Toast Home Cooking

The weeknight shuffle. How to get dinner on the table with minimal hassle and maximum taste? Keep it seasonal. Make it vegetarian (often). Vary the offerings. Use what you have. These are my little mantras, the things I repeat to myself for focus and personal pep talking.

Having recently acquired a new cookbook, Jerusalem, by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, I have been cooking my way through it. This is colorful, flavorful food with an emphasis on vegetables. Lots of spice and crunch. Excellent for people trying to eat less meat (garbanzo beans are your friends).

Last night, I made falafel for dinner. Stuffed in warmed whole wheat pita breads, smeared with tahini sauce with a side of chopped radishes and cucumbers mixed up with Greek yogurt, minced parsley and lemon juice. Even the picky teenager enjoyed it. This probably had more to do with the fact that falafel are fried. But that’s OK. We took a little trip to the mideast and had a tasty vegetarian dinner made in a little over an hour.

Falafel
From Jerusalem

Serves 4 (about 20 balls)

1 1/4 cups dried chickpeas
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped (1/2 cup)
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon finely chopped flat leaf parsley
2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons water
1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
about 3 cups sunflower oil, for deep-frying
1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds, for coating
salt

Place the chickpeas in a large bowl and cover with cold water at least twice their volume. Set aside to soak overnight.

The next day, drain the chickpeas well and combine them with the onion, garlic, parsley, and cilantro. For best results, use a meat grinder for the next part. Put the chickpea mixture through the machine, set to its finest setting, then pass it through the machine a second time. You can also use a food processor (I did and it worked fine). Blitz the mixture, pulsing until it is finely chopped but not mushy or pasty. Once processed, add the spices, baking powder, 3/4 teaspoons of salt, flour and water. Mix well by hand until smooth and uniform. Cover the mixture and leave it in the fridge for at least an hour, or until ready to use. I made the mixture in the morning so it would be ready for dinner with minimal fuss.

Fill a deep, heavy-bottomed medium saucepan with enough oil to come 2 3/4 inches up the sides of the pan. Heat the oil to 350 F.

With wet hands, press 1 tablespoon of the mixture in the palm of your hand to form a patty or a ball the size of a small walnut, about a scant 1 ounce.

Sprinkle the balls evenly with sesame seeds and deep-fry them in batches for 4 minutes, until well-browned and cooked through. It is important they really dry out on the inside, so make sure they get enough time in the oil. Drain in a colander lined with paper towels and serve at once.

On a trip to Ireland years ago, I discovered the Ballymaloe Cooking School and Restaurant. It’s big old manor house nestled in the green, cashmere landscape of County Cork, with a walled garden where the cooks pick fresh herbs and vegetables to serve at meals. I loved it there. I still dream about going back.

Eating lunch in the high-ceilinged dining room at Ballymaloe, I remember being served a little pot of chicken liver paté with melba toasts. Maybe it was the fire crackling in the hearth near our table. Or the ponies grazing in the meadows beyond the huge, double-hung windows. But that was the best paté I’d ever had.

I recently found the recipe for it in Darina Allen’s wonderful book, Forgotten Skills of Cooking. Packed with stories and time-tested tips, she writes about curing meats, smoking fish, drying fruit, making pickles and many other culinary feats. The photos are beautiful. The recipes are clear and easy to follow. Allen has passionate opinions about food but isn’t sanctimonious. She’s a pleasure to read.

Every time I buy a whole chicken, I pop the liver in the freezer in a zipped bag filled with livers from past birds. When I have enough, I defrost the livers and make this paté. The paté goes into little ramekins which, covered in plastic wrap, go back in the freezer for a future ready-made, luxury hors d’oeuvre. When I dip my rounded butter knife into the ramekin, I am transported back to County Cork.

Ballymaloe Chicken Liver Paté

Adapted from Forgotten Skills of Cooking by Darina Allen

Serves 10-12

8 oz fresh organic chicken livers
2 tablespoons brandy
8 tablespoons butter, cut into cubes, plus a little for cooking livers
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
1 large garlic clove, crushed
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Clarified butter* to seal the top

Wash the livers and remove any membrane or green-tinged bits. Melt a little butter in a frying pan. When it foams, add the livers and cook over a low heat. All trace of pink should be gone, but be careful not to overcook them or the outsides will get crusty. Put the livers into a food processor.

Deglaze the pan with brandy and allow it to flame. Add the crushed garlic and thyme leaves, stirring for two minutes then scraping everything into the food processor with the livers. Purée for a few seconds. Let cool.

Add 6 tablespoons of the butter pieces and purée again until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, taste, and add more butter if necessary. The paté should taste fairly mild and be quite smooth in texture.

Put into six 4-ounce ramekins, or one medium sized terrine and knock out an air bubbles by firmly banging the ramekins on the counter a few times. Then pour clarified butter over the top to seal.

Serve with melba toast or toasted white bread. This paté will keep up to 5 days in the refrigerator or it can be frozen for a month or so. Eat immediately after it is defrosted.

* To make clarified butter, melt butter gently in a saucepan or in a Pyrex cup in a very low oven, at 300˚F. Let stand for a few minutes, then spoon the crusty white layer of salt particles off the top. Underneath is a clear liquid butter, the clarified butter. Spoon this liquid into a jar, and throw out the milky liquid at the bottom. Keep Clarified butter in the fridge for cooking foods at a high heat. Butter starts to burn at 350˚F. Clarified butter can be heated up to 485˚F.

The temperature has dropped in New York, calling for One-Pot Wonders. These are unfussy meals served from one pan.  Because many of the classics emphasize  starch plus protein (such as tuna-noodle casserole, lasagna, beef stew, etc.), I prefer to adapt the recipes to add in more vegetables. The best one-pot wonders are nutritional one-stop shopping, meaning no side dishes to make or extra pans to wash.

This is Latino style peasant food at its best. Serious comfort food. A jumble of flavor, texture and color, Arroz con Pollo has thousands of variations. My first memory of the dish is in the early 1980s, at the counter of La Rosita, a hole-in-the-wall joint on upper Broadway that was a favorite of ex-pat Dominicans, Cubans and puertorriqueños. As well as Columbia students and impoverished artist-types (the category I saw myself in). Fragrant, steamy rice cooked with chicken pieces. And nary a veggie in sight.

It would be easy to cook this in a slow cooker, if you have one. Be sure to brown the chicken pieces first, though. Slow cookers do meat a disservice if pieces are left whole in the final presentation. Once meat is browned, throw all the other ingredients in the slow cooker and set to low, cooking for 8 hours or so. You’ll come home to a house that smells inviting and dinner ready to eat.

Arroz con Pollo

Serves 4-6

For chicken
6 garlic cloves, chopped
Juice from 3 limes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 (3 1/2- to 4-lb) chicken, cut into 8 pieces; or 10 bone-in, skin-on thighs
2 tablespoons cooking oil

For rice
2 medium onions, chopped fine (about 2 cups)
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 red pepper, chopped into 1” x ¼” strips
1 small winter squash (about 1 pound), peeled and cut into 1” cubes
3 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 bunch kale, stems removed and leaves chopped small
1 bay leaf
½ teaspoon hot red pepper flakes (optional)
1 15-oz can diced tomatoes, including juice
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups water
2 cups long-grain white rice
½ cup fresh cilantro, minced (optional, for garnish)

Prepare chicken:

Purée garlic, lime juice, oregano, salt, and pepper in a blender until smooth. Put chicken pieces in a bowl or shallow dish and add purée, turning to coat. Marinate chicken, covered and chilled, at least 30 minutes but up to 24 hours.

Transfer chicken to paper towels, then pat dry. Reserve marinade.

Heat oil in 6- to 8-quart heavy pot or Dutch oven over a medium-high heat, then brown chicken in 2 or 3 batches, without crowding, turning occasionally, about 10 minutes per batch. Transfer browned chicken to a plate, reserving fat in pot.

Prepare rice:

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat to 350°F.

Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of fat remaining in pot. Sauté onions, garlic, peppers, and squash over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally and scraping up brown bits from chicken, until vegetables are softened, 6 to 8 minutes.

Add cumin and salt to vegetables and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Stir in wine, scraping bottom of pot, and bubble for 1 minute. Add kale, bay leaf, red pepper flakes, tomatoes (including juice), broth, water, and reserved marinade. Stir to combine and bring to a boil.

Add all chicken except breast pieces (if using), skin sides up, and gently simmer, covered, over low heat 10 minutes. Stir in rice, then add breast pieces, skin sides up, and arrange chicken in 1 layer.  (For maneuverability, you may need to remove chicken pieces temporarily while stirring in rice, then replace pieces in one layer on top of rice and vegetable mix.) Return to a simmer. Cover pot tightly, then transfer to oven and bake until rice is tender and most of liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes.

After testing rice for doneness and seasoning (adjust if more salt or pepper is needed), let pot rest out of the oven, covered, for 10 minutes. Garnish each serving with cilantro.

Oh, those jiggly, towering triumphs. French-accented, impress-your-date confections. Why are soufflés so intimidating? Many home cooks fear them as the unattainable. The thing that could ruin them. This is so untrue.

By now perhaps you’ve celebrated Julia Child’s 100^th birthday – on Facebook, in your kitchen, or while reading Jacques Pepin’s lovely ode to Julia in this week’s NY Times. In my house, where friends were over for lunch on the day of her birthday, I made them a classic cheese soufflé from meager provisions in my forsaken fridge. It was sublime.

All you need are 5 eggs, ¼ pound of cheese, a cup of milk and pat of butter. If you have a box of spinach in your freezer, or CSA zucchini that just won’t quit, cook it up in a quick sauté and add just before folding in the fluffy whites. Voilà spinach or  zucchini soufflé.

The trick to soufflé is the fluff. Those whites need to be whipped up to a glistening tower. Fold them in with great love and respect. Don’t lose the fluffiness. It’s OK to have streaks of white in the “batter.” Keep the volume. And once out of the oven, serve it immediately. That’s it.

Try it now. Make yourself proud and bake a soufflé in Julia’s honor. What’s the worst that can happen? You end up with a baked egg dish – completely edible.

If the summer heat is making you feel like a collapsed soufflé, put off this recipe until nightfall. It takes about 30 minutes to throw together and needs only a simple salad to make it a meal. A perfect summer supper Julia would have loved to share with you.

Cheese Soufflé

Slightly adapted from Julia Child, Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Serves 4

1 tablespoon grated Parmesan (or other hard) cheese
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons white flour
1 cup boiling milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper, a few twists
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Pinch of nutmeg
4 egg yolks
5 egg whites
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup (3 ounces) coarsely grated Swiss, Gruyère, Goat and/or Parmesan Cheese

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Measure out all your ingredients. Generously butter a 6-cup soufflé mold and sprinkle the insides with grated Parmesan cheese.

Melt the butter in a 3-quart, heavy saucepan. Stir in the flour with a wooden spoon and cook over a moderate heat until butter and flour foam together for 2 minutes without browning. Remove from heat. Pour in all the boiling milk at once (I heat milk in the microwave). Beat vigorously with a whisk until blended. Beat in the seasonings. Return over moderately high heat and boil, stirring with the whisk, for one minute. This sauce – the béchamel – will be very thick.

Remove from heat. Separate the eggs, discarding one egg yolk (or saving it in your fridge to pump up a sauce, or yellow up an omelet the next day). Place the whites in a clean, dry non-reactive bowl (stainless steel, porcelain or glass for most of us, copper for Julia). If there’s a trace of yolk in the whites, they won’t rise sufficiently! The trick is to separate the whites individually into a small bowl. Dump each white into the larger bowl only after ensuring there’s no errant yolk. This way you can easily throw one away without polluting the whole bowl. Add the 4 yolks to the béchamel and whisk them in.

Beat whites with a pinch of salt by hand, with a whisk, or with an electric beater. Start slow, watching the eggs begin to foam. Gradually increase speed and beat until stiff. The whites should be about 8 times their original volume. They’ll stand in stiff peaks.

Stir a big spoonful of the beaten egg whites into the béchamel to lighten the sauce. Don’t worry about the egg whites maintaining their volume here. Add all but 1 tablespoon of the grated cheese. Stir to combine into a creamy yellow sauce.

Fold in the remaining egg whites very gently, with a delicate hand. Use a rubber spatula to cut into the middle of the bowl and carefully turn the ingredients over. Keep the fluff. Don’t worry if there are streaks of white in the mixture.

Turn the soufflé mixture into the prepared mold, which should be about 3/4 full. Tap bottom of the mold on the counter and smooth the top with the spatula. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

Place in the oven, immediately turning the heat down to 375°F. Do not open the oven door for at least 20 minutes. In 25 minutes, the soufflé will have puffed 1-2 inches from the rim of the mold and the top will be nicely browned. Bake 5 minutes longer and serve at once.