Ancho Chili Rosemary Nuts

Well hello there!  I'm still alive over here.  I have been busy thinking about life and hibernating when I can.  It has been really cold in LA lately.  Don't laugh my Chicago friends.

Christmas is just around the corner.  Mat and I are hosting Christmas dinner for our family and I am thinking of all the things that need to be made... prime rib, cream corn, roasted veggies, jalapeno cheddar corn bread, mac and cheese... I'm getting excited just thinking about it!  I'm also making these nuts along with a couple other goodies so people can munch on them with wine and cocktails before dinner.  This recipe was adapted from Barefoot Contessa's Chipotle and Rosemary Roasted Nuts.  This is a great recipe because you can make these ahead of time and you can also package them for little gifts to friends and coworkers. 

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Canola oil
4 cups nuts (use a mixture of your favorite nuts)
2 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons lightly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons orange juice (you can use grapefruit juice too)
1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary, divided
Kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Brush a generous amount of canola oil on the bottom of a baking pan.  Toss nuts with 1 tablespoon of canola oil, maple syrup, brown sugar, orange juice, ancho chili powder, 1 tablespoon of rosemary, and 1 teaspoons of salt.

Roast nuts in the oven for 25 minutes.  Toss the nuts with a metal spatula or wooden spoon half-way through.  Remove from the oven and toss with 1 tablespoon of rosemary and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  

As the nuts cool, toss the nuts frequently to prevent them from sticking to one another and to the bottom of the pan.  

These nuts are addicting.  They are sweet, salty, smokey, and aromatic from the rosemary.  Perfect combination of flavors.  

Roasted Cauliflower with Mint and Almonds

Through the images, I know this dish seems underwhelming but it is so incredibly good.  This dish is inspired by the roasted cauliflower dish I had at Girl and the Goat in October (I posted my Chicago visit in a past post here).  Before, I would actually categorize myself to be a cauliflower hater because I thought the texture was too crumbly and the taste was totally blah.... it even smelled a little off.  However, roasted cauliflower tastes nutty and delicious and the texture isn't crumbly and weird anymore.  Who knew?!?  This is definitely going on my Christmas menu.

Makes 4 servings

1 head cauliflower, cut into pieces with the hard core removed
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons toasted sliced almonds
2 teaspoons lemon zest
3 fresh mint leaves torn
1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons walnut oil

Preheat over to 450 degrees F.

Spread the cauliflower across a baking pan.  Drizzle the cauliflower with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Roast for 30 to 35 minutes and toss the veggies every 10 minutes or so.  The cauliflower should be nice and browned.

Toss the warm cauliflower with almonds, lemon zest, mint, and walnut oil.  Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.  Serve right away.

 

Toasting nuts on a pan over the stove is the easiest way to ensure that the nuts don't get burnt.  The crunch from the almonds add a contrasting texture to the dish.

 

The lemon zest and mint pair so well with this dish because they perfume the dish... do not omit these items out of the dish if you can help it.  With all the different flavors and textures, I bet you didn't know that cauliflower could even taste like this!

Meyer Lemon Cured Preserves

These should be called magic lemons.  I received them as a gift from my dear friend, Vicki, a while back and I ran out because I used them in almost everything.  They perked up any dish that was savory (meats, fish, pasta, sandwiches, sauces, potatoes, tapenade, you name it).  They are the best condiment ever especially if you want to add a lot of great, lemony flavor to a dish.  The lemon infused oil from this recipe is also very versatile and can be used in a variety of dishes.  

Preserved lemons are a Moroccan delicacy and really expensive if you buy them at a specialty store (usually between $7 to $15) so I wanted to share this recipe from my friend.  I bought all my beautiful, fresh meyer lemons from my neighborhood farmers market.  They have just begun their growing season in California. 

Makes 8 lemons

8 organic meyer lemons (3 to 4 ounces each), scrubbed

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups sea salt

Extra virgin olive oil

Boil a large pot of water.  Blanch the lemons in the boiling water for 10 to 15 seconds.  Cool the lemons in a big bowl of cold water.  Cut off the ends of the lemons (about 1/2 inch) and slice into 1/8-inch rounds.  Remove the seeds as you go.  

Combine the sugar and salt in a large bowl.

With sterilized mason jars, scoop the sugar mixture into the bottom of the jars so it is generously covered with the mixture.  Place a slice of lemon into the jar and cover it completely with sugar mixture.  Keep on alternating lemon slices and the sugar mixture until it fills the jar.  Push down the slices to make room for more lemon slices as you go.   Fill the jars and top with olive oil (I used about 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil per 1 pint jar).

Refrigerate for at least 2 weeks to 1 month before eating.  The preserves should be soft.  Remove any excess sugar and salt before using.  I like to mince them before I put them into a dish. These lemons should last up to a year or longer in the fridge. 

Note:  It is better to use too much of the sugar mixture instead of not enough because mold can grow on the exposed areas.  

I used a clean toothbrush to scrub down my precious meyer lemons and I used the oven method to sterilize the mason jars.  For the oven method, preheat your oven to 250 degrees F and heat your jars and lids for at least 15 minutes.  Fill the jars once they have cooled.   For me, it took about 3 lemons to fill a pint jar.  I like using the wide mouth mason jars for these lemons.  They fit perfectly in there.

For extra measure, I quickly blanched the scrubbed lemons in boiling water to kill off any bacteria remaining on the lemons.

Use a sharp knife to cut the lemons into thin slices.  You don't have to be perfect.  A mandoline would be great for a task like this.

 

Now is the waiting period.  Preserved lemons remind me of kimchi.  It tastes better if you let them sit for a while.  Some people let them sit on the counter but I prefer to let them the preserves sit in the refrigerator. In a couple days, I plan on giving each jar a shake so the sugar and salt evenly distribute throughout the jar.  These make the perfect gifts so I'm planning to pass them on to friends.  Since I originally got these as a gift so now I'm passing it on and sharing the love!  These will be perfect just in time for Christmas cooking.

Spaghetti Squash Pasta

I have this little trick that I do.

When I feel like eating pasta but I don't want to be totally bloated for a couple days afterwards, I make this.  I'm calling it my spaghetti squash pasta because you can eat it just like pasta but it is squash.  But let's be honest here.  It doesn't taste exactly the same as real pasta but this is a fantastic, healthy substitute.  

Makes 4 servings

1 2-lb spaghetti squash

Preheat the oven at 375 degrees F.

Prick the squash with a fork repeatedly.  Place the squash on a baking pan and cover it with foil.  Bake the squash for 30 minutes.  Take the pan out of the oven and rotate the squash.  Bake it for another 30 minutes.  

Once the squash is slightly cooled, cut the squash in half.  Scoop out the seeds and use a fork to scrap the flesh of the squash into strands.

I took step-by-step pictures for this post so it is super easy to follow along.  This is the spaghetti squash.  It looks like a large yellow egg-shape squash to me. 

I used a regular fork to prick the squash all over.  This is a very important step.  If you skip this step, the squash may explode in your the oven.  The possibility of that happening sounds a little scary and messy so poke holes everywhere.

I covered the baking pan with two layers of aluminum foil just in case something does explode and it helps the squash to steam.  Be careful when you take out the squash after the 1st 30 minutes of baking.  It rolls around in the pan and you don't want the squash falling out accidentally.  That sounds like something I would do.

Scoop out the seeds and start scraping down the squash with a fork.

Ta-da!  Low carb pasta!  I can't say it's no carbs because vegetables are carbs but this is pretty darn close.  The squash tastes nice and crunchy and that is exactly the texture that you want.  If the texture is mushy, the squash was cooked for too long.  I'm going to share what I put on top of the spaghetti squash pasta tomorrow so stay tuned.

Pumpkin Butter

I hibernated for the weekend.  On Saturday, I think I slept 16 hours and I was not even sick.  I consciously chose not to work out, not to drive to LA to go to the furniture sale, not to go crazy in the kitchen, and just rest.  If you know me well, you know that this is an incredibly hard task to do but after this weekend, I feel like I am a normal person again!  It feels great. 

This is totally on a side note.  When I was not sleeping, I was watching tv with Gracie.  Does your dog watch tv?  My dog does and she watches the tv so intensely I think her eyes are gonna go bad so I have to tell her to step away from the tv.  She loves football, anything with with an ocean scene (especially when the water comes up against the shore), and any show that has animals in it and it doesn't even have to be a real animal... it could be stuffed animal, animal statue or animal cartoon and she goes BA-NA-NAS!  Sometimes when I am cooking in the kitchen, I leave the tv on for her so she can keep herself entertained.  I almost feel like a bad parent for not giving her my full attention at times but she is my dog and not an actual child.  Thank goodness.        

Okay.... enough rambling.  Now on to the recipe, I am sharing a recipe I did last week with my fresh pumpkin puree.  This reminds me of the Trader Joe's pumpkin butter and you could just buy it at the store but it is so easy to make at home so that is what I did.  I should also mention that I reduced the amount of sugar a tad. This is perfect to spread on toast in the morning and after you make this, your kitchen will smell like you lit a pumpkin spice candle in it for hours.  It smells warm, cozy and exactly like fall.  You can multiply this recipe to make more pumpkin butter to pass out to friends and family.  This was made for 2 people so I only wanted to make a pint. 

Recipe

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Makes 1 pint

Ingredients

15 ounces fresh pumpkin puree or canned pumpkin

1/3 c plus 1 tbs apple juice

1/2 c brown sugar sugar

1/2 tbs ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice

Directions

Put everything in a pot except the fresh lemon juice.  Bring to a boil and simmer on low for 30 minutes or 'til the mixture thickens. Stir frequently.  Add fresh lemon juice at the end and adjust more if needed.  Transfer the mixture into sterile containers and store in fridge. 

The pumpkin butter should be thick like this.  Also, I sterilized my mason jar to help the pumpkin butter last as long as possible.  I just put my clean mason jar and lid in the oven at 250 degrees F for 15 minutes.  I cooled the jar before putting the pumpkin butter in it. 

Fresh Pumpkin Puree

I only found it fitting to include a pumpkin recipe for Halloween.   This recipe looks like baby food and you can probably use it for that too but I plan on using the puree for pumpkin butter.  You can also use it for pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin pancakes, etc.  I used a sugar pie pumpkin because they are sweet and the texture of the puree becomes very smooth.  

Recipe

Ingredients

1 sugar pie pumpkin

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  

Cut off the stem of pumpkin and cut the pumpkin horizontally in half.  Remove the seeds with a spoon.  Place the pumpkin halves open end down on a baking pan covered with parchment paper.

Roast pumpkin in oven for about 90 minutes.  Take out of the oven and let them cool.  Scoop out flesh with a spoon once it is cooled completely.  Blend the flesh in a food processor or blender.  Use right away or store in fridge.

You have the option for reserving the seeds to make roasted pepitas.

Make sure you use a very sharp knife to cut the pumpkin in half.  I sharpened my knife right beforehand.  A dull knife can be pretty dangerous for a task like this.

When you are done roasting, the pumpkin should look like this.  The flesh should be very soft to touch and easy to scoop out with a spoon.

Blend pumpkin in a blender.  I think a food processor is easier for this task instead of a blender because there isn't a lot of liquid to help the blender blend.  I didn't realize this 'til after I put it all into the blender. 

It is Halloween so I had to include these pictures into the post.  I found a cutie patootie Halloween costume for Gracie at Old Navy.  She is supposed to be a banana split.  When I put it on her, she was not amused at all.  Nope... not at all.  First, she wouldn't lift her head up and then she pretended that she was tired.

 

I think the cherry on her head is so funny!  She is probably wondering why I even do this to her.  Lol.  If only I could go instead her head to see what she is really thinking.

 

Happy Halloween!

Roasted Delicata Squash and Sweet Yams

It is definitely fall and we're in the bounty of root veggies and squash.  There are so many varieties out there and I want to put the spotlight on delicata squash today.  It is seriously an under appreciated, unknown vegetable to most people and it is such a lovely variety of squash.  It is sweeter than butternut squash and also has a thinner edible skin which I like because I don't have to peel off the skin before cooking with it and who doesn't need the extra fiber these days?

Roasting is the easiest and most delicious way to cook these vegetables in my opinion.   I left the skins on the squash and yam because I can and they are organic.  If you are using conventional produce, I would recommend peeling the skin before you roast.

Recipe

Ingredients
Delicata squash, de-seeded and cut into chunks
Sweet yams, scrubbed and cut into chunks
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Fresh flat leaf parsley, finely chopped (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Lay veggies flat in a single layer on the baking pan.  Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Roast about 15 minutes per side for a total of 30 minutes and toss the vegetables once after the first 15 minutes.  Sprinkle with parsley.

Roasting tip:  The cooking time will really depend on how many veggies you put on the baking pan.  If the baking pan is completely full, it will probably take about 15 to 17 minutes per side.  However, if you only have a few veggies on the baking pan, it can take as little as 5 minutes so adjust the time accordingly and be close to the oven when you do this so you can eyeball it.

If you want, you can save the seeds of the squash and roast them for a little snack.  

I like roasting the yams and the squash in a single layer so both sides caramelize.  This is the good stuff.  The crust creates a nice texture and the natural sugars come out and sweeten the yams and squash.  It is seriously as good as it gets.  No additional sugar is needed.  Really.... no marshmallows or brown sugar.  It is already sweet as is.

This is so delicious and super easy to make.  It is also perfect to serve as a side for Thanksgiving and Christmas to balance out the other heavier dishes that you know you are going to eat too.

Vegan Chocolate-Mint Brownies

This is the first recipe I have tried out in my new cookbook.  Yay!  Finally got around to it.  I don't know if these brownies are "healthy" because of the amount of sugar in them but they have a lot less saturated fat than normal brownies because I used canola oil and water versus butter.  I don't know why my perception of vegan food is like this but I do not feel guilty eating these brownies because they are vegan. Weird huh?

Recipe
Slightly adapted from If It Makes You Healthy
Makes 15 brownies

Ingredients
2 c unbleached all-purpose flour
2 c raw sugar, preferably organic
1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 c vegetable or canola oil
1 to 1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 c carob chips

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 13 by 9-inch baking pan.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and set on low speed, mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.

Once the dry ingredients are mixed together, turn off the motor and add the oil, 1 cup of water, 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract, and the vanilla extract.  With the mixer on medium-high, beat the batter so that it is well incorporated and smooth.  Taste and add more peppermint extract, if desired.  Stir in the carob chips by hand.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with a rubber spatula.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the brownies cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes.  Cut into squares to serve.

These brownies are super easy to prepare.  Just mix the dry ingredients together and I put all the wet ingredients into a glass measuring cup so I could just pour it right into the batter.  It took me 5 minutes to assemble everything.

Do not let these carob chips fool you.  They look like chocolate chips but taste nothing like them.  They are vegan and dogs can eat them too so I've often seen them in dog treats at the doggie bakery.

 

This looks kinda like when the mouse has eaten the cheese but it is me who has eaten the brownie.  

Simple Cherry Tomato Pasta

Yesterday was one of those days I didn't feel like doing anything.  I didn't want to go to work, commute, walk my dog, nothing.... it was just one of those days.  However, I still had to eat something and make sure that there was something to eat when my husband came home from work so I made this very fast.  As soon as you are done boiling the pasta, toss with the ingredients, and you are done.  I used the thin spaghetti or angel hair pasta so it cooks extra fast.  It took me about 15 minutes.

Recipe
Makes about 3 to 4 servings

Ingredients
6 to 8 ounces thin whole wheat spaghetti (about 1/2 a box)

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 c cherry tomatoes
1/2 c grated Parmesan Reggiano
2 tbs preserved meyer lemons minced (I linked a recipe for the preserved lemons here)
6 to 7 basil leaves julienned
Pasta water
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Boil salted water in a medium saucepan.  Add the pasta and cook according to the directions on the box.

While the pasta is cooking, put olive oil and cherry tomatoes in a separate saucepan over medium heat and lightly season with salt and pepper.  Smash the cherry tomatoes down with a spatula or potato masher.  Cook the cherry tomatoes for about 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the cooked pasta directly into the cherry tomatoes. Grate the Parmesan Reggiano directly on top of the pasta and toss.  Then, add the preserved meyer lemons (you can just add lemon zest too if you do not have this easily available), basil, and a few tablespoons of the pasta water.  Season with salt and pepper.



I usually work with the pots side by side so I can just add the pasta directly into the saucepan with tongs.  Also, preserved lemons are awesome.  I think they are magic.  They make any dish taste delicious with the perk of lemon.

G, if you are reading this, do you recognize your potato masher?  I will return it back to you.... I promise!

I tossed the Parmesan Reggiano in the pasta first because I wanted the cheese to stick to the pasta.

Add the other ingredients and toss.

 

Add grilled chicken in here if you like and/or an extra grating of cheese for serving.  I converted my husband into eating vegetarian most days so he doesn't mind the absence of meat for dinner.