, and people have a great time.

This year, I decided to have a Bollywood theme.  The guest are coming in festive Bollyw00d-style attire (saris, or bright clothes and lots of jewelry).  Jessica will be doing henna tattoos for those who'd like them.  And I'm doing an Americanized Indian feast.  I'm combining dishes in ways that are neither authentic nor respectful of regional variations.  And I'm modifying the spices to be more palatable to American tastes.  But we'll still get the idea.

One of the things I love about Indian cooking is that it's very easy to put together a menu that accommodates vegetarians without making them feel like they're missing something.  In addition, the heavy incorporation of legumes makes Indian food a great choice for an inexpensive but sumptuous feast.

Bollywood Academy Awards Menu

Veggies and Pita with hummus and chutneys 

Chicken Tikka Masala  (spiced chicken in a tomato cream sauce)
Saag Paneer  (spinach and cheese)
Gajar Matar (spiced peas and carrots)
Empress Dal (spiced lentils)
Chana Masala (chickpea stew)
Raita (yogurt sauce to cool the heat)
Various chutneys
Naan (bread)
Basmati Rice with Cinnamon & Saffron

Red Carpet Cake (banana cake with cream cheese frosting)
Chocolate Fondue (OK, not Indian, but it's yummy!)

This Week's Plan

I had a minor surgery a couple of weeks ago on a Friday.  So when I should have been food planning and grocery shopping for last week, I was lying in bed feeling sorry for myself. Combine that with an exceptionally busy week for work, and my family ate terribly last week.  Hot dogs, mac & cheese from a box, and pizza 2 nights, and McDonald's one night.  Barely a fruit or vegetable passed their lips at dinner for 6 solid nights.

No wonder they all have bad colds now.

So I failed the "feed the family" aspect of parenting last week, and I'm not doing it again this week.  So here's the plan:

Sunday:  Mexican-Inspired Salad with spiced grilled chicken, grilled peppers, jicama and cotija cheese.

Monday:  Salad with grilled chicken, apples, dried cherries, and pecans.

Tuesday: Tacos with seasoned ground beef, broccoli slaw (instead of shredded lettuce), grilled peppers, tomatoes, salsa, and cotija & shredded cheddar.

Wednesday: Chicken salad with apples, raisins, celery, and green onions.

Thursday:  Traditional stuffed bell peppers.

It's another really busy week.  The company I consult for is 2 weeks away from a major software release, and we're in "deathmarch" mode.  The key to all these dinners is that they're simple and take very little time to prepare.  Plus they're pretty healthy - lots of fruits and veggies.  Recipes to follow.

Marinated Skirt Steak with Shallot Butter or Bleu Cheese

This was by far the most popular recipe ever at Now We're Cooking.  We put in on our menu the second month, and it stayed on our menu almost constantly for the next 32 months.  This recipe also works well with any tender cut of beef - rib eye or strip steak.  It can work with flank steak, but it's not acidic enough to tenderize the steak, so use a top grade of steak.

Marinated Skirt Steaks with Bleu Cheese or Caramelized Shallot Butter

½ cup hoisin sauce 

¼ cup brown sugar

1 Tablespoon garlic

2 teaspoons ginger

2 Tablespoons rice vinegar

1 Tablespoon Mae Ploy sweet chile sauce 

6 6-ounce skirt steaks  

½ cup bleu cheese crumbles 

3 Tablespoons shallot butter (recipe below)

1. Mix the first 6 ingredients together well.  Pour over steaks.  Turn the steaks a few times so they're fully coated.  Cover and let marinate in the refrigerator for 4-24 hours.  (You can also put them all in a plastic bag and freeze them. The steaks will marinate while they're defrosting in the refrigerator.)
   
2. Fire up the grill to high temperature.  Remove steaks from marinade; discard marinade.  Grill steaks for 3-5 minutes per side to desired doneness.  Top with bleu cheese and melt for 1 minute.  Or, if using shallot butter, top steaks immediately before serving.  Alternatively, you can broil the steaks, about 6 inches away from the broiler element.
   

Someone posted a question about how to cut the skirt steaks.  Skirt steak is a long piece of beef that's covered in loose fat.  Lay out the steaks and trim the loose fat by running a chef's knife or boning knife away under the fat, and then angling the knife away from the beef while you run it down the length of the steaks.  Then cut across the narrow part of the steak (with the grain) to portion it into portions of equal weight.

When it's cooked, you want to cut against the grain.  Here's a short video from youtube showing how to do that.

Caramelized Shallot Butter

1 tablespoon shallots, finely chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon tarragon, dried

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

Finely chop shallots.  In a small pan, saute in olive oil, stirring frequently, until shallots have begun to caramelize, about 20-30 minutes.  Stir in soy sauce and cook until all liquid is evaporated.  Stir in tarragon and pepper.  Remove from heat, let cool.  Process in food processor until butter is smooth and creamy with bits of shallots.

Quick Linguine with Broccoli

Rudy and I have a hearty, healthy dinner that's our quick and easy, can't figure out what else to do dinner.  I like it because it has endless variations, can be made with whatever is in the fridge, and it's pretty tasty.

Linguine with Broccoli

2 cups broccoli florets

1 8-10 ounce package fresh linguine

1/4 cup Roasted garlic olive oil

1-2 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar

salt

pepper

chopped fresh herbs, if you have them

Parmesan cheese, freshly shredded

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil.  Add the pasta and broccoli, let boil for 3-5 minutes, until pasta is cooked and broccoli is tender.  Drain well.  Toss the pasta mixture with the roasted garlic olive oil and balsamic vinegar, plus salt and pepper to taste.  If you have the fresh herbs, toss them in, too.  Top with the shredded Parmesan and serve.
2. My husband likes to add bits of roast chicken to his.  We usually have a roast chicken in the fridge - he makes quesadillas for midnight snacks.  He'll slice off a few pieces, warm them in the microwave, and toss them with the pasta.

What I like about this is it works with most any vegetable I have in the fridge.  The one-pot technique works with broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, green beans, or quartered Brussels sprouts.  I can also ramp up the flavor and sophistication by adding freshly toasted nuts:  pinenuts with the broccoli, slivered almonds with the Brussels sprouts, or pecans with the green beans.  If I have tomatoes, peppers, or spinach, I saute them separately with the roasted garlic olive oil and toss them with the pasta.  It's so easy, delicious, and can be on the table in just 15 minutes.  The keys to making it taste really good are to use fresh pasta and fresh Parmesan - the pre-shredded cheese is just not comparable.