Coconut Butterscotch Bars

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Salts Kitchen

Okay, so that time that I made those black bean brownies? I also tried this out: coconut bars made from chick peas. Believe it. I actually liked these significantly better than the brownies. The texture was fun and gooey and these were a hit at the potluck I attended. I refrigerated these overnight and ate the leftovers the next day- I can’t say I’d recommend that. These were great warm, out of the oven, or at room temperature, but did not last the test of time overnight. After tasting the leftovers my niece told me, “yea, I’ve had better things from you.”

I found this recipe also on Forgiving Martha, made some tweaks and here you go. Talk about hiding your kids’ veggies and proteins! Next time I might try eliminating the flax and adding an egg.

Coconut Butterscotch Bars
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed very very well
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon almond milk
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1/8 cup unsweetened shredded coconut plus 2 tablespoons for topping
1/2 cup butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a square 8-inch baking sheet with foil. Blend chickpeas, vanilla and peanut butter in blender until smooth. Add the sugar, ground flax seeds, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to the blender and pulse until just blended. Add coconut.

Pour batter into prepared baking dish. Sprinkle additional tablespoons of coconut and butterscotch chips on top. Bake for about 30-40 minutes or until slightly browned on top. Let cool 15 minutes before slicing and serving.

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Teatime with Grandma and Grandpa

Posted on September 11, 2011 by Salts Kitchen

My grandfather serves my grandmother tea or coffee in the den most days, often with a curtsey that makes my grandma laugh even though he’s been doing it for years. My grandma saves a bite of her bread or likes a little something sweet with her coffee after lunch. We bought a dozen macarons from an amazing little bakery, ‘Lette, in Los Angeles and brought them home for teatime with Grandpa. Tea always tastes best when Grandpa steeps and serves it and grandma tilts her tea cup on the saucer.


Next mission: create macarons. Naturally gluten and dairy free. And oh so beautiful.

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Arancini Two Ways

Posted on September 6, 2011 by Salts Kitchen

So… yes, this is still what to do with your leftover risotto. This was indeed quite awhile ago, but risotto is an all-year round delicious delight. And arancini, oh arancini I love you. Usually this is a simple “fried rice ball” stuffed with mozzarella or something along those lines. I’ve done them slightly different, in that I’ve rolled them in rice flour instead of white flour, and decided not to stuff them. I also made them a “little” healthier by not deep frying them, but rather heating up a few tablespoons of oil only.

Heat a skillet with enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan plus a centimeter or 2. Take a tablespoon of risotto and roll it into a ball in your hands.  Drop 1 ball at a time into a bowl of white rice flour. Roll it around until it’s completely dredged in flour.

Once it’s completely floured, and the oil is hot hot but not smoking, drop a few of the floured risotto balls into the oil. Since I did not fully fry them, I had to turn them over so that each side got browned. Let it sit on each side for 2-4 minutes (over medium heat) before attempting to flip them, so they can brown and not stick to the pot.

I also experimented with rolling these balls in egg first and THEN the flour. This worked well. I liked the flavor without the egg, but for the ease of flipping and browning, the egg made it easier. To do this, whisk 1 egg in a bowl. Drop risotto ball into egg, swish around, then drop into rice flour. Then finally add it to the oil as well.

Topped with Basic Tomato Sauce


Top with your favorite tomato sauce. This is just a few tablespoons from 1 of the basic tomato sauce jars in my freezer.

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Cold Cucumber Tomatillo Soup and a Kitchen Fire

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Salts Kitchen

I made this soup quite awhile back and it was delicious. I’m about to make it again since I have an abundance of peppers and cucumbers, and it’s perfect for this heat. This is a variation of a recipe I found in Bon Apetit since I needed a guideline as I’ve never cooked cucumbers before. I can’t recall how, but I started referring to it as “romantic cold soup.” Maybe it was the fact that I ate this on my hot date with my college BFF Amy Rose. Although we did not feed each other or link arms as we slurped our soup, I’d say we both enjoyed this immensely and both went back for more. Romantic? Sure.

To make a VERY long story short: Once upon a time during sophomore year of college, I almost set fire to my house as I was baking cookies. I was preheating the oven, mixing the dough, when I smelled smoke and the fire alarm went off. This happened in our sketchy oven a lot. I realized smoke was coming out of the oven. I called my mom, she told me to put baking soda on it. Ah of course. I poured baking soda everywhere and realized I could NOT find the source of the smoke. Flames started creeping out. They started to char the drawers. I called home. My dad answered the phone and said, “hang up. dial 9-1-1”. Crap. I called. I told them it was small, I was calm, and I simply couldn’t find the source of the fire. “Could you just send like 1 firefighter please?” Apparently that’s not how it works. A firetruck, an ambulance, and 8 minutes later, a firefighter stood before me with a drawer of flaming potholders asking, “is this your fire”? Yes sir.

Every time I use my broiler, I think of this very Amy Rose who at the time thought our broiler was a drawer for potholders. When you blacken your peppers for this soup, make sure there’s nothing flammable under the oven. I will always recall fondly the firefighter who sat and ate cookie dough with me that morning I was just trying to study for finals. I told this story last week to my friend, “The Firefighter”- I’m glad it still gets some chuckles.


Cold Cucumber Tomatillo Soup
2 poblano chilies
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves
1/2 pound tomatillos, husked, rinsed, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 large cucumber, peeled and chopped. If using a very seedy cucumber, cut out the seeds.
2 cups chicken broth +2 cups water (or veggie broth)
2 tablespoons minced seeded jalapeño chilies
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1/4-1/2 cup almond milk
optional toppings: yogurt, hot sauce, green onion, cilantro

Blacken poblano chilies in the broiler until black on all sides. Enclose in paper bag; cool 10 minutes. Peel and seed chilies, then cut into 1-inch pieces.

Heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; saut
e 5 minutes (until getting translucent). Add tomatillos and cucumber; saute until onion begins to brown, about 5 more minutes. Add broth and poblano chilies and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until tomatillos are tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in jalapenos, lime juice and cilantro. Using an handheld immersion blender (or if using a food processor, wait until cool and then work in batches), blend until pretty smooth. Transfer to large bowl; stir in milk. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Chill soup until cold, at least 3 hours or overnight. Garnish with chopped cilantro, green onion, chives, and yogurt. I also used a little hot sauce I had just made drizzled on top.

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Zucchini Carpaccio

Posted on August 28, 2011 by Salts Kitchen


Can we really call this zucchini carpaccio? Does that make me sound like a wannabe restaurant menu in Napa trying to compete with the greats with made-up names? A cheesy culinary student’s idea of sounding fancy? Maybe, but I can’t figure out a name that describes “raw” and “fresh” when talking about zucchini.

Well, whatever we call it, it was an experiment that could have gone either way and it turned out delicious. I would definitely make this again. It was a great summer salad, refreshing, and easy to put together. The key was that the zucchini was at the prime of its season and not bitter at all and there were no seeds really to speak of.

Zucchini Carpaccio
2 long green zucchini
fresh ricotta (I used Dos Lunas raw ricotta)
handful of fresh basil and mint, rough chopped
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
good salt and pepper


Slice the zucchini very thinly in rounds. If you have a mandolin, even better. If you have a thin blade on your cuisinart, that’d work too. Line a colander with doubled up paper towels and place all the zucchini on the paper towels. Zucchini sweats a lot, so replace the towels as you go and stir up the zucchini on the towels to make sure all of them get soaked up. Use paper towels to also pat the zucchini.

In a flat serving dish, place the zucchini in 2-3 layers deep. Place chunks of ricotta all over the zucchini, then spread the herbs over the top, then drizzle olive oil, malden seas salt (or a big flakey salt), and pepper. I let this chill in the fridge for just about 1 hour before serving. If you feel you need a little acidity, squeeze a tiny bit of lemon juice over the top. I was concerned about making this ahead of time because I thought it would get wilted and the flavors would lose their balance, but it held up pretty well the next day (but not the best).

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Brownie…ish?

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Salts Kitchen

One of my best friends from high school and I used to want to open a restaurant together. We discussed it for many years, planned certain aspects and even had a name picked out. Rebrooka’s. Yes, it’s a combination of Brooke and Rebecca. Very clever. Indeed, our dream of opening a restaurant together died sometime in our teens, but Brooke is indeed a chef and restaurant owner. Unfortunately (and I will never understand why), none of her places have been called Rebrooka’s. What the hell Brooke?

Although Brooke is a real-live chef, our food talk often involves things like gross gluten free experiments and what kids will eat, you know, things along those lines.

Recently, she texted me, “have you tried black bean brownies?” I had not, but I had heard of them many a time. I keep meaning to try them out, but again it’s like any of those substitution things that I often can’t get behind. Brooke sent me a link to a blog, Forgiving Martha. I had never heard of it, but ooh I like it! She had the black bean brownie, the one everyone keeps telling me I have to try.

So here’s the thing though. I made them. I didn’t love them. Actually I almost threw them away, but I brought them to a picnic instead, where I said to my colleagues, “try it, tell me what you think” and then grimaced. They each skeptically tried it, and the reaction was about 50/50 even after I told them what the secret ingredient was. Some loved it, some loved that there was a certain something they couldn’t quite place. I think Brooke’s son had my favorite reaction though, “no mas.” I’m with you Hudson.

Of course, this is my journey with tried and true as well as fails. So here is the black bean brownie recipe with some corrections and adjustments I made. I think I over baked them a wee bit, so they weren’t as gooey as they could’ve been. Then again, do I want gooey-ness in my bean brownies?

Black Bean Brownies
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed- as much as possible
1/3 c. earthspread, melted
1/4 c. bittersweet cocoa
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. chocolate chips
optional: 1/3 c. walnuts, chopped

Drain and rinse black beans throughly. Add beans and melted butter into the bowl of a food processor. Blend until smooth. Beat in eggs. Add in cocoa, vanilla, salt, and sugar and blend until completely pureed. Gently stir in chocolate chips and walnuts then pour into an 8″x8″ greased pan. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Cool before cutting.

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*%!@# Ralph (or A Picnic on the River)

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Salts Kitchen

Yes, I just used the symbols for swearing AND my father’s name in the same line. As I mentioned, I spent a few days in California soaking up family time, friends, and a whole lot of sunshine (without melting). I walked to the beach as much as possible, swam amongst dolphins, and ate my weight in fruit and cheese and meat and fish and everything else put in front of me. This is the way we do it. It’s a Saltsman Picnic. The food items vary, the locations, the people, each component varies but there are some constants. There used to be football sometimes, now there is usually wine, sometimes the boy child gets stuck in a tree, sometimes…

There is one specific picnic that didn’t vary much: The Big River Canoe Trip. Oh yes. A day in the middle of our northern California roadtrips, starting somewhere in Mendocino County (near the llama farm). In preparation for this trip, we did our shopping to include tomatoes and other fruits, breads, spreads, goat cheese, and other various sundries. Most important though was the stop at Noyo Harbor for the smoked salmon. Was it there that we got the blackberry cobbler too? I think so. I’m not referring to the blackberry cobbler during the Sheep Dog Trial Festivals in Boonville, no that’s totally different.

The canoe trip. Fun heading out, inevitably a disaster on the way back. Paddling against the wind my father would start to stress that we wouldn’t make it back in time and that we weren’t paddling in unison. One year, with our regular order of mom as navigator in front, then kids, followed by my dad steering, we started (not unusual) to veer towards the trees on shore. My mother shouting to my father to steer, my father shouting that we weren’t paddling hard enough or that he couldn’t see something or other, and then it happened. We steered into the trees and got stuck. My mother shouted, “Sh*!t Ralph, now we’re stuck in this *$%^# tree”!

Shock. The world stopped. That was the first time I heard my mother swear.

The picnic. It’s all about the goat cheese, tomato, smoked salmon sandwich put together with butter knives and dirty fingers. Again, since it’s hotter than sin down here in Texas, I’m posting a bit of nostalgia from a cooler moment in time. Here’s a quintessential picnic item during the summertime. Simple, straightforward, and oh so delicious. It’ll take you back to whatever picnic you’re thinking about right now.

This was our final dinner in LA together this trip:

1 bag fresh bufala mozzarella (buffalo seems to be the most lactose free of all)
1 large handful basil, washed and torn by hand
5 large tomatoes of any variety
1 pint cherry tomatoes
good sea salt
pepper
good extra virgin olive oil

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Easy Roasted Tomato Sauce

Posted on August 20, 2011 by Salts Kitchen

This is my favorite tomato sauce and I make this a lot toward the end of the season. When tomatoes aren’t necessarily at their peak anymore, or I can only pick a few at a time, this is a great remedy. Roast as many or as few as you have at once and add them to a jar as they come. This week (as in last month now that I’m publishing this) with my 500 pounds of tomatoes, I roasted a ton and will make them into a sauce or garnish later next week.

Roast Tomatoes for Sauce (or otherwise)
5 pounds tomatoes
5-8 whole cloves of garlic, peel on
salt
extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 425. Cut the tomatoes in half across the equator and then put them, open-face side up in a large pyrex dish. Don’t crowd the tomatoes too much in the pan. Sprinkle with a tablespoon or 3 of olive oil and a couple of hefty pinches of salt. Throw the garlic in and place in the oven until sizzling, soft, and a little browned. If your oven is as awful as mine, turn it to broil for the last 5 minutes. For 5 pounds of tomatoes this should take about 30 minutes.

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I love you Risotto Cakes

Posted on August 13, 2011 by Salts Kitchen


As promised, I have some ways to make risotto as exciting as the day you made it. When you’re sick of heating up leftovers or you want to make something a little crazy with your risotto, here’s one way to spice things up. When I was growing up, my mother used to make my favorite simple tomato risotto every so often. Then later in the week, she’d make a risotto “cake”. She would take a skillet, put a thick layer of risotto, then put sliced mozzarella, then another layer of risotto. It would get nice and browned and crisp, then she flipped it and browned the other side, making the mozzarella in the middle nice and melty. We’d slice it like a pizza and each of us got a triangle.

Here, I have done this slightly differently. Actually, I made a risotto cake old school style first, and then made this version with a fried egg and loved it.

1.5-2 cups leftover risotto
sliced yogurt cheese (or mozzarella if you can eat that)
1 egg

Heat 2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. When it’s good and hot, add the risotto and pat down with a spatula. Let it cook for a couple of minutes. Crack an egg directly on top and then surround the egg with the cheese. When the risotto is browned on the bottom and slides around on the pan easily, flip the pancake over and leave it at medium-high heat just long enough to cook the egg white (about 1-2 minutes). Flip back right side up and slide it onto a plate.

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And then it got personal…

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Salts Kitchen

Warning, there is no food in this random post. If you don’t feel like reading, I’m okay with that. Skip on…

I spent the last week with family in California. It was a wonderful trip and I had more family time than I remember having in a long time (it all started with grandma saying she wanted ALL of her family together for a vacation). I even got to see some of my favorite girlfriends whom I grew up with. Oh the things I’ve learned. Thought about. Discovered? I got to chatting with my ladies and we talked inevitably about boys (and husbands and babies and more) and some about the boys we loved in high school.

The truth is, the reason food sounded so awful just some weeks ago (boy did I make up for it with the food at my parents’), is because my heart got a wee bit smooshed. Yep, out of the blue. I shan’t go into too many details, although I can safely say Mr. UPS is most likely NOT reading this blog, but as this is a FOOD blog, not a boy woes blog, I’m sticking to a point. I think. Let’s just say Mr. UPS was a really nice guy, we clicked, and then he freaked. Or something, actually I don’t know what and alas, I never will. Maybe it was my 3 (8?) grey hairs or that I wondered aloud if he was like an obnoxious frat boy. Maybe it was a bumper sticker he read (just saying how it could be ANYTHING) or perhaps it was that the strawberry cupcakes weren’t sweet enough. Yes people, I still choose to believe he was nice and meant the nice things he said (I try to think that anyway). I think. Yes, I realize he handled things incredibly poorly and may be a giant uncaring jerk now, but who knows what happened? Immature? Okay. Non-communicative? Perhaps. But I digress of course.

No one had so out of the blue made me feel that way since junior year in high school when young David broke my heart. It was AWFUL. I remember falling apart in the house. My dad picked me up and said, “boys are lame aren’t they? It’s all about luck and timing.” I lost my appetite for what felt like months. Granted, it was more like one month before he realized his fatal error and came back. That’s a different story. These were short lived relationships, but sure felt crummy non-the-less. Not having answers sucks, even if you know that it’s better this way. Right?

Last night I watched “He’s Just Not That Into You”. However, this is not a film critique- I would have much to say about it- but there was one line where I think I actually learned something. Because other than that, it so had nothing to do with anything remotely near my reality- thank goodness because those were some seriously ass-ey guys and ridiculous chics. Anyway, they talk about the exception and the rule and this one chic starts exclaiming that she’s finally the exception. The dude says in response, “you’re the exception FOR ME”. Yes, folks that’s it. That’s the line I remember from the movie. For whatever reason, all the other guys and girls were perfectly lame and attractive, but no one else clicked like these 2 or those 2 or what have you. So that’s what I took away: it’s not that 1 person is MORE special than another to make a guy or girl stop sleeping around, stop looking at other people, have only eyes for the other, treat them nicely… It’s that for some reason 1 person is that person to someone else. Sure, I haven’t dissected the WHY yet, but still.

I just needed to get that off my chest. Perhaps less than 3 people will read this week, perhaps oh so many more. I have many other random things in my queue of posts to be published. Just wait. It’s too hot to cook. I’m in story mode. That’s enough about boys though. For today.

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