Special Dressing II

Posted on February 5, 2011 by Salts Kitchen


Growing up we had 1 salad dressing that my mother would make if we asked or if it was a special occasion, it was called Special Dressing (maybe eventually I’ll also get to special noodles). It was a blended mix of shallots, dijon, oil, and other ingredients that when blended, became emulsified and creamy. It was the only creamy dressing I remember ever having in the house. It is still referred to as special dressing.

For the past year, one of my roommates has raved about a dressing that she purchases at Wheatsville. It’s tasty. I’ve always thought I could recreate it. Here is my attempt. It is also a creamy dressing without the cream, hence “special dressing II”. My version is completely different from the store-bought, but so far we think it’s pretty delightful. We ate tons of salad last night and used it for dipping the carrots in as an appetizer too.

This is an approximation:
1.5 cups cashews
2-3 cloves garlic
1/4 (plus more to taste) cup apple cider vinegar
1.5-2 Tablespoons tahina
1/8 cup (plus more to taste) of wheat-free tamari
3/4-1 cup olive oil and/or grapeseed oil
hefty sprinkling of pepper and salt to taste
up to 5 Tablespoons water

Blend first 2 ingredients in cuisinart. Add vinegar and tamari, salt, pepper, and tahina. Slowly add grapeseed oil until it’s emulsified (looks nice and creamy). Add 1 tbsp of water at a time until desired consistency. It may look chunky and kind of separated until you start adding water: that’s okay! Just keep adding.

Posted in Recipes, Salty, Uncategorized | Tagged | 7 Comments

Roasted Cauliflower and Radicchio with a Fried Egg over Corn Pasta

Posted on February 4, 2011 by Salts Kitchen

Something came over me today and I needed to have radicchio (which I normally loathe). I wanted long cooked radicchio and maybe some crisped cauliflower. Turns out, it sounded good to a couple of friends too. So it’s gone from, well if it’s bad no one will ever know- to, “I should probably make this work”. And I think it did.

1 head cauliflower
1 small head radicchio
half an onion (if you have it)
6-8 cloves garlic

1 egg per person (this is for 4)
1 pound pasta

5 anchovies or 2-3 tbsp of anchovy paste
bread crumbs (optional) OR grated parmigiano reggiano
extra olive oil to toast bread crumbs.

Tear apart cauliflower into manageable pieces. Blanch in boiling salted water for 2-3 minutes and drain.
Pre-heat oven to 400 and add 4-5 whole cloves of garlic and 1 tsp olive oil to a glass roasting pan and roast for 5 minutes. Tear cauliflower to smaller pieces and add to roasting garlic. Roast for 25-30 minutes, shaking the pan 1-2 times throughout. When you take it out to shake it in the middle, use a wooden spoon to cut up pieces to even smaller if you prefer. I turned the heat up to 450 for another 8-10 minutes to get it a little crispier.

While cauliflower is roasting, chop 1/2 an onion (I used it because I had it in the fridge) and coarsely chop 2 cloves of garlic. Saute in 2 tbsp olive oil for 2-3 minutes, until onion is just translucent. Slice radicchio into slivers and add to the onion and garlic. Saute for a good 15 minutes on low. Cover if it starts to get a little dry.
At the last minute, I found out I had access to a bunch of kale. So I sliced it the same I as I did the radicchio and sauteed it separately. If I’d had them at the same time, I would have just sauteed that a few minutes and THEN added the radicchio.

Now, the pasta. I gave up pasta when I gave up gluten. There really isn’t a fantastic substitution- or at least that’s what I thought when I tried over and over. I have found a few brands that will make do when you really need that pasta fix. This one is a 100% corn pasta called Probios, Viva Mais. I also love Rustichella 100% corn.

In a small pan, saute 1-2 cloves of garlic and the anchovy or anchovy paste. Mash together over low-medium heat until combined. Reserve this sauce. Use same fry pan to toast breadcrumbs. I’m using Orgran All Purpose Bread Crumbs. Or just toast your favorite gluten free bread and then food process it and continue in the same way: saute 2 tsp olive oil or butter (or combo) and when hot, add bread crumbs. Toast over medium-high heat for 5 minutes. Stirring all the while. Reserve.

Boil pasta. Be sure that the pasta is ready at exactly the same time you are ready to eat. Gluten free pasta gets funky if left to sit. Reserve a little of the pasta water.

When the cauliflower and radicchio is done, combine in 1 pot, add a few chopped kalamata olives if you have them. Add the anchovy and garlic mixture. Mix. Using same fry pan, fry an egg. I like it pretty runny on the inside, and it’ll cook down once mixed with the pasta.

Serve pasta in bowls. Pile cauliflower mixture on top, then egg, then breadcrumbs. Add salt to taste.
Options: you can also add a few chili flakes to cauliflower mixture as I did. Omit the breadcrumbs and add parmesan cheese instead.

Posted in A Little Spicy, Recipes, Salty | 1 Comment

Quinoa, bean, and winter vegetable soup

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Salts Kitchen

I love soup. I could eat it twice a day for weeks on end. Hot, cold, pureed, sauteed, or chunky. My mother always says that I would eat anything if it was in soup form as a child, and it’s still true. Tonight I wanted something comforting. At the first sign of a cold, I make soup (and a strong batch of ginger tea) and I haven’t gotten sick in ages. I’ve been out of town, so don’t have much in the house, wasn’t willing to spend much money, and unfortunately couldn’t wait to get to the farmers’ market. Stopped at my local HEB, spent $20 and have lunch for the week and dinner until I get sick of it.

2 small leeks (cleaned, green tips removed) cut in half and then sliced
2 carrots, roughly chopped
3 stocks of celery, chopped (leaves on)
1 bay leaf
optional: green garlic and/or sweet onion
half of a jalapeno (just for a little flavor, if you want it spicy- add the whole thing in 1 or 2 pieces). Remove before serving.

Sautee first ingredients with 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil until almost soft.

1 small zucchini, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, bruised only

Add the next 2 ingredients with a tbsp of salt and sautee for another couple of minutes

2 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
1 can diced tomatoes (juice and all)

Add liquids and tomatoes and bring temperature to medium-high and bring to a boil.
Add 1.5 cups of quinoa. Bring back to a boil, cover, and turn to low heat for 20 minutes.

6-8 oz of chopped mushrooms
1 can navy beans
1 can garbanzo beans

Add all these ingredients. Cover and cook over low heat for another 10-15 minutes.
Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove hot pepper.

This is one of those soups that I don’t generally serve other people. It’s not glamorous, it’s very simple, and I’m almost embarrassed that I’m adding this as my 2nd blog entry ever, but it tastes so good. It’s so cold out and I am enjoying this bowl!

Posted in Dietary Restrictions, Recipes, Salty | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Polenta and Ragu

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Salts Kitchen

No, ragu is not just a brand of canned tomato sauce. Saturday night I cooked with a few friends. These are friends who enjoy my cooking and I love to cook for them. They look at me and smile when I add random things. They taste test. They say the necessary “yums”. They let me experiment on them and they always taste everything. Tom called me fearless. Chase looked skeptical as the polenta and ragu looked like “sauce on sauce”, but everyone tried it and I think (hopefully) everyone enjoyed it.

I brought home a dried mushroom mixture from Spain and soaked those in hot water for the sauce. Then used the 2 cups of mushroom liquid in the polenta. I didn’t calculate the time correctly with the other dishes, and the polenta was softer than I wanted it to be… but still tasty.

Basic Polenta
3 cups polenta
6-7 cups liquid (3 cups chicken broth, 2 cups mushroom broth, additional water)

Bring liquid to a boil and add polenta slowly, mixing all the while. Keep stirring until it gets to the right consistency. Add more hot liquid if necessary. It’s alright to simmer and cover, or if you have a ways before everything else is done, turn off heat, cover, and let set.
For the sauce I used Fredericksburg beef from the downtown farmers’ market, carrots from I think Simmons family farm, green garlic from Milagro, and the rest I had in the fridge/cupboard:

Tomato Ragu
1 lb ground meat
1 large can diced tomatoes (I ran out of real tomatoes)
2 chopped fresh tomatoes
1 onion- diced
4-6 cloves garlic, chopped (not very finely) and green garlic if you have it
1-2 cups red wine (because it was there)
drained and chopped dried mushrooms

Saute beef. Remove from pan. Saute onion, carrots for 2 minutes, add garlic. Saute until soft. Add ground meat. Add tomatoes (canned and fresh). I cooked this down for a few minutes and decided it needed more liquid and flavor (I’m not a fan of the canned tomato taste, and garlic and red wine go a long way here). Cover and let simmer while everything else is being prepared and you’re busy eating rice crackers with goat cheese and your friends are eating delightful bruschetta.  Add salt and pepper as needed. Ooh- and I threw some fresh oregano in there too. And pecorino grated into the bowls at the end.

simmering on the stove

Here’s the thing. This recipe didn’t change for me in the last 10 years. I did not have to alter a thing to make it dairy* or gluten free. Well, perhaps I would’ve added butter. But olive oil and salt did the trick.

*I am lactose intolerant but can tolerate small doses of goat and sheep cheeses. And sometimes a little yogurt. I still say it’s dairy-free.

Posted in Recipes, Salty | 6 Comments

Finally happening…

Posted on December 29, 2010 by Salts Kitchen

A blog. A journal. I’ve been thinking about this blog for almost 2 years and now that it’s time to start, I’ve lost that train of thought. How does one start? Yikes- the timer for my bread just went off! I guess I’ll start with how this bread experiment goes…

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment