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Archive for December, 2009

Cranberry Goat Cheese Log

Published December 29, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: appetizer, cheese, cranberries

Someone in my office requested that I bring goat cheese and the famous Jezebel Sauce to the office holiday potluck. Never one to leave well enough alone, I decided that I should fancy up the goat cheese. Since Jezebel sauce is pretty spicy, I decided that I needed to make the logs either sweet or rather plain. I rolled one of the logs in chopped, toasted pecans. I wrapped the other in cranberries.

This recipe for cranberry-wrapped goat cheese log appeared in my local paper and is just in time for holiday parties. The recipe called for a one-pound log of goat cheese, but the Costco logs are only 11 ounces. In retrospect, I should have combined 2 logs to create a fatter 16 ounce log, or used less of the cranberry wrap, since the log came out a bit uneven (but delicious). I also would suggest chopping the cranberries coarsely, since I thought the whole cranberries were harder to wrap nicely. The log travels well if you wait to unwrap the plastic wrap until you get to your destination. You can make it ahead and refrigerate it for a day or so.

Cranberry Goat Cheese Log

1/4 ounce package of unsweetened gelatin
1/4 cup water
12 ounce package of fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cranberry juice
1/4 cup orange or raspberry liqueur (I used Cointreau)
16 ounce log of goat cheese

In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over water; set aside. Fill a large bowl with ice and water, set aside. In a medium saucepan over medium high heat, combine cranberries, sugar, cranberry juice and liqueur. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add gelatin mixture and boil, stirring occasionally, until mixture resembles a very thick jelly. Remove from heat and place the saucepan in the ice to cool. (I actually poured the cranberry mixture into a medium bowl and set that on the ice, since my pot did not fit into the ice bowl very well.)

Once the cranberry sauce has cooled, lay an 18 inch sheet of plastic wrap on the counter. Spoon about 1/2 cup of the cranberry sauce on the plastic wrap, making an even rectangle slightly larger than the goat cheese log.

Place the goat cheese on top of the sauce. Spoon the remaining cranberry sauce mixture over the log, coating it evenly. Gently roll the log up in the wrap, using the plastic to mold the sauce around the cheese. Twist each end closed.

Note – I had trouble molding the sauce evenly. Note the misshapen wrapped log. This is why I think chopping the berries slightly might help.

Freeze for about 30 minutes to allow the cherry mixture to set. Remove from the freezer and gently remove the plastic wrapper from the log placing the log on your serving platter

This makes 11-16 one ounce servings, at about 5 grams of fat/serving.

Thisis actually the leftover log I brought home.

I set the platter out with crackers and knives for serving. The recipe suggested using unflavored dental floss to cut the log into one ounce pieces to serve it…but I liked the do-it-yourself log approach

Caribbean Pork and Plantain Stew

Published December 25, 2009 Uncategorized 1 Comment
Tags: hint, plantain, pork, principle

This was my Christmas Eve dinner – it has a nice tropical taste to offset the frigid outdoor temperatures we are experiencing. This stew also packs quite a bit of heat – I mean sinus-clearing, eye-watering heat, which was fine with me tonight. It really warmed me up. But if you want less of a punch, reduce the amount of pepper. It was also very quick to make, so that I could finish baking cookies and wrapping presents, since I am rather behind on my holiday tasks (at least I got the cards out before Christmas this year.)

The recipe for this dish came from Cooking Light. It was originally a bit high in fat for me, since, as usual, I want to freeze the leftovers and take them for lunch. One of my principles for low fat cooking is to eliminate the oil, especially if all it is doing is being used to brown onions or other ingredients (I steam fry them instead). But in this case, I thought that the peanut oil probably was going to add to the complexity of flavors in the stew, so I just reduced the amount.

This is one of those dishes that comes together fast, so I prepared all the ingredients in advance in order to be able to add them in rapid sequence:

That’s the cut up pork and plantains, the green onion sliced, the ginger and peppers in the bowl, and the liquids combined in the measuring cup.

In this stew, the plantains take the place of a starch like potatoes. I didn’t serve it over rice. Rather, I sopped up the juices with some slightly sweet rolls.

Caribbean Pork and Plantain Stew

1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin, trimmed of all fat and membrane
1 Tablespoon peanut oil
3/4 cup sliced green onions
2 Tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon Szechuan or pink peppercorns, crushed (I was out of Szechuan pepper so I used 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper)
1 serrano chile, thinly sliced (I used jalapeno)
3 plantains, quartered lengthwise and sliced into 1-inch-thick pieces (about 3 cups) My plantains were yellow with brown spots, not fully ripe and black.
1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup rum
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
2 Tablespoons water
1 Tablespoon cornstarch

Cut pork into 2 x 1/4-inch-wide strips. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add onions, ginger, peppercorns, and chile; stir-fry 30 seconds. Add pork; stir-fry 1 minute. Add plantains; stir-fry 30 seconds. Stir in broth, soy sauce, rum, and sugar; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes, or until plantains soften.

Combine water and cornstarch, stirring well with a whisk. Add cornstarch mixture to pork mixture, stirring well; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute or until somewhat thick, stirring constantly. This makes 6 tummy-warming servings at about 7 grams of fat/serving.

HINT: Plantains, unlike bananas, are rather difficult to peel unless they are dead ripe and black. To peel them, I cut off the ends, and then run the tip of a sharp knife down the side twice, about an inch apart. Pull this thin strip off. You should now be able to use your fingers to lift the remaining skin off the plantain.

Chocolate Mistake Cookies

Published December 20, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: chocolate, cookies

The latkes were not the only disaster for the Hannukah party. For the inevitable potluck, I planned to make a plate of cookies, including the famous lemon bars and an old recipe I found among my clippings called “Chocolate Crinkles”. Something, however, went terribly wrong. I should have realized something was amiss when the recipe said to stir the chocolate into the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon. Mine was way too stiff for that, and I needed to put it into my heavy-duty mixer. I should have realized there was a problem when the recipe said to put the dough into the refrigerator to chill for a couple of hours until it was stiff enough to roll into balls. Mine was already more than stiff enough. But I dutifully put it into the refrigerator to chill while I made the lemon bars. Then I took out the rock-hard dough, and realized that the recipe said to put the remaining cup of confectioners’ sugar into a bowl to coat the dough balls. What remaining confectioners’ sugar? I had mixed the entire 2 1/2 cups specified into the batter. You see, the recipe didn’t say 2 1/2 cups, divided, just 2 1/2 cups, and I was in my usual hurry and read the subsequent instructions quickly.

But what was I to do. The potluck was in only a few hours, and I had run completely out of flour, eggs, and other baking ingredients. So I rolled the very stiff batter into balls, coated them with confectioners’ sugar, put them on the baking sheet – and baked. The worst that could happen, I reasoned, would be that I would only have lemon bars to take with me. Unbelievably, they chocolate cookies came out great. They were slightly crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. They were very chocolaty. Everyone loved them. So I decided to provide the recipe as I made them.

Chocolate Mistake Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, divided
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
2 1/2 Tablespoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 1/2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1 1/2 Tablespoons vanilla extract
4 large egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray one or two baking sheets with cooking spray.

In the large bowl of a mixer, sift together flour, 2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a medium-size heavy saucepan, combine chocolate and oil and warm over very low heat, stirring frequently, until just smooth. Be careful that chocolate does not burn. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla until well-blended. Using a whisk, beat egg whites into the mixture until no lumps of brown sugar remain. Gently stir the chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients, beating on low until no lumps remain. Dough will be very stiff.

Put the remaining 1 cup of confectioners’ sugar into a shallow bowl. Dusting your hands with additional confectioner’s sugar, roll portions of the dough into one inch balls. Dredge each ball in confectioners’ sugar until heavily coated. Arrange balls on baking sheets 1 inch apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the tops are almost firm when tapped. Let stand about 2 minutes until the cookies firm up slightly. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days’ freeze for longer storage. Makes about 5 dozen cookies with 2 grams of fat/cookie.

Here they are nestled on a plate of lemon bars. They don’t even look like mistakes.

Grandma’s Potato Latkes

Published December 16, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: Jewish, potato

My little congregation had its annual Hannukah party on Saturday night. It was fun. We vainly attempted to sing the songs of our childhood…most of which came out like “Hanukah l’Hanukah na na na nan na” or “spin the whirling dreidel na na na na”. We lit candles on the menorahs we brought, narrowly avoiding a conflagration. I won a gaudy plastic electric menorah.

The only problem was that the latkes were burnt. I don’t mean overdone, but most of them incinerated to hard flat cinders. It seems that the men of the congregation were making the latkes – a reasonably simple task. As you make more latkes, you typically put the cooked ones into the oven to stay warm. Somehow, the latke-makers were told to turn the oven up to 400 degrees – ergo latke cinders.

When I was growing up, my grandma had a latke party for all the grandchildren every year. The menu was latkes and more latkes with sour cream and apple sauce on the side. There may have been cookies or something for dessert…I don’t remember because I was always totally, blissfully full of wonderful, oily latkes.

Latkes are traditional for Hannukah because they are cooked in oil, which is symbolic of the miracle of one day’s oil for the eternal light in the temple lasting for 8 days (the number of days of the Hannukah holiday). And because they are cooked in oil, they are not exactly a low fat food. But my latkes are only about 3 grams of fat per latke. The trick is having the oil hot enough so that the latkes don’t absorb too much oil, draining the latkes well on paper towels, and most important, not eating too many.

By the way, many recipes for latkes add various ingredients, such as chives or even other vegetables. Don’t do it!! My Grandma would be horrified. Those imposters are not latkes, they are some other sort of side dish. A good latke is potatoes and onions held together by egg and matzoh meal – nothing else. And some people use pre-grated potatoes. I guess Grandma might ok that, after all, she told me blintzes came from the freezer case. I still grate my own potatoes and onions, albeit with the food processor and not the knuckle-scraping box grater…but if you need to save time, I guess pre-grated are ok.

Grandma’s Potato Latkes

2½ pounds baking potatoes, peeled
1 medium onion
½ cup matzoh meal
¾ cup egg substitute
1 teaspoon salt
a grind of black pepper (about 1/8 teaspoon)
canola oil

Preheat oven to 200 (you could also use a warming drawer if your stove has one). Line a baking sheet with several layers of paper towels. Using the large holes of a box grater or grating disk of a food processor, grate potatoes and onion together. Using your hands, gather up handfuls of the potato mixture and squeeze as much of the liquid from it as possible. (I usually do this right from the food processor and put the squeezed potatoes into a large bowl.) Add matzo meal, egg substitute, salt, and pepper. Mix thoroughly – I do this with my hands since I haven’t been able to find a spoon that can mix it well enough.

Place a deep skillet over medium-high heat and add oil until it comes ½ inch up the side. Heat until a little piece of the potato sizzles when you put it into the oil. Cook the latkes in batches by carefully adding about 1/3 cup potato mixture for each pancake to the oil, pressing down on the mixture to spread it into a 3-4 inch latke. Don’t crowd them, and don’t make them too thick or they will burn on the outside before they cook on the inside.

Fry, turning once, until they are deep golden brown on each side – about 6 minutes total. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn. Using a slotted spatula, transfer the latkes to the lined baking sheet and keep warm in the oven while you make the remaining latkes. You may have to add a little more oil to the pan for later batches – let it heat up before you add more potato mixture. Serve with applesauce and non-fat sour cream. Makes about 15 latkes with about 3 grams of fat/latke.

OK, I confess – this picture lies. I did not eat only 2 latkes. I am sitting here blissfully full of latkes, with oily hands, lips and cheeks, feeling like I am 8 years old again.

Happy Hannukah.

Blintzes with Blueberry-Cinnamon Sauce

Published December 13, 2009 Uncategorized 2 Comments
Tags: breakfast, Jewish, potluck

Many years ago, when I asked my dear Grandma Freydl, how to make blintzes, those delicious Jewish crepes filled with creamy cheese and topped with fruit, she told me that to make them, you went to the freezer case, bought them, and heated them up at home. Blintzes have an unjustified reputation for being difficult to make, but they are not hard at all. If you’re making a large number of them (I’ve made 200 at a time) for a party, it takes time to make all the crepes and fill them (enlisting a couple of friends and relatives to create a production line is helpful), but the process is straightforward: you make small crepes out of a thin batter, cook them on one side, fill them with a cottage cheese mixture on the cooked side, and then fold them and cook the outside.

Some time after I learned there was a means to obtain blintzes outside of the freezer case, I discovered that it was easy to make them very low fat by substituting non-fat ingredients for higher fat ones – thus eliminating blintzes’ reputation for being a high fat luxury. This time I even baked them instead of sautéing them in butter, both further lowering the fat and allowing me to make a large number (40) at once.

Blintzes are also versatile. They freeze well at the point when you’ve filled them but not done the second cooking, allowing you to make them well ahead of an event. Just defrost them before cooking. They make a good brunch dish, and have significant Wow factor if you bring them to a potluck, as I did this time – especially since people think they’re so hard to make.

You can vary the toppings. Many people serve them with sour cream and sweetened strawberries. I’ve had them with apples cooked in cinnamon, and various melted preserves. The Blueberry-Cinnamon Sauce is simple, and any leftover sauce is great on French toast or pancakes.

The Blintzes

Batter
1 large egg
1/2 cup egg substitute
4 Tablespoons flour
1/2 cup water
pinch of salt

Filling
1 pound dry cottage cheese (I use small curd non-fat cottage cheese and drain it through a sieve for 1/2 hour)
1/2 cup egg substitute
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

cooking spray
1 Tablespoon butter, melted

In a medium bowl, beat batter ingredients to form a thin batter. Spray a small frying pan with cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Pour 2-3 tablespoons of batter into the frying pan, turning quickly so that the batter covers the whole bottom of the pan, making a thin crepe.

Cook until the crepe is golden brown on the bottom. Be sure not to overcook so the crepe doesn’t get too stiff, or it will be hard to fold. Remove the crepe from the pan, and set aside, raw side up. Don’t be concerned if the first crepe or so is a bit ragged. It takes a while to get the knack of making them. Besides, they don’t have to be perfectly round since you’re going to fold them. I prefer to make all my crepes at once, and then fill them. You can line your counter with plastic wrap or wax paper and overlap the cooked crepes…if you’re making a lot it becomes a blintz factory. You will probably have to re-spray the pan about every third crepe.

This is the blintz factory.

Mix filling ingredients ( cottage cheese through cinnamon) in a medium bowl. Place crepe on a flat surfaace cooked side up. Place a small quantity of filling in the center of the lower third of the crepe.

Note that this crepe is not very round. Perfection isn’t all that important here.

Fold crepe over filling, then fold the sides in, and continue to roll the crepe up. You now have a blintz. Place blintz seam side down and set aside. If you are going to freeze the blintzes, this is the time to do it. Be sure to put plastic wrap between the layers of the blintzes you’re freezing so they don’t stick together.

There are two ways to cook the blintzes. (If the blintzes are frozen, defrost them before this step.) You can either melt one tablespoon of butter in a frying pan and cook the blintzes over medium low heat, starting with the seam side down and turning once when the bottom side is golden brown. Or you can put the blintzes, seam side down, on a baking sheet or pan coated with cooking spray, and brush the tops with the melted butter. Bake at 375 for 40 minutes, or until golden brown.
Some of the blintzes have little tears where the filling shows through These won’t matter once they are cooked.

This makes about 10 blintzes at about 1.6 grams of fat/blintz.

NOTE: This recipe is a bit imprecise because a lot depends on the size of the pan you make your crepes in. Mine makes about 10 blintzes per recipe. Also, if you double, triple, or otherwise increase the recipe, be aware that it makes more filling than you need for the number of blintzes you are creating. I usually make 3 recipes of crepe batter to 2 recipes of filling, but I often have leftover filling even then.

Blueberry-Cinnamon Sauce

1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons water
1 T cornstarch

Cook blueberries, sugar, cinnamon, and 1/4 cup water over medium heat until blueberries are soft, mashing gently with a fork or potato masher occasionally as they cook. When berries are soft, mix one tablespoon cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water. Sir into the blueberry mixture and stir until the mixture thickens slightly.

This was a blintz that unraveled a bit, so I didn’t take it to the potluck. I ate it right then.

Universal Jelled Dessert

Published December 5, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: dessert, fruit, gelatin

First let me state up front that I am not a big Jello fan. My mother used to make a Jello mold with lime Jello for family gatherings. It was called “the green mold” and you can imagine what fun our pre-adolescent (what the heck, even our adult) minds had with that. But I bought a bottle of apple-grape juice (I’m also not a big fan of grape juice) and discovered I didn’t like it. I usually mix my juice with sparkling water to make a spritzer, and the grape flavor didn’t mix well with the sparkling water. On the other hand, I couldn’t bear to pour a whole bottle of juice down the drain. Today was a use-up-leftovers-so-I-can-clean-the-fridge day, so I figured I needed to dream up a way to use the juice.

Jelled dishes made with unflavored gelatin are not nearly as obnoxious as those made with flavored Jello mix. In fact, there are a number of admirable gelatin-based aspics and vegetable salads that would be lovely on any buffet table. I decided to make something jelled that I could take for dessert or a snack with lunch.

The basics of working with gelatin are that one tablespoon of gelatin will jell 2 cups of liquid and, if you want, 1-2 cups of fruit/vegetables. Sour cream or yogurt count as liquids. You have to soften powdered gelatin (the kind that comes in little packets) in cold water for about 5 minutes, then heat or add to hot liquid to dissolve it. Don’t let it boil – that kind of takes the jelling power out if it. Fresh pineapple can also keep it from jelling.

Jelled Apple-Grape-Pear Dessert

2 packets or 2 Tablespoons unsweetened, powdered gelatin
3 cups of apple-grape juice (you actually can use any juice you’d like)
1 cup non-fat sour cream
1 can sliced pears (or slice up halves like I did), drained

Pour ½ cup of cold juice into a glass measuring cup or container. Sprinkle gelatin on top of juice and allow to soften for 5 minutes. Add 1 ½ cups juice to gelatin mixture and microwave 2 minutes (do not boil). Pour into a medium bowl. Add additional cup of juice and sour cream. Whisk together until sour cream is well incorporated. Add pears. (At this point, if you want to be fancy about it, pour into a mold.)

Put in refrigerator for 2-3 hours or until it jells. If you want to unmold the jelled dessert, you can dip the bowl briefly in hot water and overturn it onto a plate. Since I am just using this as a take along for lunch, I opted to just scoop servings from the bowl. This makes about 6 serving with 0 grams of fat/serving.

Variation: I expect you can put any kind of canned or cooked fruit in this, such as fruit cocktail or mandarin oranges. This was not the most attractive jelled dessert, but it did use up a lot of odds and ends – and it tasted good.

ABOUT KAREN

I have lost 200 pounds. I did not do it through surgery – I don’t like knives and needles – or by joining a club, vigorous exercise, or rigorous dieting. I did it by gourmet cooking. To be precise, by cooking low fat, really delicious food. I love to cook as much as I love to eat. Food magazines are some of my favorite reading. I would feel deprived if I couldn’t have the sensuous experience of good food crossing my lips. This blog is about my perpetual feast, my passionate love of food, with recipes, photos, and occasional advice and principles that I have learned along the way.

More about me.

The Perpetual Feast

Archive for December, 2009

Cranberry Goat Cheese Log

Caribbean Pork and Plantain Stew

Chocolate Mistake Cookies

Grandma’s Potato Latkes

Blintzes with Blueberry-Cinnamon Sauce

Universal Jelled Dessert

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