Polenta! Simple, not easy. OK maybe easy.

 "Thee the soft nations round the warm Levant

Palanta call, the French of course Polante;

E'en in thy native regions how I blush

To hear the Pennsylvanians call thee Mush!

On Hudson's banks, while men of Belgic spawn

Insult and eat thee by the name suppawn.

All spurious appellations; void of truth:

I've better known thee from my earliest youth,

Thy name is Hasty-Pudding!

“

”

The Hasty-Pudding, Joel Barlow, 1793

 

You know that game, Othello? No, not the Shakespeare play... the game. It's tagline is "A minute to learn, a lifetime to master"

A lot of things fall into this category. Watercolors, planting things, doing cartwheels. And, making polenta. I mean, how hard can something with about 3 ingredients be? And at its simplest, you could make this with only 2: water and corn meal.  Of course, generations of polenta makers would shake their heads at me for saying so.  They learned over the course of centuries that this simple concept - boiled corn meal - can take so many forms.  Soft, rich mush can be served with savory dishes like sausages.  Mix it with sugar, milk, vanilla and cinnamon and you've got a Latin breakfast porridge.  Spread it out in a flat pan, let it solidify and either pour maple syrup on it like they do in the midwest, or serve with pasta sauce, cheese and herbs like they do in Italy.  It's like a food canvas! 

I've been a bit nervous about using polenta even so, because I'm never sure about whether the grain is cross-contaminated with others.  It's the old shared-equipment quandry.  Was it ground on equipment as wheat?  nuts?  other scary things?   One never knows for sure.  But if you can find a good brand*, or know that the brand only does corn ... well, then this is the food for you.  Easy, fast, and a little goes a long way.  It's a simple to enjoy starchy part of a wider meal.  It can be used as part of the main dish, or sliced in little bars for a quick carry-around finger food snack.  And, well, it's yummy.  

For kids, these are so versatile. Cut in squares or little bars and they're easy finger food for on the go.  Cut with cookie cutters for fun shaped plates at home.  Make them sweet or savory, dip in sweet sauces or ketchup.  (yes, my friends, ketchup). 

One of my favorite versions of this is the Italian style polenta squares.  Cornmeal, cheese, oil, and herbs spread out into a pan, then cut into squares and served with pasta sauce.  I also like the squares fried in butter, but I try not to think about that too much. 

Simple, yes, but not as easy as it seems at first.   Deceptively simple.  Add cornmeal to boiling water, stir, and it's done.  Right?

But if you add the cornmeal directly into the hot water without stirring, you get lumps of half-dry goo.  If you don't stir like crazy, you get lumps. It burns and spatters.  It dries out on the pan to the consistency of cement.  Oy. 

There are a couple tricks.  The best one that I've ever read was on Cooks.com's recipe.  Put the cornmeal in some cold water first and stir it up before you add it to the boiling water.  It's the same principle as adding flour to cold water before adding it to gravy to avoid lumps. 

So, my basic recipe:

3:1 Water to Cornmeal

For this example:
2/3 cup corn meal,

2 1/4 water

2/3 cup of cheddar-style Daiya cheese

Put 2/3 of the water into a pan and begin to boil

Meanwhile, pour the cornmeal into the rest of the water, and stir it up until smooth.

  

Once the water's boiling, add the cornmeal & water mix in while stirring, stirring, stirring.  Keep stirring until the mixture become more and more solid, a couple minutes.

Add anything else you want to add (cheese and herbs, or sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and milk) 

Here, I'm using non-dairy Daiya cheddar style cheese. Turn off the heat and keep stirring.  

Pour onto an oiled or non-stick bar pan and spread out evenly -- a casserole dish, brownie pan, whatever you have that's flat with edges.

Cover the pan with something, be it plastic or a lid of some sort and refrigerate until firm.  Cut into whatever shapes you like! 

If you would like an even cheesier version, cover with another 2/3 cup of cheese and put in the broiler for a few minutes. 

* Bob's Red Mill has a gluten-free cornmeal.  Here, though, I used fine cornmeal from our local latin store and it appears to be fine - no reactions, no nothing! 

Smoooooooooth-ies

Your challenge should you choose to accept it.

- Get more fruit into your child
- Encourage child to drink more liquids
- Make child super happy

.... and I give you: Smoothies!

Frozen fruit is so useful. If kept in its frosty home, it generally doesn't go bad any time soon. You can just take out what you need for any specific situation, say, add a few blueberries to pancakes or defrost some peaches for finger food. It's available all year, is pre-cut into generally bite sized, peaches, and if you're really stuck for a quick brunch potluck idea, just throw a few types into a bowl before you walk out the door and it's usually pretty close to defrosted by the time you reach our destination.

But for pure toddler entertainment, a smoothie can't be beat. It's better nutrition for the kid than a milkshake, but just as delicious. And it takes less than five minutes to make if you have a few basic ingredients handy.

- Allergen free milk

   (I use Vanilla Rice Milk)

- Coconut-Milk based ice cream

- Frozen fruit of your choice

For a few sippys full, I throw in about 1.5 cups of frozen fruit, 1 cup rice milk, and about 1/2 cup of coconut milk ice cream.  

Put your kid up on the counter, keep one arm around him, another on the blender, and let him push the button.  Yell and run in place (ensuring complete hysterical laughter from child) while watching how smooth it's getting.  Once the laughter has reached a fever pitch and the smoothie is smooth, make a huge deal about pressing "stop!"  Pour into glasses or sippy and enjoy.  If you need to thin it a little (it does have all that fruit pulp after all), just add a little more milk or some water.  Put the rest in the fridge for the rest of your family to discover. 

Cheese, glorious (rice) cheese!

You might say... "Seriously, just plain old grilled cheese?"

And I would say... "is there such a thing?"

Because grilled cheese is one of those things that makes childhood complete. Like splashing in puddles, or throwing balls in the house, or learning to ride a tricycle. It's just plain, well, grilled cheese!

It's easy, it's comfort food, and it's a celebration of warmth and happiness ~ all in one simple bite.

Looking for ways to include classic kids' edibles that are normally verboten due to food allergies is a hobby for me. If I'm able to find a soy and nut free peanut butter alternative (I'm thinking sunflower seed butter is a likely option), I will be making SB&J soon. In the meantime, I'm making grilled cheese sandwiches in all their glory.

Since I've found rice based cheese shreds (from Daiya dairy free), Q has been on a mommy-enabled cheese binge. Omlettes. Nachos. Now sandwiches.

The rice cheeses are OK uncooked, but a little salty and chalky, so I wouldn't use them in salads of anything. But when melted, they're fantastic! I've used their mozzarella style and cheddar style cheeses, but they also carry a pepper jack variety which looks promising for tacos. (aha! my next project has been decided...)

So, does one really need a recipe for grilled cheese?  Oil the pan (olive oil here), lay down the allergen-free bread (Udi's white sandwich here), put the cheese on, close the sandwich, and press down with a spatula to ensure the cheese melts into the bread. Get it nice and grill-y brown, and ensure there's melty-ness going on in there.  Serve by slicing it in half. (your choice as to straight or diagonal... I don't want to affect your camp on this, you hear me?)

Additions are all upside:  I like to add a slice of deli turkey to this, but you could add any veggies you'd like to hide inside: thin-sliced tomato (potential allergen there of course), avocado, and pickles are all delicious!

And best of all, stuff for dipping:  ketchup (if you have a corn allergy to work with, I hear Hunt's does not use HFCS), even allergen-free mayonnaise (most commercial mayo is soybean oil based, so I stock up during Passover for canola-oil based varieties or buy Spectrum Organics canola-based mayo)

Oh, the possibilities! 

Grilled cheese is kind of like the game of Othello: a moment to learn, a lifetime to master. 

It's the simple pleasures. Really.

Of cooking, cheese and good morning omlettes

Am I obsessed with breakfast food? Maybe.

But... there might be a good reason.  Morning is the one part of the day I tend to have wide open stretches of time with my son. Cooking together has become a time for us to just be with each other ~ laughing, making something, and exploring new ways to communicate. It's our special time.


My little sous chef, with his own pots and pans. 
Canape "baby knife", spice cabinet, and favorite spices.



He's starting to talk a lot more, and it's so exciting. And even though I know it's happening, I am always surprised when ~ out of nowhere ~ he says words and phrases I didn't realize he had even heard before. Watching his mind and imagination blossom has been one of the single most amazing things I've ever experienced. I'm sure, if you're a parent, you've had this experience... you hear the words "apple cider" pop out of the mouth that used to solely utter "ba ba ba ba" ~ and you just want to jump for joy. Or cry. Or hug him. Or all of these things. But instead, so the kid doesn't think you're a complete loon, you say "oh, yes! I see the apple cider too! Would you like some?" and nod sagely.

While cooking with Q, I'm having more and more of these moments. He is showing so much personality, and I'm getting to know more of what he likes and doesn't ~ for example, he loves basil in his eggs and cardamom in his oatmeal.  I see how much of what he gets ~ like, he knows mommy loves smoked paprika, so he hands it to me whenever he finds it in the spice drawer. (we have a spice drawer that rolls out of the bottom cabinets, only 4 inches wide but cabinet depth... it's the perfect height for a toddler to pull out and, well, re-organize!) And I get to hear his new language skills as he describes what he is doing.  "I stirring, cover, bubble bubble!" he says to me as he does all those things.

We got him his own little pot and pan set (thank you Ikea kid's section!) and he's in love.  You see him using it in the picture above: I pull up a kitchen chair with its back toward the stove, remove the stove dials he can reach, keep him faaaar enough away from the hot spots, and let him pretend to cook alongside me.  He has to have a spatula all his own, a mini "cutting" board, and a few play veggies (or real ones) so he can make his own thing.  We let him "try" ingredients to see if he wants to include them in his masterpiece ~ if he likes them, they go in the pot!  Just the other day we ended up with a piece of broccoli, a tiny bit of mushroom, a couple peas, black pepper and some tarragon.    A lovely dish!

So... back to breakfast. 

We've been making eggs for Q for a long time.  Sometimes we mix it up a bit and fry a couple chopped hot dogs in there, or bacon.  (We have found both in nitrate-free, uncured versions ~ Oscar Mayer all-beef Angus Selects for the hot dogs, and Nature's Promise uncured bacon (from Stop & Shop)... plus other deli meats that are uncured and gluten free, like Hormel Natural Choice oven roasted turkey, shown below)   We can add variety by frying up a little of one of those first, then adding eggs and scrambling them.  Delicious!

Working on communication, I asked Q the other day what we needed to make "eggies" as he calls them.  During the conversation, we drew the items either he or I came up with, and it became kind of a visual recipe.

We needed: a pan, eggs, a spatula, oil, and of course basil. 

And while that's been fun for a while, I began to wonder how to mix it up.  At the same time, I heard about rice-milk based cheese!  Oh cheese, the holy grail of missing foods for me when I was nursing!  I missed it, craved it ~ but non-dairy versions I found either were soy-based or even had casein in them.  It was so frustrating!  

Just recently, however, I heard about rice-milk based cheese ~ it was hard to hunt down, but I found one at our local natural foods market that was soy, dairy, gluten and nut free ~ Daiya Dairy Free.  (For those in the New Haven area:  Edge of the Woods)  There were other dizzying options for those who don't have the same limitations:  almond milk cheese looked interesting, lots of soy, but... well, if you're reading this blog you're likely already a label-reading person.  There's a lot of hidden casein and soy in many.  

Even so, it was so exciting to stand at the cheese section and imagine the possibilities for my little guy... grilled cheese sandwiches, nachos, pizza!  Many of the foods that the grand poobah in the sky created specifically to delight children. 

I picked up two varieties: cheddar and mozzarella styles.  As soon as I was home, I had to try them!  Right out of the package, they seemed a little ... eh.  A bit salty, not so much creamy.  But, apply heat e voila!  Melty, gooey, and pretty darned good for something that isn't the real thing.  Yay!

So again, back to breakfast: 

Combining my recent discovery of the rice-milk based cheese and my desire to branch out in the eggs department, it was a natural progression to omlettes.  Simple, easy, fast, and way better than just scrambled.  Here's what we used:

Turkey-Broccoli-Cheese Omlettes

Olive oil

1/4 medium onion, diced fine

1 broccoli "tree" chopped fine

1 slice deli turkey, diced small  ~ or hot dogs, leftover chicken, etc.

2 Eggs

1/4 cup cheddar-style rice milk cheese

ground black pepper, just a shake 

basil or Italian spices, to taste

In a little oil, saute onion and broccoli together until the onion is translucent and the broccoli is bright green, just a minute or two.  Add the broccoli and saute a couple minutes. 

Meanwhile crack the eggs into a little bowl and scramble them.  Add to the pan in as close to a circle as you can manage.  Lower the heat to medium low, and cover for a couple minutes until the egg is starting to set. 

Add the cheese and spices and cover again until the egg is set and the cheese looks melty. 

Fold over the omlette, but if that doesn't work, just serve this as scrambled eggs and no one will know the difference!

Get the plate on the table to cool off while you wrangle your small child into the high chair, booster seat or if necessary, your lap.  This should be the precise time needed to cool off the omlette to the perfect temperature! 

This was such a win with Q! ... he gobbled it up, practicing "cutting" skills with his little plastic fork, but eventually just started grabbing chunks of egg and turkey omlette.  Dipping daintily into ketchup first, then unceremoniously shoving the food into his mouth, he loved it.  And I felt so close to him, as I did just about the same.

Pa-Pa-Pa-Pakoras!

Pakoras! So exotic, so delicious, so easy.

If you haven't had them before, pakoras are crispy little fritters from India filled with joyful, crispy vegetables ranging from onions to green beans to cauliflower to spicy peppers. Normally they arrive on a silver plate at the Indian restaurant and a chorus of "ahhh" rises from the table. In Mumbai, they're street food - hot, tasty, and a wonderful snack along the way.

But at home, I'll let you in on a couple secrets: They are a perfect vehicle to use up extra vegetables, super fast to make ~ and best of all, they're a way to have fun doing something a touch crazy!

Pakoras are made from garbanzo bean flour. It's not hard to find it, and if you're gluten free you probably already have it handy. If not, you can get it at an Asian grocery or your health food store. But make sure the source is allergen free. As I learned when making Socca, not all garbanzo bean flour is safe. Yummy? yes... but not necessarily safe.

A couple things to note about garbanzo flour:

• First - until it's cooked, it tastes a little, well, weird. Tinny or slightly sour perhaps? Completely normal. (When you make cookies, for example, it's not quite as fun eating the dough... but it still doesn't stop me.)
• Second - If you are using it in a batter, let it soak in the liquid for maybe a half hour before you cook it. Otherwise it'll stay lumpy. Time is your friend here. So measure your flour, add the water, stir it up. Then, go chop veggies or play with your kids for a few minutes. Again, time being friendly!

The recipe is easy: mix flour, spices and water, chop veggies, stir in veggies, fry. yup, that's it.

A more accurate recipe, though:

Pakoras

Oversized monster pakora frying.
Hence suggestion for a smaller
2 - 3 " size -- but still yummy!

1 cup Garbanzo Bean flour
(I used Bob's Red Mill gluten free)

1 cup water (or enough to make a batter slightly thinner than pancake batter)

1 tsp (or to taste) curry powder

1/2 tsp smoked paprika (optional)

Oil for frying

about 2 cups of diced vegetables (around 1/4 to 1/2" chunks) -- some suggestions:

- onion (really a must) - green or red peppers

- green beans - cauliflower

- peas - corn kernels

Mix the flour with the water, whisk, and set aside for around a half hour. Using a frying pan (or to save oil, a saucepan), heat around 1/2 inch of oil until a drop of batter into the oil starts to bubble right away.

When ready to get frying, stir in the spices and vegetables. Dollop the batter carefully into the hot oil, making fritters 2 or 3 inches in diameter. Once you have a batch in, it helps to carefully tip the pan and allow the oil to roll over the top. Fry for a couple minutes on each side, and let rest on paper towels to drain the excess oil. Sprinkle with a little salt if you like!

While I was making these today, I began to wonder about alternate takes to this simple dish. Since it's apple season, why not try cinnamon in place of curry, and apples instead of veggies? Hmmm... you might see that up here very soon!

Variations on a Pancake: Banana Edition

If you have lemons, make lemonade. If you have ripe bananas, make banana pancakes! OK you could also make banana bread, but we'll get to that later.

Basically, this is an add-on recipe to illustrate another way to make pancakes.  Pictured on the left are the ingredients.  Note on the left side that a toddler-sized helper is essential to the process. 

Recipe: same as regular pancakes, but add a chopped banana to the batter.  If you want to get fancy here, bananas always go with: a dash or cinnamon or cardamom powder.  The other alternative is adding about 1/2 cup crumbled bacon, but you didn't hear that from me. 

Socca! It's so... Nice

I know I just did another post about pancakes. But this, my friends, is a special pancake.  Imagine yourself strolling along the boardwalk in the South of France.  You spy a street cart with what looks like a large pizza pan next to a stove... he's pouring batter into a the pan and an eager line is gathering.

are they crepes?  no!  they're socca!

Socca are garbanzo flour pancakes.  In Nice, France, they're thin and crispy.  Across the border in Italy, a slightly thicker version of the same thing is called Farinata. 

It's one of those simple foods that people revel in, and whose recipes lend themselves to infinite variation:  soak sifted garbanzo bean flour in water with a little oil mixed in, at least an hour but overnight is apparently better.  Heat a huge flat pan with a lot of good quality olive oil in a hot oven for a few minutes.  Pour the batter into the heated pan and return it to the oven for 10-15 minutes.

Traditionally, a large quantity of fresh ground pepper is added to the top of the socca.  Once cooked, either flake off the pan in crispy yummy bits or cut in wedges like pizza.  Simple, n'est pas?

Why socca?  Well, I've been looking for recipes that use new and different flours ... the ones I see in the Asian groceries with inscrutable uses.  Sure, rice flour is pretty obvious, but gram flour? besan?  mung bean?  sorghum?  tapioca? huh?  I have often seen some of these in gluten free flour blends, but they are a bit expensive.  Why not go to a local Asian market and buy them for far less and make my own stuff from scratch?  

So I went to my favorite Indian market and stood in the flour aisle for a while.  There were many flours based on lentils, rice, corn.  Gram flour, also known as Besan, it appears, is really just another name for garbanzo bean flour. 

When I Googled garbanzo bean flour, I found many results for spicy pakoras (i.e. deep-fried veggies, Indian style), which looked enticing.  But a word kept coming up in the results: Socca.  Recently returned tourists from France and Monaco waxed poetic about the flaky, crispy treat covered with black pepper and olive oil.  The New York Times had even blogged about it in their Minimalist food blog... heck, it had to be good!

Back at the store, since none of the gram/besan/garbanzo bean flours claimed to be allergen-free, I looked for one that didn't say it was manufactured on machinery where allergens were processed.  I comprimised on a flour that said it was ground in the same factory but not on the same machinery... and one that was made in Flushing, Queens, NY... not overseas where standards are a bit different in terms of cross-contamination and full disclosure of ingredients: Laxmi brand Gram Flour.  With images of palm trees and the Meditteranean Sea in my head, I drove home intending to make an exotic treat!

I based my recipe on the one at the link to the NYT Minimalist blog, missing that I should include the onions in the batter.  I also made the mistake of not whisking the flour and water together and ended up with clumps that I didn't ever really get incorporated well.  And yes, it does take a little while for the water to soak in.  But these are nuances... generally, this is a pretty failsafe dish! 

Note, the following is clipped from the New York Times (see link above)

"...Sift the chickpea flour into your bowl, so it doesn't lump, and use a whisk to combine it with water. Do not skimp on black pepper or olive oil; the pepper should really hit you when you take a bite. Preheat your skillet or pan in the oven. When the socca is done, put the pan on the table, cut it into random shapes, hand out napkins and have at it. If more than six people are present, get started making another.

Socca (Farinata)
Time: 45 minutes

1 cup chickpea flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon, at least, ground black pepper
4 to 6 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 large onion, thinly sliced, optional
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves, optional.

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a well-seasoned or nonstick 12-inch pizza pan or cast-iron skillet in oven. Sift chickpea flour into a bowl; add salt and pepper; then slowly add 1 cup lukewarm water, whisking to eliminate lumps. Stir in 2 tablespoons olive oil. Cover, and let sit while oven heats, or as long as 12 hours. Batter should be about the consistency of heavy cream.
2. If using onion and rosemary, stir them into batter. Pour 2 tablespoons oil into heated pan, and swirl to cover pan evenly. Pour in batter, and bake 12 to 15 minutes, or until pancake is firm and edges set. Heat broiler, and brush top of socca with 1 or 2 tablespoons of oil if it looks dry.
3. Set socca a few inches away from broiler for a few minutes, just long enough to brown it spottily. Cut it into wedges, and serve hot, or at least warm.

Yield: 4 to 6 appetizer servings. "

So the result?   Delicious.  Basic, straightfoward and wonderful.   My son gobbled, grabbed, scarfed it down!  The garbanzo bean flour has a nutty, tangy and rich flavor all at once.  The crispy edges surround a thick, almost baked-egg tortilla consistency inside.  Dense, satisfying and light all at the same time.  

I can imagine a million flavor combinations:  add different spices (rosemary and pepper are traditional ... but what about basil, tarragon, cumin, smoked paprika? or go sweet with cinnamon, cardamom, sugar?)   Add thinly sliced veggies inside (like onion, zucchini, carrots, asparagus).  Another whole dimension would be adding toppings, a la pizza!  Now... if I could just get some soy, nut and dairy free cheese! (anyone?)  Here's an exploration of socca experiments that I have to really delve into...

The downside: 

As much as my son LOVED the socca, he had a reaction.  Nothing horrific or ER-trip inducing, but some facial spots and itching.  My best guess is that buying the flour while crossing my fingers that cross-contamination wouldn't be a problem was a bad idea.  I though I could get away with buying inexpensive flours in exotic stores that make me pine for globe trotting... but you know what?  It's just not worth it.  

I will be adding socca to the regular rotation of yumminess, but I will also be making sure that the flour comes from a confirmed allergy-free source.  Bob's Red Mill, I might as well buy stock in you right now. 

Superfast Chili

Whoa partner -- Chili, fast?  You’re kidding, you say.   Why, no… I’m not!

I work from home, one of those telecommuters.  I don’t have a quick lunch spot a block away that I can just hop over and buy an allergen-free meal for little guy.  Most of my lunch hour is spent just hugging him, rolling around on the living room carpet, and getting an overview of what happened so far that day.  I know I am more than lucky to have all this.  Blessed.

At the same time, all this rolling around during lunchtime means I don’t have a lot of time during lunch to actually cook lunch.  This recipe, though, is superfast.  It also tastes like it took you a whole afternoon.   

Basic Superfast Turkey-Bean Chili

Olive oil for sautéing (~1 tablespoon)
1 cup chopped onions *
1 pound ground turkey  
1 can Red Kidney, Pinto or Black Beans
1 teaspoon smoked Paprika
      (if it’s not smoked, what’s the point?  Smoked paprika makes all the difference ~ rich, delicious)
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon dried basil, parsley, and/or cilantro

In a large frying pan, heat olive oil and sautee onions until translucent, about 3 – 5 minutes.  Add ground turkey and brown.  While browning, add the spices.  Once browned, add the can of beans with the juices.  (If worried about salt here, rinse the beans and add about 1/3 cup water – but I find the can’s juices add to the overall flavor)

That’s it!  Put in bowls and eat.  

In the pictures here, I’ve also added a couple cups of rice pasta elbows to fill out the meal.  Stir in and you’ve got a great lunch or dinner!

* I love love love frozen chopped onions that I buy for $1 a bag at the supermarket.  A great timesaver.  The onions don’t brown as nicely as they release a lot of water, but if that’s not a concern in a recipe, it’s a great deal.  On the other hand, we joined a CSA share this year and the onions from the farm are worth their weight in gold: crisp, rich, caramelized flavor.   Each has their place ~ it’s up to you!

Transformer Food

This is just a starting point, though.  You can adjust spices, add stuff, and make it change identities constantly.  It’s like the James Bond of chili. 

For example:

-          If you use garbanzo beans, add a little cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and some raisins … you’ve got Moroccan!

-          Add a little cardamom and curry powder, and you’ve got an Indian dish.  

-          Take out the beans, amp up the basil, add gluten / allergy free pasta sauce and you’ve got a lazy lasagna!

-          Sautee cubes of eggplant with the onions, add the Moroccan spices above plus a little oregano, keep the beans and serve with warmed flatbread (like corn tortillas), you’ve got a middle eastern dish!  (I’ll soon post my hummus recipe to add as a condiment)