Whole wheat molasses raisin bran muffins

Credit where credit is due: this recipe is variously modified and stolen from internet sites and Google searches.

I wanted to make raisin bran muffins, and the whole wheat and molasses give a nice texture and flavour (not to mention whole wheat flour being healthier). This recipe makes about two dozen muffins, depending on how large you make them. I ended up with 21 muffins that were slightly on the large side. I haven't tried freezing them, so I don't know how long they can last, but they tend to disappear fairly quickly...

Missing from photo: eggs, butter.

INGREDIENTS
Dry:
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups wheat bran
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda

Wet:
2-3 bananas, mashed
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup molasses
2 eggs
2 cups raisins



Oven: 350 F
Dishes: two mixing bowls; two muffin pans; 1 cup  / 1 tbsp / 1 tsp; 2 cup (liquid); 2 spoons, whisk
Time: prep 15-20, cleanup 5, baking 20-25
TL;DR: Cover raisins in boiling water for 5 minutes, then drain. Combine dry, combine wet, mix together. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

First, cover the raisins in boiling water and set them aside: this will soften them and keep them moist during the baking process.

Pour just enough to cover the raisins.	A few minutes later: the raisins soften around the edges.

Combine the flour, wheat bran, and baking soda in a very large mixing bowl.  In a separate bowl, combine the bananas, butter, molasses and eggs. I sliced the bananas, but I'm not sure that actually made them easier to mash. I ended up using a combination of stirring and whisking to get everything mixed.

For the dry ingredients, stir so that the baking soda is well-distributed. For the wet ingredients, mix/mash until there are no large lumps. The mixture doesn't have to be homogeneous, but it shouldn't have large pieces or butter or banana.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients; drain the water off the raisins and pour them and the wet ingredients in. Stir until everything is mixed. If you want softer, more crumbly muffins, don't overmix - I just folded in the wet ingredients until the dough had formed.

[Note: I started preheating the oven to 350 F at this point, since I was being slow.]

Transfer the dough to the muffin pans. Bake them for 20-25 minutes or until done. Depending on the oven, you might want to rotate the pans after 15-17 minutes if the heat is uneven.

Before...

... and after!

Let the muffins sit for a minute or two, then carefully remove them from the pan. (Most of these muffins' structural integrity comes from their crust). Depending on how much they spill over the edge of the tin, this can be easy or hard - I used a plastic spoon to loosen the edges before scooping the muffins out.

Muffins, fresh out of the oven.	Removing the muffins with a plastic spoon.

They're tasty on their own (a cup each of butter and molasses will do that), but having them with butter or jam or, in my case, a cup of coffee never hurts. Serve hot!

Breakfast!

Multi-Mushroom Quinoa Soup

The other day I decided I wanted to make a pretty soup. Taking aesthetic inspiration from a soup Rohini made several months ago, and more direct inspiration Smitten Kitchen's Mushroom and Farro Soup, I ended up with the following. It was medium-pretty, and more-than-medium-tasty.

Multi-Mushroom Soup (serves 6)


In a largish bowl, put about 1.5C various dried mushrooms. I used black mushrooms and two different kinds of shiitake mushrooms. If only I'd had porcini! (Or, if I were a rich person instead of a grad student, morel.) Pour in boiling water so that the mushrooms are submerged.

While the mushrooms are soaking, saute a sliced carrot and a sliced onion in vegetable oil in a large pot over medium heat, until the onions are nice and soft and starting to color. Add two cloves of garlic, minced, and cook another minute. Add in 1/2C quinoa and toast for a minute or two. Add in 2-3C broth (I used vegetable because I had a vegetarian over), 3C water, 3Tbsp mirin, 1Tbsp tomato paste, and 1/3C white wine. Drain the mushroom water into the pot and chop the mushrooms fairly finely, removing any tough stems. Season with salt and pepper, and simmer until the quinoa is done. Finally, dump in 4-5 green onions, finely chopped, and serve.

Quinoa salad dressed with lemon, mint and tahini

Tasty and refreshing, also quite filling. Went well with the pizza Rob made.

Boil two cups water, add one cup quinoa. Cover and simmer for 12-ish minutes; as long as it takes for the quinoa to absorb all the water and look fluffy. Set aside and let cool.

Cut into very small dice:
one tomato
one red pepper.

Cut in strips:
a handful of mint
five-ish leaves of romaine lettuce.

Make a dressing with:
2-3 Tbsp tahini
2-3 Tbsp lemon juice
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
the zest from one lemon
one clove of garlic, crushed
1/2 Tsp salt.

Add the dressing to the (cooled) quinoa a little bit at a time, tossing and tasting as you do so. Toss in the tomato, red pepper and mint. Taste and adjust the seasoning if you want. Maybe add some freshly-ground black pepper. Place in attractive bowl, top with romaine, serve and eat.

  

Vegetarian Vichysoisse

Yesterday was very warm, so I decided to make a light cold soup to go with Rohini's broccoli and asparagus curry. We had two vegetarians over for dinner, so I looked through The New Moosewood Cookbook and found a recipe for vichyssoise. I didn't really know what vichyssoise is (in fact, I think I had it mixed up with bouillabaisse); it's basically glorified potato-leek soup, puréed and served cold, with onions instead of leeks. (You could probably use leeks or your favorite onion substitute, though I like the pearly color that comes from using white onions.)

Vichyssoise (serves at least 6)


Chop (smaller pieces help them cook faster):
2 large onions
4 medium potatoes


In a large pot, melt 2 Tbsp butter. Add in the onions and 1.5 tsp salt. Sauté until they start to brown, maybe 15 minutes.

Add the potatoes and 4 cups water (or some sort of broth). Bring to a boil and simmer until the potatoes are soft.

Purée in a blender and transfer to a large bowl. Stir in 2 cups milk. (I wanted it to be very light, so I used skim, and I really liked the way it came out. But I'm a skim milk person, so if you're not, use something with more fat. You can also add heavy cream if you like.) Also stir in some pepper. (Moosewood recommends white pepper, but I didn't have any.)

Now it's time to chill the soup in the refrigerator until it's quite cold. Put in a bunch of ice cubes if you want to eat anytime soon. It helps to take the soup out and stir it every so often, since otherwise the part away from the surface likes to stay hot. Serve sprinkled with some minced chives if you have them.

Curry, pasta sauce, and a new cast-iron frying pan

This frying pan is my new favourite person. Such a joy to use. I used it last night to make a curry with broccoli and asparagus in coconut milk and tonight to make an onion and methi pasta sauce. Both dishes were greatly enhanced by onions that caramelised so well and so easily in our lovely lovely pan.

I made up both these recipes as I went along, trying harder to use up vegetables in the fridge than to achieve culinary perfection. The results were tasty enough that the recipes are worth recording, but I don't think either of these is a local maximum. So tweak away!

Broccoli and asparagus coconut curry

Slice finely:

one large onion.

 

Heat in a brand-new cast-iron frying pan:

ghee and/or vegetable oil.

Add:

a stick of cinnamon

whole peppercorns

cumin seeds

and when the spices have popped and browned but not burnt add the sliced onions. Cook over medium heat until the onions are a beautiful golden colour. Now add chopped:

broccoli

asparagus

and stir-fry till tender. 

Salt.

Add a just a little

coconut milk.

Add water if you want to thin the gravy out a bit. This dish should be more vegetables than gravy, and the gravy should not be too coconut-y heavy. Season with:

garam masala

and add an unreasonably large bunch of:

chopped mint.

Serve with rice.

Rigatoni with caramelised onions and methi leaves

Heat 

olive oil

and add

fennel seeds.

Once the fennel seeds have browned a little, add

finely sliced onions

and cook till deeply golden. Deglaze (yay!) with white wine or water. Season with:

salt

sugar  

black pepper

paprika.

Add:

a splash of whole milk

cooked pasta (I used rigatoni)

and cook until the pasta has absorbed most of the liquid in the pan. Serve with a sprinkling of:

parmesan cheese.

 

 

Pasta with mushrooms and asparagus

Dinner last night was rigatoni and asparagus in a mushroom-brandy sauce, and roasted vegetables dressed with mustard and lemon.

Mustard is my new favourite flavour.

For dessert, we ate strawberries with sweetened vanilla-fied whipped cream.



Pasta with mushrooms and asparagus

The Moosewood cookbook has a recipe for a pasta sauce with mushrooms and asparagus. The sauce I ended up making is not really adapted from this recipe. I knew I wanted asparagus, mushrooms and booze. I couldn't decide whether I wanted to flavour the mushrooms with nutmeg or with thyme, so I did google searches for 'mushrooms and nutmeg' and 'mushrooms and thyme' to see which brought up the more confidence-inspiring recipes. Turns out that nutmeg and magic mushrooms are a good combination for getting very very high. Finally, in fit of wild excess, I used both nutmeg and thyme.

Ingredients

Pasta - about 3/4 pound, dried
I used rigatoni. I think any short pasta like fusilli or penne would work well, but spaghetti would not.

Asparagus - about 1/3 of the dry volume of the pasta you use, cut into pieces the size of pasta pieces

Mushrooms - any good combination, chopped small
I used three large fresh portabella caps and a tiny amount of dried porcini I was lucky enough to find stashed away in the pantry. That small amount of porcini went such a long way in adding flavour.

Onion - one large, sliced finely

Garlic - four large cloves, crushed

Butter/ olive oil in which to fry the mushrooms
I used a mixture of the two. Maybe two or three tablespoonsful of fat altogether.

Brandy - splashes
I think one could substitute wine or whiskey, but I'm not sure.

Whole milk - splashes

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Nutmeg/ Thyme
I used about an eighth of a teaspoon of nutmeg, and even less thyme. The thyme flavour was clearly detectable, the nutmeg flavour not. I think the nutmeg did contribute positively, and I plan to add a little more next time.

Parmesan cheese - grated


If you are using dried mushrooms, soak them in warm water for 30 minutes. Drain and reserve the water.

Fry the onion over medium heat in the butter/ olive oil mixture. In about ten minutes, the onion will turn a very pale yellow. If you have the patience (I didn't) wait a little longer for the colour - and flavour - to deepen. Add the garlic and fry another minute. Add the mushrooms and fry several more minutes (you could raise the heat at this point) till the mushrooms lose some moisture and shrink a bit. Add the thyme and nutmeg, stir to mix. Now add the booze and scrape the pan well to dislodge the stuck bits (isn't deglazing the funnest?). When most of the liquid has evaporated, add the water that you soaked the mushrooms in (if you did soak the mushrooms, that is) and once that too is mostly gone, lower the heat and add the milk slowly. Season with salt and pepper then simmer till it looks cooked (between five and ten minutes).

Boil the pasta in heavily salted water. When it is two minutes away from being done, add the asparagus. Boil further till both asparagus and pasta are cooked just right, then drain and immediately plop into the mushroom sauce. Toss over heat for half a minute. Add a splash of olive oil if you need to loosen things up. Remove from heat.

Serve topped with parmesan cheese



Vegetables, roasted and dressed

Ingredients

Red pepper - one, sliced

Brussels sprouts - sixteen
Prepare the brussels sprouts by chopping off the bottom, then removing the outer couple of leaves.

Baby spinach

Dijon mustard

Olive oil

One lemon - zested and juiced

Salt

Sugar

Freshly ground black pepper


Coat the pepper and brussels sprouts lightly with olive oil then roast them in an oven on a foil-lined baking tray till the peppers are very soft and slightly charred, and the brussels sprouts are somewhat soft and quite browned. I began with the oven at 350 Fahrenheit, then turned it up half an hour later to 380, and gave it another fifteen minutes. I'm still not sure what temperature would work best.

Once the vegetable are roasted, wilt the spinach. I did this in the microwave - ten seconds at a time for a minute altogether (stir in between).

Toss the wilted spinach with the roasted vegetables. I added the dressing bit-by-bit, tasting after each addition, so I don't know how much I used. I mixed about a tablespoon of mustard with the zest of one lemon and the juice of half of it, but did not use all of this mixture. I added about half a tablespoon of olive oil, and a teaspoon of sugar. I don't know how much salt or pepper I used.

Very Green Curry

Very Green Curry

Last night I made some (almost vegetarian) curried noodles. By chance I ended up having a lot of green vegetables in the refrigerator, so I tried using green curry paste, which I don't have a whole lot of experience. It was quite good, except there wasn't quite enough liquid for the ridiculous amount of vegetables I put in. Leftovers today!

Recipe (Probably serves around 5-6 people):
Rice noodles (medium width, like you would use for pad thai)


In a big bowl, soak a bunch of these (I use half to three quarters of a 14oz. package, and have plenty) in hot water in a bowl. To get to the right consistency should take 10 minutes or so. They should be just a bit firmer than the way you actually want to eat them - they'll cook a tiny bit more later. Drain them when they're done. While they're soaking, move on to:

Dried shiitake mushrooms (a few per person)

3 cups or so quite warm water

Put these in a bowl so that the mushrooms are more or less submerged. Let them sit while you do other things. Every once in a while, check that the entire mushroom is getting wet. (If you want, use fresh mushrooms and add in some vegetable broth where you'll add in the water later on.) They should start to smell amazing! We'll use the water as the base of the curry.

1 can coconut milk

3-4 Tbsp. green curry paste
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or pressed
1 Tbsp. dried basil

On medium-low heat, heat the coconut milk in a dutch oven or large saucepan until it's bubbling a bit. Add in the curry paste and mash it around until it's all mixed into the coconut milk. Add in the onion, garlic, and basil, and cook another 5 minutes.

1 Tbsp. fish sauce if and only if there are no vegetarians eating (other you can put in some soy sauce)
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 diced carrot (Preferably find a green substitute for this, to go along with the theme of the recipe.)
12-ish small Brussels sprouts, with the base and outer leaves removed
3/4 cup green beans, chopped into 2-inch pieces
3/4 cup zucchini, chopped into nice little bite-size pieces
Lime juice to taste (Don't be shy with the lime juice)

Remove the stems of the soaked mushrooms (they're really chewy otherwise; I neglected to do this last night). Add in the mushrooms and the water they were soaking in, with the brown sugar and the fish sauce. Heat to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes or so, then add the Brussels sprouts. Simmer another couple minutes, add the green beans, simmer another couple minutes, add the zucchini, and simmer for 5 minutes. Add in the lime juice and turn off the heat.

To serve: Put some rice noodles in the bottom of a soup bowl, and ladle the curry into the bowl, submerging the rice noodles. This will soften the noodles the rest of the way. Eat!

I forgot to take photographs of dinner tonight

We ate mustard-roasted chicken, green beans and asparagus, guacamole and white bread.

I coated the chicken with a mixture of
Dijon mustard,
olive oil,
honey,
dried sage,
crushed bay leaves,
paprika,
black pepper and
kosher salt,
and roasted it at 425 Fahrenheit.

I boiled the green beans and asparagus.

To make the guacamole, I mashed a couple of avocados with three cloves of crushed garlic, a little salt, and the juice from half a lime.

The bread was from Zingerman's.