Of birches, blisters and backyard bounties

Posted on July 18, 2011 by madamescientist

Mother Nature has been less than kind to me this year. She began in stealth one silent snowy night, wreaking havoc on the beautiful river birch in my backyard, breaking two of three trunks and a good chunk of my heart in the bargain. After clearing out the debris (and my wallet), Benny and his crew left me with a fresh palette on which to paint my dreams of a new garden bed: tall white phlox, sunny day lilies, blue veronica.

Alas, they proved to be a siren call, irresistible fodder for the plump-rumped doe that dared venture downhill from the dark safety of the adjoining forest. Aghast, I woke every morning to gruesome beheadings, trampled hostas and casual carnage until this vegetarian’s nights were filled with visions of venison. Yet again I rallied in the face of failure (graduate students, please note), replacing the smorgasbord of cervine delights with pungent bee balm, aromatic lavender and camphoraceous yarrow eschewed by the finicky freeloader’s palate.

Bee balm or Monarda

All’s well, you ask? Mother Nature still mocked me, for as Marcus Antonius said, “Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar lov’d him! This was the most unkindest cut of all”. What started as a nasty chemical burn slicing my forearm, slowly spread up and down my sorry self as only poison ivy can. There, nestled in the new garden bed was the innocuous curling vine with “leaves of three”, too late for the warning to “let them be”.

Urushiol in poison ivy

For the first time in my life I was exposed to urushiol, which bonded to my proteins and triggered a hysterical aggregation of my CD8+ T cells and left those itch receptors (TRPA channels, I wonder?) permanently on. For three weeks, I donned a ghastly macquillage of calamine lotion while my family prudently kept their distance despite my reassurances that poison ivy was not contagious. While I skulked indoors waiting for my “skin infection”, as my parents solicitously termed it, to subside, my vegetable garden ran amok.

"the cabbages fattened in synchrony"

At this point in the narrative, history repeats itself. Gardens Run Wild is the recurrent theme in the reality show of my life. Unlike those with a “black thumb”, mine is colored a virulent, glow-in-the dark green. Anything in my garden grows faster, bigger and unrulier than recommended by the genteel gardening book occupying pride of place on my coffee table.

Little wonder that all the cabbages fattened in synchrony, the broccoli bolted, and the mint, that ultimate backyard bully, staged a hostile takeover of the herb garden. As for those zucchini…every gardener knows never to take their eyes off them for a moment.

If your delicately lovely zucchini blossoms morph into obscenely giant beasts overnight, here are two of my favorite recipes to harness that overweening excess:

Zucchini Bread

zucchini walnut bread

Preheat oven to 375°F. You will need one bowl each for the dry and wet ingredients, and an oiled 9” bread pan. (Yes, three dishes to wash).

Step 1. In a bowl, mix together:  1.5  cups white flour, 1 cup (or less) sugar, 2 tsp baking powder, 0.5 tsp baking soda, and 0.25 tsp salt

Step 2. In a separate bowl, whisk together 1 egg plus 0.5 cup vegetable oil. Then stir in 2 cups or 1 large grated zucchini. For more flavor, add some citrus zest (you can use orange or lemon peel, about 1 tsp if you must measure it). For crunch and texture add 0.5 cup or large handful of broken walnut bits.

Step 3. That’s it..mix the wet with dry. Do not overmix (as with all baking powder breads). Scrape batter into buttered or oiled pan. Bake 50 min or until top is golden brown. Let cool before slicing! Take a moment to enjoy the delicate green flecks of zucchini strands distributed amongst the nutty chunks of walnut.

Zucchini Koftas (translation, meatless meatballs)

Zucchini Koftas

Step I: Make the koftas

Grate and squeeze the zucchini

  1. Grate a large zucchini, by hand or machine, into a bowl and sprinkle with salt. Let sit awhile then squeeze out excess juice. Save the zuke juice for the gravy. Remember, my bountiful cabbage? I grated in a bit of that too (feel free to experiment, likewise).
  2. Add spices: a tsp each powdered cumin, coriander, garam masala, pinch of turmeric and chilli powder. Add half tsp of baking soda to fluff up the kofta balls.

3. Stir in chickpea flour (“besan”) until the batter is semi solid. You may need a cup or so, depending on how much zucchini you have grated and how well you exerted those flexor-pronator muscles of your forearm in squeezing them dry. Form into small balls. (Tip 1. If your zucchini balls are too large, they won’t cook through on the inside; Tip 2: If your zucchini balls are too sticky, roll them in white flour to give them a crispy coating).

battered zucchini koftas

4. Fry them in batches, in hot oil. They should be nicely browned on the outside and not wet/doughy on the inside. You will need to taste quite a few in the process, all in the worthy cause of seeking perfection.

zucchini koftas

Step II. Make the gravy

whole spices sizzling in oil

1. To a tablespoon or two of oil, add whole spices. I used bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, and fennel. When the spices sizzle, add a finely chopped onion, chopped ginger (1 tbsp) and chopped garlic (1-2 cloves). Stir around, reduce heat and cook covered for 5 min. Remove lid and stir until onions are browned. Add turmeric, salt to taste and a pinch of sugar. This is the standard base of a North Indian gravy.

onion gravy base

2.  Then add some crushed cashews or other nut of your choice. I’ve added this step for texture and nutrition. Also in an attempt to consume the large box of nuts my husband brings home from Sam’s Club. The nuts can be roasted or raw, salted or not.

3. Then come the tomatoes. You can use fresh or canned, chopped, pureed or sauced. Add enough to form a nice gravy. If you saved the zucchini liquid, add it at this point.

Step III. Assemble the dish

1. Add koftas to the gravy. Simmer gently and take care not to break the meatless meatballs. Check for seasoning. Add more spices if you wish. Yes, more. This is Indian food after all. (I use a spice grinder to whirl together whole cumin, coriander and fennel seeds to make a particularly aromatic mix).

add koftas to gravy and simmer

Posted in FOOD, Garden, Humor, science, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Dinner and Dessert in Doubt

Posted on June 20, 2011 by madamescientist

How does one plan dinner for guests who may or may not come?

Lest you cast aspersions on my blameless and nameless invitees, this delicious dilemma was entirely of my own making. I fail utterly in making social phone calls to my friends and family, metamorphosing in reverse from a gaudy, extroverted butterfly to a bashful brown pupa. This unexplainable behavior defies both logic and the reproachful exhortations of my mother whose disembodied voice comes to me from half a world away. It’s not that I don’t enjoy company, I love it. But, the thought of picking up the phone and making a cold call paralyzes me. So when I belatedly learned of an imminent visit to town by kinsfolk, I hastily dashed off an email with an open invitation to “come to dinner any evening”. My menu must be the sort that keeps, or better yet, improves in depth and flavor over a day or two, and good enough to provide fodder for the family in case dinner plans fall through. Here are two of my picks:

Dum Aloo

  1. Cook baby potatoes in their jackets. Submerge in a pot of cold, salted water, bring to a roiling boilthen simmer until knife-tender. Do not put them into already boiling water, this results in the outer parts cooking faster than the innards, resulting in an uneven, unsatisfactory texture.  Leave the skins on. This not only conserves time and patience (always in short supply), but also retains precious nutrients.

    Baby potatoes in a roiling boil

  2. Finely chop a large onion (couple pulses in the food processor works) with an inch piece of ginger and a couple of cloves of garlic. Heat a few tbsp of oil in a large, heavy pot. Add whole spices (garam masala): few cloves, couple cardamoms, smattering of pepper corns, half a stick of cinnamon and a large bay leaf. When the spices heat through, add a tbsp of cumin seeds and let sizzle. Next, add the chopped onions and cook, stirring at intervals until the onions are nicely browned and pull away from the sides in a unified mass.

    Brown onions for gravy

  3. Add more spices. Of course. A tsp of turmeric, a tbsp each of coriander powder, cumin powder, ground fennel, and red chilli powder calculated to the lowest common tolerance factor (LCTF) of the target palate. Salt to taste. Stir in, at low heat. Do not let the spices burn. Add half a cup of water and let simmer.

    Simmer spices in gravy

  4. Crush a cupful of roasted cashews in a food processor, then add some tomatoes and blend together into a grainy consistency. Add this mix to the gravy and continue to cook until it looks rich and bubbly. You could add a dollop of yogurt or some cream for extra richness at this point.

    Tomato cashew paste

  5. Gently introduce the baby potatoes to their fragrant bath. Simmer on low. Adjust seasoning, if needed. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.  Enjoy the masterpiece right away, accompanied by a simple pulao or naan. Better yet, reheat after a day or two of marinating in the fridge.

    Dum Alu

Key Lime Pie

Inspired by a netted bag of tiny Key Limes that I purchased for a bargain at H-Mart, dessert would be a cold and creamy pie, served with a dollop of sweet and sour cream. I chose the best rated recipe from Food Network, after all 143 ‘5-star ratings’ couldn’t be wrong! Also, Emeril Lagasse’s version seemed slightly less likely to send my guests into a diabetic coma relative to the offering by Paula Deen.

Key Limes

Graham Cracker Crust (Take One)

  1. In a food processor, add a dozen or two of honey graham crackers and blend until crumbly. Measure out 1.5 cups to which you add half cup of sugar and half a stick of melted butter. Work with your fingers until moist and barely holding together. It looks beautiful, so invite kids to try some. Spoon some out onto eager palms and sample in happy expectation. “OHHH SH**!,” I sputter in shock. “Keep it PG-13, Mom”, my teenage daughter hoots with laughter while my 12-year old is round-eyed and stupefied with disbelief. I had used salt instead of sugar.

Graham Cracker Crust (Take Two)

  1. Repeat step above, but this time use sugar in place of salt.  Thank the Culinary Gods that you discovered your blunder early and firmly deny to your 12 year old that you said anything other than “Oh sugar”. Pack the Graham cracker crust into the base of  a 9 inch cake pan, not forgetting to go up the edges (I did forget).
  2. Bake for 12 min in 375oF oven, until the edges are slightly crisp. Remove and let cool.
  3. Reset the oven to 325oF.

    Graham Cracker Crust

Luscious Pie Filling

  1. Break two eggs into a bowl. Homogenize with a fork.
  2. Slowly pour in two 14-oz cans of sweetened condensed milk while stirring. Yum! Regress into hazy memories of Enid Blyton, boarding schools and dorms, and smuggled tins of condensed milk, eaten spoon by forbidden spoon. Sigh…
  3. Extract juice from key limes. You will need 1 cup. Dribble into milk mixture and incorporate well.
  4. Pour into cooled pie crust and bake for 20 min.
  5. After cooling, refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

    Key Lime pie filling

Tangy Topping

  1. Mix one cup of sour cream with powdered sugar to taste (4 tbsp should do).
  2. Add a dollop to each pie slice. Garnish with a slice of Key lime. Enjoy!

Key Lime Pie

Oh, and Happy “Everyday is Father’s Day” to my dad,  my children’s dad and dads everywhere. This pie is for you.

Posted in FOOD, Humor, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Lovely Luffa are really Ridge Gourds!

Posted on February 13, 2011 by madamescientist

I had a chance encounter, at the Indian grocery store last night, with a fine specimen of  ridge gourd. Absence had made my heart grow fonder, so I popped it into my basket with more enthusiasm than it should have warranted. After all, I recall the disdainful reception it received around the dinner table way back then in Kolkata, when familiarity bred contempt and we craved “English” vegetables with the contrariness of human nature.

Ridge gourd is the fruit of Luffa acutangula, a relative of the Cucumber family and the very same genus that gives us the Loofah or bath sponge! This marvelous creation not only scrubs our back but warms our stomachs…how wonderful is this? Ridge gourd is also known as Chinese okra, which I find perplexing in that it is not even slightly similar to okra (“bhindi” or lady’s finger). I even came across a confusing image that implied that young okra mature into ridge gourd (take it from an erstwhile botanist, that is patently false). No need to be lost without Luffa, feel free to substitute it with another squash, such as zucchini.

To prepare ridge gourd, use a peeler to remove only the spiny ridges leaving bright green stripes of tender skin.

Heerakayi or Ridge Gourd

For a simple and satisfying Sunday lunch, I cooked it into a protein rich dal paired with steamed jasmine rice. The Kannada word for ridge gourd is heerakayi, and that for dal is tove, so here is a simple recipe to make a warming heerakayi tove:

1. Precook 1 cup dal by boiling in water, or more effectively using a pressure cooker. It only takes a few minutes in the pressure cooker and if you’ve never used one, this is a fun way to impress and frighten your friends. I used toor dal,  but any mild and small lentil variety would work.

2. Chop the de-ridged gourd into cubes. Finely mince half of a small onion, and half an inch of ginger. If you like your food fiery, find a green chili or two (leave them whole so they are readily identified and avoided by the wimps in your family).

3. Begin by stir-frying the minced onion and ginger in 1 tbs oil, add the chopped gourd and optional green chili and continue cooking in medium heat. Add salt to taste and a pinch of cancer-fighting-curcumin-loaded-brilliantly-hued turmeric powder.

4. When the gourd is softened (it cooks quickly, like zucchini), add the cooked dal or lentil. The mixture should have a thick soup like consistency, so adjust by adding water if needed.

5. Add a tablespoon of grated fresh coconut. This can be purchased pre-grated and frozen from any Indian store. Rather than break off chunks which can be messy, I re-freeze in individual ice cube trays so I have perfect aliquots ready to go! Also add a bunch of chopped coriander leaves (cilantro) at this point. Squeeze some fresh lemon juice just before turning off the heat.

6. The last step is to “temper” the dish. This is an essential step in southern Indian cooking. To a scant tsp of oil in a small, thick bottomed pan (we actually used large iron ladles for this), add a tsp of white urad dal, a tsp of black mustard seeds, one dry red chili broken into large bits and a sprinkling of asafoetida.

Tempering with spices

To an American consumer of Indian food, this is as exotic as it gets. You will never find this in those boring Indian strip mall restaurants, because this is the real thing. When heated, the mustard seeds will turn gray and pop explosively, so you will need to find a handy lid or be prepared to redecorate your cook top (or face) with tiny round cannon  balls. The white urad dal turns reddish brown and acquires a delicious nutty flavor. The dry red chilli darkens and turns smoky. The asafoetida or “hing”…well, in all honesty it will stink up your kitchen.

I will admit that asafoetida-the gum like exudate from the root of a leek-like herb – is truly an acquired taste! Southern Indians, particularly vegetarian Brahmins, use it as a substitute for garlic, which is regarded as evilly married to meat for some obscure reason which was never satisfactorily explained to me. In fact, I never even tasted garlic until I married into a garlic-eating family (gasp!). After nearly throwing up a few times (I do not exaggerate), I eventually embraced the smelly goodness of garlic cloves and now use them alternately (and somewhat sparingly!) with the more ecclesiastical relative, asafoetida.

gloriously smelly asafoetida is available powdered

Watch the spice mixture carefully so it does not burn. When it attains the epitome of flavor, toss this “augarene” into the dal for a satisfying sizzle. Stir in…so every luscious bite of creamy dal has a crunch of nutty urad or smoky mustard seeds. The contrast in texture is perfection!

ridge gourd dal or heerakayi tove

Enjoy with steamed rice and a dollop of ghee (clarified butter) melting on top. If over 50 or on Lipitor, then it may be prudent to skip the ghee.

Posted in FOOD, Garden | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

From frozen green cubes to warm watercress soup

Posted on January 24, 2011 by madamescientist

“I froze down the watercress”, my husband confessed, with a mixture of sheepishness and pride.

Instead of this..

Watercress belongs to the mustard family and has a peppery bite.

I saw this!

Frozen cubes of pureed watercress

Ummm….for the record, he is not crazy (well, only a little). At least, I am partly to blame for this strange endeavor. Let me explain.

Each year, the dog days of summer transform our sedate Maryland garden into a gluttonous overgrowth of defiantly giant zucchinis, a battlefield of warring herbs (mint wins every time) and a littering of forlorn cherry tomatoes dropping off the vines. My naturally nurturing zeal wilts in the heat and humidity of August. While I aestivate within air conditioned suburbian comfort, my vegetable beds become food pantry for the bunnies and bugs.

Not this summer. For some reason, late summer was unseasonably mild and I could hardly ignore the prickings of my conscience as the good earth generously repaid me for all the compost and topsoil I slavishly applied in the optimistically cool days of spring. Faithful readers, you already know that I froze down curly kale. That was not all. In a fit of enthusiasm, I grated the overgrown zukes, and froze them flat on a cookie sheet, inside freezer bags, for future conversion into yummy kofta curry. I made little ice cubes of coarsely chopped cilantro which have since infused my mundane winter offerings with fragrant delight! No doubt this fleeting moment of industriousness will be engraved in my selective memory while I wallow in future laziness. Follow the logic here..when the bunch of  fresh watercress procured over the weekend languished past Thursday, hubby feared the worst. Our aging refrigerator, which has an Energy Death Star rating, excels at converting the crisper contents into mush. We yearn for the arrival of the SubZero wonder this coming March, when our kitchen is remodeled..but that story surely awaits a future happy blog. For now, we have the uniquely green offering of watercress ice cubes.

Soup it is!

After some quick research, I found a satisfyingly simple recipe from the chef of Ballymaloe Cooking School. Isn’t it strange that the most ridiculous sounding names appear quixotically charming when related to Ireland? I am informed that this is the same recipe that enabled St. Brendan (the 6th century Navigator Apostle of Ireland)  to live to the venerable age of 180 years! Putting aside that bit of blarney, I set to work.

Watercress Potato Soup (Cream of Watercress)

  1. In a heavy bottomed pot, melt about an inch of unsalted butter (2 tbs) and a spoon of olive oil. The oil keeps the butter from burning. Heat on low, until butter foams a bit.
  2. Add equal amounts of cubed potatoes and chopped onions. If you must measure, the recipe says 1.25 cups each. Although how one can quantify cubed potatoes, I do not know. Surely, that must depend on the cube size, which was not specified. I just used 2 large red potatoes and half of a giant Mayan sweet onion. Sprinkle coarse salt and plenty of black pepper.
  3. Saute on low heat until the onions sweat. This is the official, somewhat disgusting term for the onions becoming soft and translucent, but still white. 10 minutes will do.
  4. Add 2 cups of stock (animal or vegetable) and 2 cups of light cream (or milk). Simmer on low until potatoes are soft. Another 10 minutes or so.

    potatoes and onions simmering in creamy broth

  5. At this point you would add chopped watercress. Use the stem and leaves, one bunch (milder) or two (Soylent Green strength). I will add my bright green ice cubes, appropriately befitting an Irish recipe. Continue simmering for another 10 min at most. The watercress should stay green.
  6. Puree to creamy smoothness. I used a handy immersion blender. Let simmer. The soup will be a lovely light green. Taste to correct seasonings. I added a pinch more salt, lots more fresh pepper and two tsp of good balsamic vinegar. Serve with a swirl of good olive oil, a sprinkle of red pepper flakes and some grated Parmesan cheese.

    cream of watercress soup

We had the soup with store bought rosemary focaccia bread, warmed in the oven with a drizzle of olive oil. Mmmm….warm, smooth luscious goodness with just enough of a bite to the palate, and fragrant slices of toasted bread, crunchy on the edges and chewy in the center.

Stay warm, my friends!

Posted in FOOD, Garden, Humor | Tagged , , | 13 Comments

Wontons in Winter

Posted on January 3, 2011 by madamescientist

Snow flurries swirled in the impending gloom as we scurried into the warm, teeming hub that is H-Mart, my favorite Korean/Asian store. Grabbing a cart, I veered briskly to the right, straight to the cornucopia of fresh fruits and vegetables that leave the pathetic produce section of local grocery chains in disgrace. Business-like, we strategize the plan of action…hubby staying guard with the shopping cart and my handbag, while I dart nimbly through the throngs, nabbing some broccoli rabe here, some foot-long string beans there, with the occasional adventurous selection of taro (cooks just like potato) or tender coconut (for the perfect electrolyte fix). Perhaps it was the wintry weather that conjured up a vision of luscious fat udon noodles in a piping hot, nourishing broth. Did you know that long noodles foretell a long and blissful life? I knew I had some Japanese udon in my pantry, but that was never the same as the freshly cut version made with the iterative steps of Ashibumi or “stepping on dough with feet” (!), Nekashi or “rest”, Nobashi or “rolling” and Houchoukiri or “cutting with knife” ( I am not making this up).

Dare I venture to the other end of the store, the side replete with exotic and odoriferous fauna..the eel sauce, diced squid, whole octopus and other less identifiable metazoan species? This was not a decision to be taken lightly, as only a vegetarian can sympathize. Images of simmering soup strengthened my resolve and I marched resolutely through the gauntlet of unfamiliar sights and smells (“breath shallow and through the mouth”) to get to the refrigerated section. Success was achieved in finding the udon..but wait, here was a tidy and oh-so-convenient packet of wonton wrappers, promising all variations of stuffed delights…perhaps some Indian samosas, or crunchy Asian veggie rolls! Toss in cart, exhale slowly and return safely to the neutral-aroma zone for check out.

The noodles would have to wait upon my fickle pleasure while the scientist in me must experiment with wonton wrappers. I consoled hubby, still sniffling from the cold he acquired two weeks ago in sunny Florida of all places, and tasked him with finding me recipes on the interwebs. Fortified by a glass of wine in one hand and iPad on the kitchen counter, he procured the protocols while I organized my bench top. Here then, are the Results.

Savory Veggie Triangles

Step 1: Make the filling. Always cut the veggies and set aside before starting to stir fry, unless your preference is for scorched or overcooked stuffing. Use any or all of the following- cabbage (sliced thinly), carrot (grated), leek (sliced thinly), red bell pepper (in strips), shredded ginger, diced garlic clove. Saute in a little oil over high heat, no more than a few minutes, then toss in some soy sauce and sprinkle a few drops of toasted sesame oil. Add a dash of Chinese five spice if you have any. Be creative. I used some broken cashew pieces. Let cool.

Stir fried Asian veggies 

Step 2: Assemble the wrappers. Clean prep space and fill a small container with water for gluing the edges. Lay out wonton square. Place a good amount of filling in the center. Allow son— who has ventured down (pausing his video game) to see what the yummy smell is all about—to dip finger in water and brush wonton edges, before folding over into triangle. Oops, should have checked for dirt under his finger nails first. Oh well, that one can be his. Do a bunch until patience or filling runs out, whichever comes first. Half-way through, instruct hubby to get off his perch and preheat oven to 350 F.

Step 3: Bake. Place triangles on cookie sheet. Sprinkle with oil, use fingers to lightly coat triangles. Yes, you can use a brush for this but good luck cleaning it later. Also, why not use a good olive oil and skip the expensive hand lotion? Incubate for 15 minutes while they bake to a golden brown, crispy at the edges. Wait, you can’t goof off yet..you need to make a dipping sauce. Since hubby has wandered off and your fingers are too oily to grace the $700 iPad, improvise. All it takes is some good soy sauce, sprinkle some sesame oil, dash of balsamic vinegar, squirt of hot sauce, spoon of brown sugar…mix well (I know what you are thinking..eye of newt and toe of frog, haha). Would have been nice with some scallions cut fine, but examination of the fridge reveals none..sad face.

Savory wonton triangles 

Oozy Chocolaty Delight

Step 1: Get someone to make the filling while you are busy with the veggies for the savory filling. Anyone can do this. Even much maligned husband. Rescue the banana from last week …don’t pretend that you haven’t seen the rapidly blackening object in the fruit bowl exuding an abundance of isoamyl acetate ester (CH3COOC5H11). Peel and dump in bowl. You are feeling virtuous already. Throw in some chocolate chips..mix together. Put some broken walnut pieces into the mix. That’s it. Lavish praise upon non-kitchen expert who did this i.e., offspring, significant other, dog, etc. (with any luck, they will volunteer to clean up the mess).

Banana chocolate walnut mix 

Step 2: Assemble the dessert version while the savory triangles are baking. By now, you know how.

Step 3: Bake while you are testing/tasting savory triangles. If you have powdered sugar, dust it on the end product artistically and liberally (skip this step if you will be the one cleaning up).

Yes, that is melted chocolate oozing out! 

Analysis: The verdict is that these were good! Remember, we didn’t fry them yet they turned out surprisingly well. BUT…as I finish writing this, hubby emerges from the basement and enquires wistfully about soup. I forgot to inform him that was dinner not hors d’oeuvre.

Variations on a Common Motif

Here are pictures of another experiment, different filling (potatoes and peas) and different shape (little baskets of yum).

spicy pea and potato samosa stuffing

wonton baskets ready to bake

wontons bursting with stuffing

Posted in FOOD, Humor | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

A Merry Mélange

Posted on December 29, 2010 by madamescientist

What do you get with a mix of Mexican, Indian and Russian? A great evening. Today, I invited my friend Svetlana and her husband Michael for a holiday meal. Svetlana is a colleague, originally from Moscow, and the world’s expert on all things copper. This includes, copper transporters (ATP7A, ATP7B), copper diseases (Menkes and Wilsons) and copper biology. Having played no small part in luring her to Hopkins from Oregon, I’ve barely had the time or opportunity to enjoy her company. Besides, this gives me another excuse to indulge my penchant for culinary incursions into Mexican food.

Have you heard my favorite anecdote about Mexican cooking? Years ago, as an impecunious postdoctoral fellow, I was part of a vast Indian workforce in New Haven that plied the labs at Yale like so much grist to mill. They were a cheerful bunch, getting together on weekends with boisterous potluck dinners that fed 40 or more. On weekdays, the men would put in long days, a quick dinner at home, then back to work for even longer nights. Their wives were educated, charming and smart.. they went home to cook and didn’t get back to lab after dinner. That memo missed me, but no matter, for the lovely Indian ladies warmly included me in their fabulous parties but always insisted that I bring raita (sort of a yogurt dip), which as you must know is the simplest item on any menu. My husband was vastly amused by this, pointing out the obvious assumption that I couldn’t cook. Many raitas later, I finally worked up the courage to reciprocate, offering a smallish cohort of my countrymen a home cooked dinner. I didn’t have the nerve to serve them palak paneer, or chole batura or even rasmalai and so I hit upon the idea of a Mexican menu. Mexican food shares many of the flavors and herbs of Indian cuisine..cumin and cilantro, chilli peppers and beans, for example, and by boldly going where none of my compatriots had gone before, I could cleverly circumvent any potential comparisons of culinary superiority. I took this assignment seriously..for weeks, I pored over Mexican cookbooks checked out from the library, test drove recipes and sought out the local Spanish markets for hard to find ingredients (achiote, anyone?). Authenticity was my goal. Dinner arrived, and I did not disappoint. My Indian friends dug in with obvious delight, approving smiles all around. Whew, I passed muster! Just before leaving, the most senior fellow of them all bestowed the ultimate compliment… they didn’t generally care for Mexican food, he explained, but they loved my version because it tasted “just like Indian food”!!

Through the years, I have persevered to forget and forgive (although my “Mexican” food still tastes Indian!). Tonight’s experiments included:

Corn bread

Black bean soup

Potato stuffed poblano peppers

Cumin flavored rice

Assorted other stuff, like Baba Ghanouj as a dip for the tortilla chips (yes, I know it’s not Mexican, but I had two big eggplants), salsa and of course Mexican “raita” or sour cream. Dessert was store bought vanilla bean ice cream scooped over a warmed puddle of wild blueberry preserves (Anjana’s idea!), topped with a scattering of fresh blueberries and a homemade nankatai cookie.

Mexican Corn and Cheese Bread …from ye olde Moosewood Cookbook courtesy of Mollie Katzen, aka the first vegetarian in the Great White North (Cornell, Ithaca).

  1. Saute two minced shallots (fancy version of onions) in olive oil until soft and translucent. Add a handful of corn niblets (fresh or frozen) and when cool, add half a cup of grated cheddar cheese (that so-called Mexican blend works).
  2. Mix together dry ingredients: 1 cup white flour, 1 cup corn meal, 3 tsp baking powder, 0.5 tsp salt.
  3. Mix together wet ingredients: 1 egg (beaten lightly), 2 tbsp honey, 1 cup milk. Handy dandy tip: if you coat the tbsp in a little oil then the honey slides off easily. Also, if your honey is seldom used and therefore fairly dehydrated and stiff, give it a few seconds in the microwave (the tbsp, I mean…not the whole jar). Actually, you will have to do this or deal with an immiscible mess (unless you like the sound of that onomatopoeic combination, like I do!).
  4. Preheat oven to 375°F. Mix dry with wet. Do not overmix (this ‘develops the gluten’ or dough musculature which is not good for crumbly breads). Pour batter into olive oiled pan (I have a lovely old terracotta one) and bake for ~30 min. Try to let it cool before attempting to extract from pan and eat.

Black Bean Soup…thanks to Google. Discard top ranking recipe which has bacon as the main ingredient-from Food Network (Motto: “Watch us add bacon or pancetta to anything”). Discard the one that suggests you mix a can of salsa with a can of black beans (hey, any one can have a cooking blog these days). The one below is from TGI Friday’s.

My soup looked just like this!

  1. Sauté in olive oil some diced celery, carrot, onion and corn. If you aim to impress, make them all the same size approximately. Do not brown. Add a bay leaf for flavor.
  2. Drain two cans of black beans, rinse to get rid of salt and preservatives. You can also presoak dry black beans and pressure-cook them to avoid salt and preservatives altogether (applause!).
  3. Coarsely puree black beans so that some whole beans remain and add to the sautéed veg. with enough stock or water until it resembles a soup that would appeal to you.
  4. Add a couple tsp. vinegar, enough salt, cumin powder, chilli/paprika powder and crushed oregano to taste. (You can add some chipotle chillies in adobo sauce for a smoky chilli flavor, if you can find it in small cans in the Mexican section of your grocery store.)
  5. Add diced green bell pepper and chopped parsley at the end for a fresh taste. Squeeze lemon/lime juice and serve hot with grated cheddar cheese and sour cream as toppings.

Stuffed Poblano Peppers…..Poblano peppers are dark green, thin skinned and have an amazing flavor. They can be somewhat hot at times, otherwise mild..I find this varies from batch to batch. If you are feeding people who cannot deal with this, use ordinary green bell peppers/capsicums.

  1. Make the stuffing by first boiling some potatoes. Peel and mash (delegate to 12 year old who has great fun attacking potatoes with masher exclaiming “Die, die, thou shalt be smited!” and “guts and gore”..No, I don’t find this troubling since he is just being his usual silly self).
  2. Add cumin seeds to hot oil, when they darken add half chopped onion and stir until translucent. Add mashed potatoes, salt and a pinch of turmeric…aha, here is the inevitable Indian-ness, says you. True, but did you know that the active ingredient of turmeric, curcumin, is increasingly being recognized as a potential wonder drug with potent anticancer effects according to my friends at the National Cancer Institute? Toss the golden mix around until bits get crunchy and crusty..yummm. Toss in some bright green frozen peas at the end for some color and contrast.
  3. Slice poblanos into lengthwise halves and stuff generously. Arrange on a wide skillet, coated with a little oil, with pepper side down. Cook on moderately high heat until skin blisters, then carefully turn so the stuffing side is down. The potatoes will continue to form a golden crust. They are delicate..handle with care and consume immediately!

Cumin flavored Rice: This is so easy that it does not deserve an itemized recipe. Just presoak some long grained rice for ~20 min or so, drain. Add to a tbsp of oil in a heavy bottomed pan and toss around until the rice begins to brown slightly and acquires a puffy interesting look. At this point, add some finely diced onions, lots of cumin powder, salt and paprika to taste. Add some tomato puree/chopped tomatoes/sauce (in other words, whatever you can lay your hands on). This gives the rice a gorgeous pink color! Sprinkle in some pine nuts…this is a great idea! Then add hot water at the usual 2:1 ratio, cover and turn heat down. That’s it! I was crazy enough to put on my galoshes and stomp outside in the snow to scavenge around my herb garden. I only found some brave sprigs of rosemary which I harvested and threw into the rice before covering.

I wish I had taken pictures to share. Alas, we ate everything! I’ve attempted to link up to some representative pix, so that will have to do for now. Wish you were here!

Posted in FOOD | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rambling England Travelblog

Posted on July 18, 2010 by madamescientist

“So, y’ came all the way to England to see a bunch o’ stones?” The good natured cabbie shook his head as he dropped us off at Tasburgh House, just outside the lovely Georgian town of Bath. This about summed up Day One of our English vacation.

Bucolic charm of Avebury

We had begun by seeking out the largest and the most atmospheric of the Megalithic stone circles, in Avebury to the east of Bath. Massive, rough-hewn rocks, dating back some 5,000 years, sprawl over a diameter of 1,400 ft.  Only about 27 remain, thanks to the religious zeal of 13th century villagers, who destroyed many of the stones out of superstition while others (the more practical minded, no doubt), pillaged them to build their homes.

Circle of Stones, Avebury

Unlike the more famous Stonehenge which is cordoned off, you can wander between the stones here, wondering about the ceremonial rituals hosted on this ancient land. Charming legends mark some of the stones: the Swindon stone is reputed to walk across the path at midnight, searching for its lost brethren, whereas running anticlockwise 100 times around the Devils Chair can conjure up your secret wishes! The so-called Barber-Surgeon rock has a not-so-charming past..the intact skeleton of a man, presumed to be a medieval barber/surgeon by the tools found on his person, was buried under the stone apparently from an unfortunate accident. Alas, even after his remains were rescued in 1938, they were destroyed in the London bombings of WWII!

Devil's Chair

Dwarfed by the sarsen stones

By noon, we were on our way due south, stopping for lunch at the gorgeous cathedral town of Salisbury, before continuing on our pilgrimage to Stonehenge. Although described by many as underwhelming, I was still struck by a sense of awe at the sheer massiveness of the stones, made all the more obvious by the tight circumference of the circle.

Each stone was hauled at least 20 miles from the source, at Marlborough Downs, levered into position and engineered to hold the horizontal lintels ..a feat requiring manpower of hundreds or even thousands of men. Why? Was it an astronomical calendar, a sacred site for ancient rituals? According to 12th century legend, the magical Merlin had the “Giant’s Ring” moved from Ireland, named for the giants who originally carried them from Africa (!) to it’s present site on the Salisbury plain. There is plenty of magic and myth to go around.

Enduring stones against a blue sky

Stonehenge

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Of Curly Kale and Manganese

Posted on June 26, 2010 by madamescientist

Today, I froze some curly Kale.

Like most endeavors that are time consuming, economically equivocal and of dubious utility, this was a labor of love. One may well say the same of raising children, but I digress. You see, earlier this spring, in a fervor of enthusiasm, I broke through the restraints of ice and snow and invested in a fine array of burgeoning seedlings which I bestowed with reckless abandon on the still sodden backyard earth. Amongst the mundane Tomatoes (Big Boy, Cherry and Grape), Peppers (Green, Jalapeno, Purple) and Squash (Yellow Crookneck and Green Zucchini), was a flat of exotic, curly leafed Kale.

I don’t particularly like Kale. In fact, as a child, I positively disliked greens (most children do). Any geneticist knows, however, that with middle age comes the induction of the ILuvGrns gene, likely due to an aging related DNA methyltransferase activation and epigenetic modification of selective gustatory loci. Now, I positively drool over bitter greens, ooh and ahh over baby spinach and rescue the tops of beets instead of letting them wilt away in my not so crisp ‘fridge crisper. I love the virtuous feeling that accompanies eating greens, whether in luscious calorie-laden palak paneer or in a diet-conscious arugula-walnut salad.  Like my mother before me, and countless mothers before her, I exhort my kids to ‘just try some’ because ‘it’s good for you’. In this, I do not lie (I do not claim blanket immunity from lying to my kids, only in this specific instance). According to this fascinating site on the nutritional benefits of kale, one serving of this leafy wonder will convey 684% of your daily recommended dose of Vitamin K, not to mention other goodies such as Vitamins A and C. Also, kale is especially rich in manganese! This is of special significance to me, since at this moment, a manuscript co-authored by yours truly entitled, “VESICULAR DISTRIBUTION OF SECRETORY PATHWAY CA2+-ATPASE ISOFORM 1 (SPCA1) AND A ROLE IN MANGANESE DETOXIFICATION IN LIVER-DERIVED POLARIZED CELLS” awaits the judgment of my peers at a reputable scientific journal of tolerable impact factor. I can recklessly consume all the manganese my body craves, safe in the knowledge that an ATPase will transport ionic excesses into the bile and out through my liver, thereby preventing me from developing an unpleasant form of parkinsonism. If this is too much information for my non biochemist readers, suffice it to say that kale does the body good.

Which is why I embarked upon this lengthy endeavor on a Saturday morning, when I should really be doing the laundry and other sundry useful deeds. Encountering a glut, a veritable bumper crop, shall we say a cornucopia of kale harvest, I was faced with the inevitability of overstimulating the Manganese Transporting ATPase in the collective household livers, and an incipient dinner table rebellion. Google to the rescue, as always, and so I learned that Kale freezes marvelously, nay-it prefers to be frozen since this brings out the latent ‘sweetness’ of the green! Thanks to other intrepid bloggers out in the ether, I am now a self proclaimed guru of freezing greens..which is not a job to be taken lightly.

Assuming that you do not want a future slimy mess of thawed chlorophyll, or a frostbitten semblance of tundra lichen, follow this protocol precisely.

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil.

2. Clean and wash greens, keeping a sharp eye for any unwanted sources of insect protein (kale has a respectable amino acid score of 92/100, so bugs not needed).

3. Fold each leaf in half, like closing a book, and chop off the stem and tough part of the vein. Chop coarsely. See, I told you this takes an unwarranted amount of time.

4. Dunk greens in boiling water for 2 minutes while you search for some ice cubes with which to make an ice bath (oops, that was 4 minutes, no matter).

5. Fish out kale leaves with tongs, and quench in ice water. Rumor has it that this process “kills the enzymes that create the bitter flavor” and although no scholarly journal has been cited to back this claim, it seems reasonable to assume that any enzymes were probably denatured during the boiling.

6. Transfer to a salad spinner which is to be found in the far recesses of the topmost shelf of the kitchen cabinet. Let the kids take turns spinning since this is so much fun. Stop them before the leaves are centrifuged into oblivion. This removes excess water. You can skip this step, but what else use is there for that fancy spinner that you never use?

7. Spread out onto a tray and place in freezer. After a few  hours, the kale is frozen solid, bright green and still curly.

8. Upon discovering that you are completely out of freezer storage/Ziploc bags, make a trip to the grocery store braving the scorching heat of the afternoon. While at the store, purchase other items that you do not really need since you are there anyway (such as sun dried tomato paste in a toothpaste sized tube). Transfer leaves to freezer bag and replace in freezer with immense feeling of accomplishment.

Remind me to tell you what became of them some other time.

Happy Greens and Much Manganese to you!

A surfeit of curly kale

Neatly bagged and frozen kale

Posted in FOOD, Garden, Humor | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Memorial Day Musings

Posted on May 31, 2010 by madamescientist

War is illogical. I am not a history buff, but looking at the data from the Iran and Afghan wars I must conclude that the equation does not tilt in our favor. I refer to the 6K lives lost and trillion dollars spent, presumably to avenge that sad day in September more than eight years ago. Of course, you could argue that I speak from the lofty confines of an ivory tower, barricaded by the benches of my laboratory, anaesthesized by academia. Also, that I alliterate. You could be right.

On to a more appetizing theme. Our dinner today has a middle-eastern motif, purely by chance.

  • Baba Ganoush
  • Couscous salad
  • Pita bread
  • Strawberry crostata (okay, this is Italian..but what else to do with a bushel of warm strawberries?)

Baba G.

Step 1: Broil eggplant in oven until it collapses (be prudent..place on foil lined pan and puncture at intervals to avoid an eggplant explosion). When cool enough to handle, scrape off the flesh from the burnt skin. This is the closest I get to dissection. Don’t fuss about the little bits of skin..they add flavor.

Step 2: Toss the whole mess in a food processor. Add 2 tbs tahini from a jar (look in the door of your fridge, I promise, it is still there). Bunches of parsley (send husband out to get some from garden and then go out again and get some more). Season with half a lemon and pinch of salt. Pulse a few times until creamy. That’s it. Try not to eat it all up before dinner.

Couscous salad

Step 1: Let husband bring to boil some veg stock that he has purchased plus a tbs of olive oil (how much liquid? idk, but the instructions are on the couscous box). Add 3/4 cup couscous, take off heat and cover. In no time at all, liquid will be absorbed, fluff with fork and admire.

Step 2: Add any or all of the following. Chopped cucumber, chopped tomatoes, dry roasted pine nuts, chopped parsley/coriander/mint, 1 cup of cooked chickpeas, remaining half of lemon (from Baba G recipe) squeezed, minced feta cheese, pinch of salt, few grindings of pepper..you get the idea. Toss together, refrain from picking out your favorite ingredients and eating before dinner.

Pita bread

Store bought, warmed on griddle just before serving. I offered to make them from scratch using my handy dandy bread machine, but family voted no (correctly guessing that too much physical effort would make me grumpy and lead to general unhappiness distributed indiscriminately by yours truly).

Strawberry Crostata

Step 1: Search foodtv. com for Giada de Laurentis’ crostata recipe. Despite poking fun at her bobble headed-ness and excessive use of pancetta, I admit in all fairness that this recipe is great.

To the food processor (washed after scraping off eggplant heaven), add 1.5 cups flour, 1/3 stick unsalted butter chopped into bits, 3 tbs scoops of mascarpone cheese (yes, this recipe requires some forethought..send family off shopping while you take a nice long shower), one squeeze of lemon juice, two tbs sugar, pinch of salt (not sure why, but the recipe said so). Pulse to mix. Add 1-2 tbs of cold tap water and pulse again. The mixture will look crumbly. Dump onto plastic wrap and gently gather into a ball. Chill in ‘fridge.

Step 2: Slice the strawberries. Considered getting kids to do this, but they are having fun watching an old Sherlock Holmes film on tv, so did it myself. As token gesture, asked daughter to sprinkle sugar on sliced berries. This is a good opportunity to discuss the word ‘macerate’.

Step 3: Roll out chilled dough on clean countertop. No need to be perfect..this is rustic. Spread some cream cheese or ricotta cheese on surface. Artistically arrange strawberry slices until patience wears thin. Crimp/fold edges over the berries in center..I promise this will look fabulous when done. Bake in a 400 deg. oven until sides are somewhat golden. (I don’t go for the egg wash business..too yucky for me).  Butterly heaven!

Peace!

Posted in FOOD, Humor | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments