Stuffed Pepper Soup

One of the perks of having a food blog is free schwag. Because of this blog, I've had the opportunity to sample new products...like You Bars (custom-made nutrition bars), chocolate, and chutney all thanks to Blake Makes. I was even invited to a free tasting dinner at a local restaurant (though, unfortunately, I couldn't make it).

Most recently, I was offered two free bottles of Country Bob's All-Purpose Sauce. The catch, of course, to all these offers is that I'd blog about the products in return. In this case, that's a good deal for me...because I already buy and use Country Bob's!

I mainly use Country Bob's like a steak sauce. I've never cooked with it. So, I browsed the recipes on their website, looking for something new to try, something "blog worthy." The chicken wings sound good, and I will most likely make them in the near future, but since the weather has finally gotten cold here, I thought soup was in order.

This stuffed pepper soup caught my eye because it reminds me of the cabbage roll soup that I make every year. You see, my Grandma Martin used to make stuffed cabbage rolls, a meal we always looked forward to. I remember her steaming cabbage and stuffing the leaves, then stewing them in tomato sauce. I remember it taking all day. When I crave cabbage rolls now, I make a soup with all the ingredients, and it tastes pretty much the same. Likewise, this soup tastes just like stuffed peppers.

Stuffed Pepper Soup
slightly modified from the original recipe

1 pound ground beef

1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 small white onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 beef bouillon cube
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup Country Bob's All-Purpose Sauce
14.5 ounces diced tomatoes
15 ounces tomato sauce
1 1/4 cups water
1 cup (or more) cooked rice
salt & pepper
shredded mozzarella cheese

• Saute the ground beef with the peppers, onion, & garlic until the meat is brown and the veggies are soft. Be sure to season this with salt & pepper.
• Add the bouillon, oregano, vinegar, Country Bob's, tomatoes, tomato sauce, & water. Stir until combined and simmer on low, covered, for about 40 minutes.
• Stir 1 cup of the rice into the pot OR put a few spoonfuls of rice into a bowl and spoon soup on top.
• Top with cheese to serve.

Salume Beddu

So, I have a new obsession...artisan salumi and salsiccia.

You see, I already have a weakness for cured meats (mmm...bacon). Then, in May I read an article in The St. Louis Post Dispatch about Mark Sanfilippo, philosophy major turned screenwriter (I totally want to read the Varsity Demon Cheerleader script!), turned pizza-maker (at one of Mario Batali's restaurants), turned charcuterie expert.

photo from The Post Dispatch

Mark recently started Salume Beddu, a company in which he offers "artisan salumi in a traditional Italian fashion (Salumi is the Italian term that encompasses all salted and cured pork products), fresh Italian Salsiccia (sausages) and seasonal Italian specialty items." He is currently selling his products at the Tower Grove Farmers' Market in St. Louis.

So far, I've tried the Salsiccia Fiama, "a spicy fresh sausage with notes of fennel, pepper, and smoked Spanish paprika" and the Soppressata Siciliano, "a rustic salame with red chile, garlic, toasted fennel and red wine."

I cooked the spicy Italian sausage by browning it it a skillet over low heat with a bit of olive oil, as Mark suggests. I then cut it into bite-sized pieces and ate it (with my fingers) with cheeses, fruit, bread, and wine. This sausage has quite a kick, spicy indeed...but very tasty.

The salumi was offered sliced thin. Though not spicy like the sausages, it also had good flavor. It was a tasty addition to the cheese & fruit platter as well.

I'm just so excited to be able to purchase these artisan meats. It's nice to know that they are made with fresh, local ingredients. I'm looking forward to trying the different kinds of salumi as they become available throughout the year (see the Salume Beddu website for details).

Oh, and, Mark will be teaching a cooking class at Kitchen Conservatory on November 8. It will be a hand-on class on how to cook with sausage, including making pasta sauces. Can't wait!

Using Mesquite Flour

Charles Perry, of the Los Angeles Times, writes: It had a beautiful aroma. There was something roasted, like coffee or chocolate, then a stronger smell suggesting some fruit (perhaps dried cherries -- or was that coconut?) together with a note of spice: cinnamon, maybe nutmeg.

He is talking about mesquite flour.

I saw a small bag of mesquite flour in the back office at work last Monday, and I asked what it was for. Kirstin, the manager, said that a sales rep left it for someone to try. I mentioned that I had seen a cookie recipe using mesquite flour, and she said I could take the sample home to play with...then let her know if I thought the store should start selling it.

An assignment!

I had only ever heard of mesquite flour from Heidi Swanson's cookbook Super Natural Cooking.. Like most people, when I hear mesquite I think of smoky barbeques. So, I thought Heidi's mesquite chocolate chip cookies would have a smoky background, which didn't sound too bad to me. However, I was wrong about mesquite flour.

Through research, I learned that the mesquite we burn in our grills comes from the bark of the mesquite tree. Flour is made from grinding the pods of the tree, which grows in desert regions throughout the world.

photo from the National Park Service


photo from SpiceLines

According to Liz DeCleene, "mesquite is highly effective in balancing blood sugar. The natural sweetness in the pods comes from fructose. Fructose does not require insulin to be metabolized, making it safe for diabetics. The high rate of dietary fiber (pods are 25% fiber) causes the nutrients in mesquite to be absorbed slowly, preventing the spikes and valleys in blood sugar. With a glycemic index of 25, mesquire requires a longer time to digest then many grains. The digestive time for mesquite is 4 to 6 hours, unlike wheat which digests in 1 to 2 hours. These factors result in a food that maintains a constant blood sugar for a sustained time and as a result prevents hunger. [...] Further, this food delivers a big hit of nutritional value. It is high in dietary fiber and protein including lysine. The ground pods are between 11% and 17% protein. Mesquite is also a good source of calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, and zinc." It is gluten-free and low in carbohydrates & fat, too!

Mesquite flour is kind of sweet, kind of chocolately, kind of nutty, kind of cinnamony, kind of nutmegy, kind of...well...hard to explain. It's used not as a flour exactly, but more of a seasoning; though, it can be substituted for part of the flour in a recipe. A little bit of the stuff goes a long way.

Apparently, mesquite flour is difficult to find but highly sought after. David Lebovitz couldn't find it in Paris, and when he eventually bought some in Texas, the cashier exclaimed, "Oh! I bet you're going to make those chocolate chip cookies!"

Mesquite Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from Heidi Swanson's recipe

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup mesquite flour, sifted if clumpy
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375.
  
• Whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Beat in sugar until thick.
• Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides in between.
  
• Add the dry ingredients 1/3 at a time.
• Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts.

• Drop by tablespoons onto baking sheets covered with parchment or silicone mat. Bake for about 10 minutes until golden brown on top and bottom. Heidi warns, "Don't overbake these; if anything, underbake them."
• Cool in wire racks.

Makes about 2 dozen.

Here's how else you can use mesquite flour:

• Add 1 teaspoon to 1 stick of softened butter to spread on toast, muffins, scones, or baked sweet potatoes.
• Add 1/2 tablespoon to banana, strawberry, raspberry, or peach smoothies (will help prevent mid-morning hunger!)
• Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon on oatmeal.
• Add to pancake, muffin, cake, and cornbread batter.
• Add to rub seasoning mixes and breading.
• Use to season chicken, pork, beef, seafood, stir-fries, & soups.
• Make mesquite ice cream.
• Add to salad dressing.
  

Other mesquite flour recipes:
Basic yellow mesquite cake
Skillet cornbread
Citrus mesquite spareribs
Mesquite almond shrimp
Mesquite flour tortillas
Mesquite brownies & other cookie recipes
Mesquite sugar cookies
Snack bars
Mesquite apple nut muffins & oatmeal raisin cookies
Pancakes, zucchini bread, banana bread, flan, and more!
More recipes

A Fiasco in the Kitchen

At work one day a couple weeks ago, Anne comes up to me and asks: "Have you ever heard of a fiasco?"

"Um, literally or metaphorically?" I replied.

"Literally, a fiasco in the kitchen," Anne said.

Images of stove fires, out-of-control countertop appliances, knife accidents, and smoke-billowing ovens flashed through my head.

Anne explained that a fiasco, which is Italian for "flask," is the name of a Tuscan bean cooker. She's just been given one as a gift and suggested that we try it out one day soon.

A fiasco is a large glass flask, very similar to the kind you'd find in chemistry class, with a cork top that has a glass tube running through it. It was originally designed for use in a hearth fire; cooks would put a fiasco of beans on the embers at night, and they would be ready to eat in the morning.

The name, however, apparently has double-meaning. Those glass beakers have been known to break on the stove a time or two. During her research online, Anne came across one man who said he was on his third fiasco. "This could be fun," I thought. And, I made sure to bring my camera to work just in case we had a fiasco of our own.

The directions were pretty vague...and in Italian. We were to put the beans with water, olive oil, basil, rosemary, garlic, salt & pepper into the flask, then cook it for 40-50 minutes. So, that's what we did.

There was some concern as to how we were going to get the beans, without all the cooking liquid, out of the flask. Anne ended up pouring the water into one bowl and the beans in another.

[un]Fortunately, no fiasco took place in the kitchen that day. We had to wonder, though, were beans cooked this way any better than if they'd just been cooked in a pot? We didn't think so.

I think the fiasco is just a reminder of the traditional Tuscan way of bean cooking...and a more attractive way to cook beans. I mean, if you have to have a pot of beans cooking on the stove for an hour or two, it might as well be done in a pretty vessel.

Friday Favorites V: Chocolate Edition

I recently received free chocolate from another Blake Makes giveaway. This one was for three bars of Amano Artizan Chocolate.

To win, we had to leave a comment explaining how much we love dark chocolate. I wrote, "According to Italian researchers, women who eat chocolate regularly have a better sex life than those who deny themselves the treat. Those consuming the sugary snack had the highest levels of desire, arousal, and satisfaction from sex. Please send me the chocolate. My sex life depends on it."

Amano was started by Art Pollard in 1996. The story, according to Amano's website site, is that while on his honeymoon, Pollard "decided that there had to be better chocolate than what was being produced in the United States or that of numerous imported varieties. Thus began his search for the 'ultimate chocolate,' which is not bland or flat, but has superior flavor and texture." After much research and experimentation, Pollard's chocolate started getting rave reviews from local chefs. Art's business partner, Clark Goble, suggested Art make his chocolate available commercially. After studying chocolate making in Europe and traveling throughout Mexico, Art felt his chocolate was comparible to the very best European chocolate and was ready to produce commercially. Since 2006, Amano chocolate has won numerous awards.

When the chocolate was shipped to me, I received an email from Art Pollard. He wrote, "Each and every day, we wake up in the morning with the singular goal of making the very best chocolate. Sometimes it involves my flying out to the country of origin to meet with the farmers who supply our cocoa beans. Sometimes it means modifying our equipment to get our machines to do what we want. And most importantly, some days it involves our staying at the factory late into the night to make sure that our chocolate turns out "just-right." We hope you enjoy our chocolate; it means the world to us."

While Amano uses machinery to produce their chocolate, Art says that their "special process still requires a huge amount of labor." They are one of only a few American chocolate makers that obtains superior quality cocoa beans direct from the source.

I was lucky to try three of their small batch chocolate, single-origin, 70% cocoa chocolate bars: Ocumare Grand Cru Dark Chocolate, Madagascar Preminum Dark Chocolate, and Cuyagua Limited Edition Dark Chocolate.

picture from Blake Makes

My favorite was the Madagascar. The description notes that it has a "strong, fruity flavor" that includes "hints of citrus and berry." And, OH MY GOD, I could really taste the fruitiness. It was as if there were raspberries in it! So good!

My friends also liked the Cuyagua, which is richer in chocolate flavor.

They were all really good, though, and it was interesting to taste these three chocolates together. It enabled us to see how very different chocolates, like wines, can be.

Anyway, I am excited about getting to play around with this chocolate. Check back in the next couple weeks to see what I am going to do with it....

Fig & Ginger Glazed Ribs

Today was a good day. It was my day off, but I got up early for a job interview (keeping my fingers crossed). Then, I had biscuits & gravy for breakfast (a rare indulgence). I cleaned. I cooked. More precisely...I worked up a sweat in the kitchen making ribs (my house got HOT), warm marinated potatoes, corn on the cob, and a special treat for dessert (check back on Sunday for details!).

It started storming in the early evening. I had the windows open, and the cool breeze fluttered the curtains. Cat hair balls tumbled out from under the sofas. I sat in front of the windows with a glass of wine, just listening to the rain and thunder and wind. Oliver (my cat) sat in the sill and enjoyed the mist in his face. Life was good.

Margaret came over for dinner. And, oh my god...the ribs! "I am a fucking genius," I thought. I'm not ashamed; these were damned good ribs! Margaret agreed; she said they were "possibly the best ribs I've ever had."

It was my first attempt at making ribs. I took the "low & slow" approach....season baby back ribs with salt & pepper, set in a roasting pan with a rack, cover tightly with foil, & bake at 250 for 4 hours. At about 3 1/2 hours, I took the foil off and brushed the ribs with a glaze made from McQuade's Celtic Chutney.

I won a jar of McQuade's Fig & Ginger Chutney on Blake Makes after suggesting that I'd use it to glaze ribs. They sent me the jar. I made ribs.

The chutney is really chunky, so I blended it in the food processor with a splash of orange juice, some garlic, salt & pepper. I brushed it on the ribs, then set the pan (uncovered) back in the oven for about 20 minutes. I glazed the ribs again, sprinkled them with a touch more salt & pepper (the chutney is pretty sweet), then baked them again for another 30 minutes or so...until the glaze was sticky.

Everything was perfect.

Bento Obsession

I have no idea why, but all of a sudden I am obsessed with bento box lunches.

According to Cooking Cute, bento "refers to a packaged, single-portion, portable meal that is usually eaten at lunch, but also comes in larger sizes meant for use at picnics, dinner, and parties. A bento generally consists of rice or noodles and some form of protein (e.g., meat, poultry, fish, tofu) accompanied by side dishes of raw, simmered, or pickled vegetables. There are many different types of bento boxes, ranging from traditional handcrafted wooden lacquerware to disposable containers. Most bento boxes have compartments or internal dividers for separate dishes."

I came across a few pictures of bento box lunches on Tastespotting, which led me to click around and discover this whole cyber-world of bento packing cooks!


Cooking Cute has a great list of links and resources.


Lunch in a Box offers tips & techniques for bento fillers.


Soy and Pepper features mouth-watering pics of her bento love.

Some people even go as far as to press hard-boiled eggs and rice into hearts, cut veggies into flowers, and decorate their food with pieces of seaweed!


Anyway, I've always been fond of taking lunches in snazzy lunchboxes. In high school, my best friend and I both had these cool tall, rectangular, colorful plastic boxes with long straps. There were three pieces to each box: the top was a thermos, the middle divider held napkins & silverware, and the main compartment was big enough to pack food in.

A few years ago I bought a traditional metal Frankenstein themed lunchbox to commemorate earning my MA in English (I wrote my thesis on Frankenstein).


I've decided to take my lunches to work from now on, so as to eat a bit healthier (ie, no fast food), and I love the idea of packing bento boxes!

My first step was to order some boxes. I found a few on ebay that I liked, including two Japanese style boxes:




and one Americanized version:


I also liked the Laptop Lunchbox system (available at Lunchboxes.com) and the Fit & Fresh containers (available on Amazon). In fact, I might order the Fit & Fresh soup/salad thermos and possibly the Breakfast Chiller. Their Lunch on the Go is microwaveable and includes an ice pack.

Since I didn't yet have a real bento box, I improvised the past week by using small Gladware containers inside a larger, heavy plastic containter with a lid (something I already had in my cabinet for storing leftovers in the fridge).


Leftover chicken stirfry, grape tomatoes, cheese, yogurt, & a plum.


Turkey & Laughing Cow cheese on sunflower bread, veggie crisps, carrots, blueberries, & cheese.


Whole wheat cheese tortellini with tomatoes & pesto, cardamom & cinnamon olives, roasted zucchini with thyme.

Nothing too exciting, but I have some fancy recipes planned for the coming weeks! Look for more bento pics and recipes here soon!

Magic Bullet Mexican Night

So, my friends Jesse & Sara have a Magic Bullet. I saw it on their kitchen counter a few weeks ago when I was there for dinner.

"Why do you have a Magic Bullet?"

"We got it as a gift."

"Have you made all those things they do on the infomercial?"

"We've never even seen the infomercial!"

"You're joking! That's great television...1, 2, 3, NACHOS!"

"But, we do have the little cookbook that came with it!"

"We should have a Magic Bullet dinner night...everything made from that cookbook."

And so, the Magic Bullet Mexican Night was born.

Sara started the night by blending up some Seven Second Salsa.


Next was Speedy Guacamole.


The Before You Know It Bean Dip was a bit thin, but it tasted pretty good.


Jesse made margaritas.


Only the best ingredients go into the Magic Bullet.


It actually made good margaritas.


And it was easy to salt the color-coded rings.


The Magic Bullet: A Shit-load of Class!


The main dish was chicken quesadillas.


Jesse couldn't understand why we were blending the quesadilla filling into a mush. Because, Jesse, that's what the Magic Bullet cookbooklet said to do!


The blended chicken looked like cat food.


But, I didn't think it tasted all that bad.


Next time, I'm making this drink.

So, we decided that the Magic Bullet is really a pain in the ass. Sure, it was okay for dips (the salsa was quite good, but it would be easier in a food processor). It is really perfect for margaritas one-at-a-time. Sara & Jesse said they use it most to make smoothies and grind coffee beans. I bet it would be good for making baby food as well.

We had so much fun with the Magic Bullet, that we talked about trying other "As seen on TV" kitchen products. Any suggestions?

If anyone has a sandwich maker, Foreman grill, pancake pan, Batter Pro, any Ronco product, or other such appliances, we'd be more than happy to take them off your hands and use them for our product experiments. I'm serious. Just send them (and their cookbooks) our way, we'll make dinner with them, then I'll write about it here!