Fudge Pie

from Linda Calkins

Oven 350 degrees

Melt in a heavy pan:
1/4 pound butter or oleo (1 stick)
1 square bitter chocolate or semi-sweet choc. (baking choc.) (about 1 oz.)

Remove from fire and add:
1 cup sugar

Beat well and add:
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. vanilla

Beat well after each addition.

Pour into greased pie pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. You will learn how dried out and crunchy or soft and squashy you like it.

Chicken Posole

I read this Easy Chicken Posole recipe on Rancho Gordo's blog and adapted it for what was in the kitchen. I had two very small whole chickens from the farmer's market that I wanted to get rid of, and this worked really well. By the time the pozole was done, the meat was falling apart, but still held together by the skin, so it was easy to pull the chickens out, de-bone them and put the meat back in. The posole was really easy to make, but had to sit on the stove for a long time.

Olive oil
1 yellow onion
2 carrots
1 anaheim pepper
3 garlic cloves, finely diced or crushed
2 very small, whole chickens or whatever bone-in chicken parts you have
1 lb dried posole (I bought mine from Rancho Gordo)
Mexican oregano (maybe 2 Tb dried)
Chile powder
cumin seeds (maybe 1 tsp)
salt
pepper, freshly ground

Dice the onion, carrots, and pepper. Heat some olive oil in a large pot, then saute the vegetables until the onions are a bit translucent. Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds, then fill the pot with water and add the posole and chicken. (The water should cover the chicken and posole by a bit, although my whole chickens stuck out so I had to keep flipping them. The posole soaks up a lot of water, so make sure the pot does not dry out and add water if needed; the finished product should be like a soup.) Add the spices.

Partially cover the pot with a lid, and simmer gently for several hours until the posole is tender and the chicken is falling apart. When it's getting close to done, taste and adjust the seasonings. At the end, take the chicken out, de-skin and de-bone it, then add the meat back to the posole.

Serve in soup bowls with diced red onion, cheese such as cotija (although we had to settle for ricotta salata), a squeeze of lime juice. It seems like chopped fresh cilantro and creme fraiche/sour cream/crema would also go well.

Quinoa and Mango Salad

This recipe is adapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison. She used scallions instead of red onion, and added cilantro, garlic, and jalapeno. It also might be good with other types of nuts, shallots instead of onion, or other fruits or dried fruits. I think that 1 c quinoa is actually a little too much, so I don't put it all in. It'd be good to use the full amount of quinoa if you have two mangoes or more avocado.

1 c. quinoa
2 c. water

1 mango, diced
1 avocado, diced
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1/4 c. sliced almonds, toasted

2 Tb yogurt
1 tsp curry powder
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp honey
2-4 Tb canola oil (or other neutral oil)
salt
freshly ground pepper

Rinse quinoa several times in a bowl of cold water to remove the saponin, draining each time in a fine sieve. Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan, then add salt (if desired) and the quinoa. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer 12-15 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes. Drain through a sieve if it's watery. Chill.

Put the cooked quinoa in a bowl with the mango, avocado, and red onion. Mix the yogurt, curry powder, lemon juice, honey, oil, salt and pepper to make the vinaigrette, adjusting all ingredients to taste. Mix the vinaigrette into the quinoa mixture to taste. Stir in the almonds last so they stay crisp.

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies

I tried this recipe from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle today. The cookies turned out surprisingly good (as Mark put it). They have a cake-like, light texture and aren't too sweet or rich. I used bittersweet Ghiarandelli chocolate chips.

ZUCCHINI CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
From Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver

1 egg, beaten
½ c butter, softened
½ c brown sugar
1/3 c honey
1 Tb vanilla extract

1 c white flour
1 c whole wheat flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg

1 cup finely shredded zucchini
12 oz chocolate chips

In a large bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar and honey. Stir in the egg and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Then stir the dry ingredients into the butter mixture.

When the ingredients are almost completely incorporated, stir in the zucchini and chocolate chips. Stir to combine, but

Drop by spoonful onto greased baking sheet, and flatten with the back of a spoon. Bake at 350°, 10 to 15 minutes. Makes about two dozen.

Roasted Roma Tomatoes

This is a good way to make not very good tomatoes much better. I served them in pasta with olive oil, pepper, ricotta salata, fresh basil and Italian parsley. They can also be a side vegetable by themselves.

Roasted Roma Tomatoes
From Linda

roma tomatoes
herbs, such as fresh thyme or dried Herbes de Provence
salt
pepper
olive oil

Oil a baking sheet with a couple tablespoons or so of the olive oil. (It's not a bad idea to line the baking sheet with foil first.)

Slice the tomatoes in half, length-wise, and lay them out on the pan, cut side up. Sprinkle the tomatoes with the herbs, salt and pepper.

Roast in a pre-heated 475 F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 300 F and roast for another couple hours or so, depending on their size.

"BBQ" Braised Pork

Make a dry rub with:

paprika
garlic powder
dark brown sugar
dry mustard
sea salt

Smear the dry rub on all sides of a:

5 to 7 pound pork shoulder

Let marinate for several hours or overnight, if possible, although I did not when I tried this.

Make the barbeque sauce by mixing these ingredients to taste in a bowl:

1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1 cup yellow or brown mustard (I substituted dry mustard)
1/2 cup ketchup (I substituted about 2 Tb tomato paste)
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
dash worstershire sauce
dash tobasco

Taste and adjust the seasonings and sweetness as desired. Add anything else you like.

Heat some vegetable oil in a large, heavy pot. Brown the pork on all sides, being careful that the rub doesn't burn. Remove pork and set aside. Pour off oil.

Add:

1 onion, peeled, then cut in half and sliced thinly

Sautee the onion a minute or two, stirring and scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pot. Add the barbeque sauce you made, bring to a boil. Place the pork on top of the onions. The sauce should come up 1/2 to 3/4 of the side of the pork.

Cover and simmer for as long as you can stand. The meat should be very tender when done and falling off the bone. Anywhere from 3 to 6 hours. You can flip the meat once or twice, if you like, but you don't have to.

When it's done, remove the meat. Let sit a few minutes then slice to serve. Boil down the sauce (including the onions in it) to the desired thickness and serve with the meat.

Olive Oil Cake

This cake was very light and had good flavor, although mild in the way a pound cake is mild. We served it with red wine poached pears and a sauce made from the poaching liquid and cream, but it was also good the next day plain.


Olive Oil Cake
From Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison, p.702

4 eggs, separated, plus 1 egg white, at room temperature
1 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tb orange flower water (optional)
Finely grated zest of 1 large orange and 1 lemon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c plus 2 Tb olive oil
1 1/3 c milk
2 1/2 c sifted cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
Powdered sugar (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Oil or butter and flour a 10-inch springform or bundt pan.

Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks, then gradually add 1/3 c of the sugar and continue beating until firm peaks are formed. Scrape them into a large bowl and set aside. In the same mixing bowl -- don't bother to rinse it -- beat the yolks with the remaining sugar until thick and light colored. Lower the speed, add the flavorings and salt, then gradually pour in the oil. The batter will be thick, like mayonnaise. Slowly add the milk, then whisk in the flour and baking powder. Reach thoroughly around the bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is well mixed. Fold in the egg whites. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake in the center of the oven for 25 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 325 F and bake for 40 minutes more or until a cake tester comes out clean and the cake has begun to pull away from the sides. (It's better to err on the side of overbaking than underbaking this cake.) Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove the rim or invert, if using a bundt pan, onto a cooling rack. When cool, gently transfer the cake to a cake plate and dust with powdered sugar.

Makes a tall 10-inch cake, serving 10-12