We occasionally get questions through the Contact page on our website and have decided that rather than keep the answers between us and the questioner, we'd share the them with everyone in a new feature we're calling From Our Inbox. (Got a more clever name? We're all ears...) So let's kick this off with... Q: I’m new to the area... just moved to South Philly from the suburbs, and don’t know too many people/restaurants. Can you recommend any restaurants/stores that offer a decent alternative (i.e. gluten free) menu? - New to the Hood A: First of all, welcome to the neighborhood! With a member-owner count that is growing by the day, we can introduce you to a few hundred new people. And we can definitely suggest a start-up Co-op for you to join! To find out the answer to your question we checked in with the Gluten Free Warrior, Genevieve Sharrow MS, CN, and asked her about her favorite gluten free (GF) friendly eating spots in South Philly. Geneveive suggests: B2 has GF bread for sandwiches P.O.P.E. also has GF rolls/bread for burgers and such and their menu is relatively GF Adobe Mexican Cafe is GF friendly Cantina Los Caballitos is also GF friendly Also, several member-owners have said good things about the new bakery called "TOTÉ" on 9th street in the Italian market. If you are interested in learning more about a GF eating or want to meet up with other GF folks, check out the local GF MeetUp Group. Check back regularly for more From Our Inbox featured questions.

It's spring, and there's no denying it. It's been spring pretty much since autumn, but now, for sure, it's spring. It's not just the short sleeves and outdoor dining that tells me, either, it's the new veggies and the flowering trees. So it celebrate this unexpected yet totally happening seasonal shift, I bought pea shoots. Pea shoots are like sprouts, plus greens. Here's a bit more information on them, if you're up for that sort of thing. I didn't go out looking for pea shoots, I actually went looking for flowers to plant. Because, you know, it's spring. We took our first trip out to this year's CSA, Greensgrow (three CSAs in three years!), and they had some veg for sale. They had some of the wintry veg I've become accustomed to in the past few months, but they also had scallions and pea shoots. I should have bought the scallions, they'd have gone great in this recipe, but at least I grabbed the pea shoots. At lunch they were used in a salad and for the next night's dinner, they were the star of this stir fry. Also, yesterday's salad dressing became today's marinade. You know what we call that? It's same dinner different day, because I made one sauce and used it two different ways. Salad dressing is marinade and marinade is salad dressing, it's just that sometimes I don't think of it. I always have some sort of homemade dressing on hand, but rarely do I do anything exciting with it other than top my greens. The dressing in the spotlight today is the Ginger Peanut Salad Dressing that I first wrote about on Saturday's Mouse over the summer. This stuff is good, it's like the dressing of Japanese restaurants but not thick or clumpy like that can get, and with a bit of the richness of peanut butter. I'll include the recipe for that at the end, or you can click the link above for the step-by-step. Since I already had a jar of the dressing in the fridge, my first step was to drain the tofu. Even if you don't have the dressing ready to go in advance, drain your tofu now and make marinade later. When I have fresh (unfrozen) tofu, I dry it out by cutting it into cubes and laying it out like this: cooling rack, towel, tofu, towel, heavy cutting board and then something heavy on top. So the tofu is under this green towel. When I freeze my tofu (and I'm all for freezing tofu), I just press the water out with my hands. Also, sometimes, I bake it at a low temperature to dry it, or dry fry it. Do whatcha need to do. Photos of a very similar layout a year ago, here. Give the tofu a half-hour to drain like this, or drain it however you do it. While that was happening I cut up my veg; you might want to take this time to make the marinade. I had those carrots in the freezer from when we talked about freezing carrots. This is a little bit less than a cup of blanched and defrosted carrots, diced. Also mushrooms. In an ideal world, I'd have shiitakes on hand, or even white mushrooms, but that's not the case and you know, I really don't go out shopping and get all the exact right ingredients for each meal I make. I want to use what's in the fridge. So if you're making this fancy, get the shiitakes, but otherwise, hey, why not add that mushroom in the fridge? So I cut up my portabella into small chunks. It's about a cup of chopped mushroom, whatever mushroom you use. Use more if your dining partner likes mushrooms as much as you do. Chop them smaller if he/she is less tolerant. And I chopped up two garlic cloves and half a red onion. Again, scallions are ideal but we use what we have. At this point I loaded the drained tofu into a take-out container and poured some dressing on top. Maybe three tablespoons? And then I gave it a good shake to coat. I left the tofu for half an hour to drink in the goodness of the dressing while I did other things. After half an hour, I set some water to boil for noodles. Lots of times we have stir fries without rice or noodles, but when we do have a starch with our stir fry, I like to have it ready in advance so it can hop in the pan with the veg and sauce and take on some flavor. So I had some udon noodles boiling. And from there, it happens pretty fast. It's a stir fry, after all. I start with some mild oil - in this case, safflower, but use what you like. More than enough to coat the bottom of the pan, but not so much that your tofu is swimming. Bring the temperature up to a ripple and throw in the tofu. I did drain some of the marinade off the tofu first, and set the drippings aside. I gave the tofu a good head start, about five minutes, moving it and flipping it, until it started to get golden and crispy, like this: Then veg, in order of the time they'd need. Onions first. Then garlic and mushrooms. Then carrots. Pea shoots just need to wilt, they don't need much time at all. I added a bit more of the marinade/dressing/sauce. Maybe a quarter cup or so. Taste and see. And stirred everything around. Then pea shoots. And noodles. Toss that around for a good minute to coat everything and wilt the shoots, and you're all set. Yesterday's salad dressing is today's marinade and it's tangy and garlic-ginger spicy and awesome. *as always with my "vegan" recipes, do swap out the honey for something else that makes you happy. These recipes are cross-posted at Saturday’s Mouse, where I’m working on making food out of food.

Ginger Peanut Stir Fry

Ingredients

• 1 block Firm tofu, cubed and drained
• 3 oz Pea shoots
• 1 cup Carrots, blanched and diced
• 1 cup Mushrooms, chopped
• 1/4 cup Red onion (or scallion)
• 2 cloves Garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoons mild oil (safflower, etc)
• 1/2 cup (to taste) Ginger Peanut Dressing (recipe below)
• 4 smaller servings Udon noodles or rice, cooked

Instructions

• Marinate the drained tofu in 3 tablespoons of dressing for 30 minutes.
• Heat oil to shimmering and drain tofu marinade (reserve for later).
• Quickly fry tofu until just starting to brown around the edges.
• Add veg in order of cooking time (onions, mushrooms & garlic, carrots, pea shoots.
• Stir fry until veg are cooked but still crunchy. Add remaining dressing (to taste) and noodles or rice.
• Serve hot, maybe with some red pepper flake if that's your thing.

Details

• Prep time: 1 hour
• Cook time: 10 mins
• Total time: 1 hour 10 mins
• Yield: 4 servings

Ginger Peanut Salad Dressing

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup white onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons tamari or soy
• 1 teaspoon creamy peanut butter
• 1.5 teaspoons ginger, minced
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1/3 cup rice vinegar
• 1/3 cup mild oil
• 1 tablespoon ketchup
• 2 teaspoons water, as needed

Instructions If using a blender (stick blender or regular) just mix it all together. If not, mince everything finely, add everything but the oil to a bowl and slowly stream in oil, whisking furiously. Sub honey for another sweetener to keep it vegan. Details Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: Total time: 10 mins Yield: about 1 1/4 cups

It's spring, and there's no denying it. It's been spring pretty much since autumn, but now, for sure, it's spring. It's not just the short sleeves and outdoor dining that tells me, either, it's the new veggies and the flowering trees. So it celebrate this unexpected yet totally happening seasonal shift, I bought pea shoots.

Pea shoots are like sprouts, plus greens. Here's a bit more information on them, if you're up for that sort of thing.

I didn't go out looking for pea shoots, I actually went looking for flowers to plant. Because, you know, it's spring. We took our first trip out to this year's CSA, Greensgrow (three CSAs in three years!), and they had some veg for sale. They had some of the wintry veg I've become accustomed to in the past few months, but they also had scallions and pea shoots. I should have bought the scallions, they'd have gone great in this recipe, but at least I grabbed the pea shoots.

At lunch they were used in a salad and for the next night's dinner, they were the star of this stir fry. Also, yesterday's salad dressing became today's marinade. You know what we call that?

It's same dinner different day, because I made one sauce and used it two different ways. Salad dressing is marinade and marinade is salad dressing, it's just that sometimes I don't think of it. I always have some sort of homemade dressing on hand, but rarely do I do anything exciting with it other than top my greens.

The dressing in the spotlight today is the Ginger Peanut Salad Dressing that I first wrote about on Saturday's Mouse over the summer. This stuff is good, it's like the dressing of Japanese restaurants but not thick or clumpy like that can get, and with a bit of the richness of peanut butter. I'll include the recipe for that at the end, or you can click the link above for the step-by-step.

Since I already had a jar of the dressing in the fridge,

my first step was to drain the tofu. Even if you don't have the dressing ready to go in advance, drain your tofu now and make marinade later.

When I have fresh (unfrozen) tofu, I dry it out by cutting it into cubes and laying it out like this: cooling rack, towel, tofu, towel, heavy cutting board and then something heavy on top. So the tofu is under this green towel. When I freeze my tofu (and I'm all for freezing tofu), I just press the water out with my hands. Also, sometimes, I bake it at a low temperature to dry it, or dry fry it. Do whatcha need to do. Photos of a very similar layout a year ago, here.

Give the tofu a half-hour to drain like this, or drain it however you do it. While that was happening I cut up my veg; you might want to take this time to make the marinade.

I had those carrots in the freezer from when we talked about freezing carrots. This is a little bit less than a cup of blanched and defrosted carrots, diced.

Also mushrooms. In an ideal world, I'd have shiitakes on hand, or even white mushrooms, but that's not the case and you know, I really don't go out shopping and get all the exact right ingredients for each meal I make. I want to use what's in the fridge. So if you're making this fancy, get the shiitakes, but otherwise, hey, why not add that mushroom in the fridge?

So I cut up my portabella into small chunks. It's about a cup of chopped mushroom, whatever mushroom you use. Use more if your dining partner likes mushrooms as much as you do. Chop them smaller if he/she is less tolerant.

And I chopped up two garlic cloves and half a red onion. Again, scallions are ideal but we use what we have.

At this point I loaded the drained tofu into a take-out container and poured some dressing on top. Maybe three tablespoons?

And then I gave it a good shake to coat.

I left the tofu for half an hour to drink in the goodness of the dressing while I did other things.

After half an hour, I set some water to boil for noodles. Lots of times we have stir fries without rice or noodles, but when we do have a starch with our stir fry, I like to have it ready in advance so it can hop in the pan with the veg and sauce and take on some flavor. So I had some udon noodles boiling.

And from there, it happens pretty fast. It's a stir fry, after all.

I start with some mild oil - in this case, safflower, but use what you like. More than enough to coat the bottom of the pan, but not so much that your tofu is swimming. Bring the temperature up to a ripple and throw in the tofu. I did drain some of the marinade off the tofu first, and set the drippings aside.

I gave the tofu a good head start, about five minutes, moving it and flipping it, until it started to get golden and crispy, like this:

Then veg, in order of the time they'd need.

Onions first.

Then garlic and mushrooms.

Then carrots.

Pea shoots just need to wilt, they don't need much time at all. I added a bit more of the marinade/dressing/sauce. Maybe a quarter cup or so. Taste and see. And stirred everything around.

Then pea shoots.

And noodles.

Toss that around for a good minute to coat everything and wilt the shoots, and you're all set. Yesterday's salad dressing is today's marinade and it's tangy and garlic-ginger spicy and awesome.

*as always with my "vegan" recipes, do swap out the honey for something else that makes you happy.

These recipes are cross-posted at Saturday’s Mouse, where I’m working on making food out of food.

Ginger Peanut Stir Fry

Ingredients

• • 1 block Firm tofu, cubed and drained

 

• • 3 oz Pea shoots

 

• • 1 cup Carrots, blanched and diced

 

• • 1 cup Mushrooms, chopped

 

• • 1/4 cup Red onion (or scallion)

 

• • 2 cloves Garlic, chopped

 

• • 2 tablespoons mild oil (safflower, etc)

 

• • 1/2 cup (to taste) Ginger Peanut Dressing (recipe below)

 

• • 4 smaller servings Udon noodles or rice, cooked

Instructions

• • Marinate the drained tofu in 3 tablespoons of dressing for 30 minutes.

 

• • Heat oil to shimmering and drain tofu marinade (reserve for later).

 

• • Quickly fry tofu until just starting to brown around the edges.

 

• • Add veg in order of cooking time (onions, mushrooms & garlic, carrots, pea shoots.

 

• • Stir fry until veg are cooked but still crunchy. Add remaining dressing (to taste) and noodles or rice.

 

• • Serve hot, maybe with some red pepper flake if that's your thing.

Details

• • Prep time: 1 hour

 

• • Cook time: 10 mins

 

• • Total time: 1 hour 10 mins

 

• • Yield: 4 servings

Ginger Peanut Salad Dressing

Ingredients

• • 1/3 cup white onion, diced

 

• • 3 cloves garlic, minced

 

• • 3 tablespoons tamari or soy

 

• • 1 teaspoon creamy peanut butter

 

• • 1.5 teaspoons ginger, minced

 

• • 2 teaspoons honey

 

• • 2 teaspoons lemon juice

 

• • 1/3 cup rice vinegar

 

• • 1/3 cup mild oil

 

• • 1 tablespoon ketchup

 

• • 2 teaspoons water, as needed

Instructions

If using a blender (stick blender or regular) just mix it all together. If not, mince everything finely, add everything but the oil to a bowl and slowly stream in oil, whisking furiously. Sub honey for another sweetener to keep it vegan.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time:

Total time: 10 mins

Yield: about 1 1/4 cups

The parsnip is underrated. I don't give it much attention, and then we're in mid-winter and I'm tired of squash and there's not a lot else going on, and then, there it is, the parsnip. It's a stand-in for potatoes. It's perfect roasted. It's fragrant and slightly peppery but still mild and almost creamy.

I really wanted to make parsnip pakoras. That was the plan. I had these parsnips, and I just thought they wanted to be fried up with some coriander and chili powder and cumin and all.

I thought I had it all together. I didn't have chickpea flour, which really is key, but I had chickpeas, and that was a start. I got my mini-chopper out and loaded it with dry chickpeas. And it laughed at me. And coughed a bit.

Plan b. Ok, not pakoras, per se, but fritters. Like a zucchini fritter but with winter veg. And I could still bust out the coriander. This is very similar to the Indian Spiced Vegetable Fritters over on Smitten Kitchen. It's not quite a pakora, but it's delightful next to your curry dish.

I started with two huge parsnips and a tiny one. I gave them a serious scrubbing with a green kitchen scrubber (one that I use only for veg) and passed them to my husband to grate.

We didn't end up using all three, but about two cups of grated parsnip.

And carrots, because they're plentiful right now.

We cut these into matchsticks for some variation in texture. We also minced a serrano chile and sliced up a small red onion.

And then the batter. So, yes, if these were real pakoras, they'd be battered in a blend of chickpea flour and rice flour with water and spices, but without chickpea flour on hand I followed the path of the zucchini fritter and broke out the eggs.

And reminded myself that just because an egg looks different, that doesn't mean it's creepy. I whisked up the eggs in a big bowl.

And added three tablespoons of flour. I used two tbsp rice flour and one all purpose. The rice flour gives pakoras a bit more crispness, which I thought wouldn't hurt here.

The eggs and flour were whisked together and then the spices went in. All the things that make you think this isn't a typical vegetable fritter. I made it easy with a half teaspoon each of cumin, cayenne, coriander, garlic powder and ginger. While I had fresh garlic and ginger on hand, I didn't want to increase the moisture in the dish, so I opted for dried. Also, fresh cilantro, about three tablespoons worth.

Then the veg got heaped on.

And then I dove in with my hands and mixed it all together. From this point on, I was worthless and sticky, but I had a kitchen partner. If you're going it alone, I'd recommend a spoon.

We coated the bottom of a skillet with oil (use safflower, vegetable, something without much flavor that can handle high heat), and brought that up to frying temperature (where a bead of water pops when it hits).

Then with my incredibly sticky hand, I grabbed bundles of the mixture and dropped them in. About a third of a cup to a half cup at a time.

After three minutes or so, we tested them with spatula, and since they were solid and unified, flipped them.

Another three minutes or so and onto a cloth to drain, sprinkled with kosher salt.

We had them with chana masala.

And they were fantastic.

 This recipe is cross-posted at Saturday’s Mouse, where I’m working on making food out of food.

Ingredients

• 2 cups Grated parsnips


• 3/4 cup Carrots cut into matchsticks


• 1 Serrano chile, diced


• 1 Small red onion, sliced


• 3 Eggs


• 2 tablespoons Rice flour


• 1 tablespoon All purpose flour


• 3 tablespoons Cilantro, chopped


• 1/2 teaspoon Cayenne pepper


• 1/2 teaspoon Cumin


• 1/2 teaspoon Coriander


• 1/2 teaspoon Dried ginger


• 1/2 teaspoon Garlic powder


• Oil (high heat) as needed


• Salt to taste

Instructions

• Whisk together eggs, flour, spices and cilantro.


• Mix in vegetables.


• Coat bottom of pan with oil, heat to shimmering.


• Add handfuls (spoonfuls if you want to be neat) of vegetable and batter mixture to frying pan. About a third cup or a bit more per fritter. Don't crowd. Three at a time in my pan.


• Fry for three minutes or so, until solid and crisp on the bottom. Flip and do the other side.


• Remove to cloth to drain and sprinkle with salt. Serve hot.

Details

• Prep time: 20 mins


• Cook time: 20 mins


• Total time: 40 mins


• Yield: 9 fritters

The parsnip is underrated. I don't give it much attention, and then we're in mid-winter and I'm tired of squash and there's not a lot else going on, and then, there it is, the parsnip. It's a stand-in for potatoes. It's perfect roasted. It's fragrant and slightly peppery but still mild and almost creamy. I really wanted to make parsnip pakoras. That was the plan. I had these parsnips, and I just thought they wanted to be fried up with some coriander and chili powder and cumin and all. I thought I had it all together. I didn't have chickpea flour, which really is key, but I had chickpeas, and that was a start. I got my mini-chopper out and loaded it with dry chickpeas. And it laughed at me. And coughed a bit. Plan b. Ok, not pakoras, per se, but fritters. Like a zucchini fritter but with winter veg. And I could still bust out the coriander. This is very similar to the Indian Spiced Vegetable Fritters over on Smitten Kitchen. It's not quite a pakora, but it's delightful next to your curry dish. I started with two huge parsnips and a tiny one. I gave them a serious scrubbing with a green kitchen scrubber (one that I use only for veg) and passed them to my husband to grate. We didn't end up using all three, but about two cups of grated parsnip. And carrots, because they're plentiful right now. We cut these into matchsticks for some variation in texture. We also minced a serrano chile and sliced up a small red onion. And then the batter. So, yes, if these were real pakoras, they'd be battered in a blend of chickpea flour and rice flour with water and spices, but without chickpea flour on hand I followed the path of the zucchini fritter and broke out the eggs. And reminded myself that just because an egg looks different, that doesn't mean it's creepy. I whisked up the eggs in a big bowl.

And added three tablespoons of flour. I used two tbsp rice flour and one all purpose. The rice flour gives pakoras a bit more crispness, which I thought wouldn't hurt here.

The eggs and flour were whisked together and then the spices went in. All the things that make you think this isn't a typical vegetable fritter. I made it easy with a half teaspoon each of cumin, cayenne, coriander, garlic powder and ginger. While I had fresh garlic and ginger on hand, I didn't want to increase the moisture in the dish, so I opted for dried. Also, fresh cilantro, about three tablespoons worth. Then the veg got heaped on. And then I dove in with my hands and mixed it all together. From this point on, I was worthless and sticky, but I had a kitchen partner. If you're going it alone, I'd recommend a spoon. We coated the bottom of a skillet with oil (use safflower, vegetable, something without much flavor that can handle high heat), and brought that up to frying temperature (where a bead of water pops when it hits). Then with my incredibly sticky hand, I grabbed bundles of the mixture and dropped them in. About a third of a cup to a half cup at a time. After three minutes or so, we tested them with spatula, and since they were solid and unified, flipped them. Another three minutes or so and onto a cloth to drain, sprinkled with kosher salt. We had them with chana masala. And they were fantastic.

 This recipe is cross-posted at Saturday’s Mouse, where I’m working on making food out of food. Ingredients

• 2 cups Grated parsnips
• 3/4 cup Carrots cut into matchsticks
• 1 Serrano chile, diced
• 1 Small red onion, sliced
• 3 Eggs
• 2 tablespoons Rice flour
• 1 tablespoon All purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons Cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon Cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon Coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon Dried ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon Garlic powder
• Oil (high heat) as needed
• Salt to taste

Instructions

• Whisk together eggs, flour, spices and cilantro.
• Mix in vegetables.
• Coat bottom of pan with oil, heat to shimmering.
• Add handfuls (spoonfuls if you want to be neat) of vegetable and batter mixture to frying pan. About a third cup or a bit more per fritter. Don't crowd. Three at a time in my pan.
• Fry for three minutes or so, until solid and crisp on the bottom. Flip and do the other side.
• Remove to cloth to drain and sprinkle with salt. Serve hot.

Details

• Prep time: 20 mins
• Cook time: 20 mins
• Total time: 40 mins
• Yield: 9 fritters

  It's weird how little I talk about couscous. Couscous means quick, easy, vegetarian dinner here. So we were having one of those nights where you sit on the couch and go back and forth with, "I don't know, what do you want to eat?" And I listed off ingredients we had handy and Sous Chef Brian was like, "Couscous! With artichokes! And spinach!" All irritatingly enthusiastic, and I was like, "Ok, with sundried tomatoes?" And he was like, "Yeah!" All irritatingly enthusiastic. And ten minutes later, we had dinner. Couscous is what we do around here when we're dangerously close to saying, "There's nothing to eat." Are there veg in the freezer? Is there couscous? There's dinner.

Couscous is not some mysterious grain, like quinoa, though we tend to use the two interchangably around here. Couscous is just pasta. Tiny pasta. I like to imagine someone taking a handful of spaghetti and chopping it into tiny bits, but that probably has nothing to do with how couscous is made. There is just one trick to couscous, and it's super important. Don't cook it in water. That's boring. Sure, it's pasta, and you cook your fettuccine in water, but you also put sauce on your fettuccine. Other than that, do what you want, it's couscous. Use the veg you have, and the herbs you have, and go to town. Get your liquid boiling, add your couscous, turn off the heat, move the laundry from the washer to the drying rack and eat dinner. Easy. We had just made vegetable stock, so I had that handy. Veg stock is awesome for couscous.

To make six servings of couscous and veg, for dinner tonight and lunches throughout the week, start with two cups of stock.

Gather your veg. I started with frozen artichoke hearts, chopped up. And mystery greens. This is frozen arugula, but I had intended to find spinach or chard. The freezer is getting a little sad, and the summer's goodness is pretty much gone.

And I had soaked some dried tomatoes in hot water to plump them. They actually weren't "sundried" tomatoes, they were just "dried tomatoes" from Margerum's. They weren't quite raisin-dry, they were more moist to start with and it seemed like they had more flavor in the end. I soaked them in about a half cup of near-boiling water while I got the rest of the food together, so maybe 5 minutes. I chopped those up and added them to the stock and veg, with their soaking water, which was full of tomatoey goodness.

I added some oil and garlic and basil.

And brought it all to a boil.

Added the couscous, covered the pot and turned it off.

After about 5 minutes, I stirred it a bit and added black pepper

and Parmesan. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="There's no light above my stove, so staring into a pot is just going to be dark."][/caption] 10 minutes later it's tangy with the tomatoes and the parm, and creamy, especially with the artichokes. But you can use whatever veg are crowding your fridge and freezer. This recipe is cross-posted at Saturday’s Mouse, where I’m working on making food out of food. Ingredients

• 1.5 cups Couscous
• 2 cups Vegetable stock
• 1/2 cup Very hot water
• 1/4 cup Sundried Tomatoes
• 1.5 cups Frozen (or other non-marinated) artichoke hearts
• 1 cup Blanched or frozen greens (spinach, chard, arugula)
• 1 tablespoon Olive oil
• 1 tablespoon Minced garlic
• 4 teaspoons Minced basil
• 1/4 cup Grated parmesan
• 1 teaspoon Black pepper

Instructions

• Soak dried tomatoes in very hot water. Set aside.
• Defrost and chop vegetables.
• Add stock (mine is unsalted), oil, artichokes and greens to a large pot. Add dried tomatoes and soaking liquid. Heat to a boil.
• Add couscous, garlic and basil. Stir. Turn off heat. Cover. Let sit 5 minutes.
• Add cheese and black pepper. Stir.
• Serve warm or cold.

Details

• Prep time: 3 mins
• Cook time: 10 mins
• Total time: 10 mins
• Yield: 6 servings

 

It's weird how little I talk about couscous. Couscous means quick, easy, vegetarian dinner here. So we were having one of those nights where you sit on the couch and go back and forth with, "I don't know, what do you want to eat?" And I listed off ingredients we had handy and Sous Chef Brian was like, "Couscous! With artichokes! And spinach!" All irritatingly enthusiastic, and I was like, "Ok, with sundried tomatoes?" And he was like, "Yeah!" All irritatingly enthusiastic. And ten minutes later, we had dinner. Couscous is what we do around here when we're dangerously close to saying, "There's nothing to eat." Are there veg in the freezer? Is there couscous? There's dinner.

Couscous is not some mysterious grain, like quinoa, though we tend to use the two interchangably around here. Couscous is just pasta. Tiny pasta. I like to imagine someone taking a handful of spaghetti and chopping it into tiny bits, but that probably has nothing to do with how couscous is made.

There is just one trick to couscous, and it's super important. Don't cook it in water. That's boring. Sure, it's pasta, and you cook your fettuccine in water, but you also put sauce on your fettuccine.

Other than that, do what you want, it's couscous. Use the veg you have, and the herbs you have, and go to town. Get your liquid boiling, add your couscous, turn off the heat, move the laundry from the washer to the drying rack and eat dinner. Easy.

We had just made vegetable stock, so I had that handy. Veg stock is awesome for couscous.

To make six servings of couscous and veg, for dinner tonight and lunches throughout the week, start with two cups of stock.

Gather your veg.

I started with frozen artichoke hearts, chopped up.

And mystery greens. This is frozen arugula, but I had intended to find spinach or chard. The freezer is getting a little sad, and the summer's goodness is pretty much gone.

And I had soaked some dried tomatoes in hot water to plump them. They actually weren't "sundried" tomatoes, they were just "dried tomatoes" from Margerum's. They weren't quite raisin-dry, they were more moist to start with and it seemed like they had more flavor in the end. I soaked them in about a half cup of near-boiling water while I got the rest of the food together, so maybe 5 minutes. I chopped those up and added them to the stock and veg, with their soaking water, which was full of tomatoey goodness.

I added some oil and garlic and basil.

And brought it all to a boil.

Added the couscous, covered the pot and turned it off.

After about 5 minutes, I stirred it a bit and added black pepper

and Parmesan.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="There's no light above my stove, so staring into a pot is just going to be dark."]

[/caption]

10 minutes later it's tangy with the tomatoes and the parm, and creamy, especially with the artichokes. But you can use whatever veg are crowding your fridge and freezer.

This recipe is cross-posted at Saturday’s Mouse, where I’m working on making food out of food.


Ingredients

• 1.5 cups Couscous


• 2 cups Vegetable stock


• 1/2 cup Very hot water


• 1/4 cup Sundried Tomatoes


• 1.5 cups Frozen (or other non-marinated) artichoke hearts


• 1 cup Blanched or frozen greens (spinach, chard, arugula)


• 1 tablespoon Olive oil


• 1 tablespoon Minced garlic


• 4 teaspoons Minced basil


• 1/4 cup Grated parmesan


• 1 teaspoon Black pepper

Instructions

• Soak dried tomatoes in very hot water. Set aside.


• Defrost and chop vegetables.


• Add stock (mine is unsalted), oil, artichokes and greens to a large pot. Add dried tomatoes and soaking liquid. Heat to a boil.


• Add couscous, garlic and basil. Stir. Turn off heat. Cover. Let sit 5 minutes.


• Add cheese and black pepper. Stir.


• Serve warm or cold.

Details

• Prep time: 3 mins


• Cook time: 10 mins


• Total time: 10 mins


• Yield: 6 servings

I played with a lot of different names for this, but the reality is, it's honey mustard dressing. It's not thick, creamy, guilt-laden dressing though. It's light and made of food, and it's tangy and sweet and zesty and everything you need to brighten up a lazy salad (mine is just lettuce and onion). It's fat-free, if that's your game. Phrases like "Light honey mustard salad dressing," and "Fat-free honey mustard salad dressing" sound like they refer to a dressing with something missing. This one isn't missing anything. This is the go-to dressing at Saturday's Mouse HQ. I make a few others, but they're more complicated than three ingredients in a jar. Two minutes from plain lettuce to salad. So get yourself a jar. Make sure the lid fits tightly. And open up the cupboards. Red wine vinegar, honey and your favorite mustard. You can use the mustard that makes you happy here, if you're into spicy mustard, do that, yellow, sure, deli, that's fine, whatever you like. I always use brown mustards and I like it best with very grainy mustard. It's three parts mustard, three parts honey,

and two parts red wine vinegar. That's it. Give it a shake. This is where you appreciate a well-sealed jar.

And top your salad. Keeps in the fridge for at least a week like this, I haven't tried for longer. This recipe is cross-posted at Saturday’s Mouse, where I’m working on making food out of food.  Ingredients

• 1.5 tablespoons mustard
• 1.5 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Instructions Start with a mustard you enjoy. I like this best with something grainy. Put a tablespoon and a half in a jar.  Add as much honey.  Add a bit less vinegar.  Shake.  Eat. Details

• Prep time: 2 mins
• Yield: 3 servings

I played with a lot of different names for this, but the reality is, it's honey mustard dressing. It's not thick, creamy, guilt-laden dressing though. It's light and made of food, and it's tangy and sweet and zesty and everything you need to brighten up a lazy salad (mine is just lettuce and onion). It's fat-free, if that's your game. Phrases like "Light honey mustard salad dressing," and "Fat-free honey mustard salad dressing" sound like they refer to a dressing with something missing. This one isn't missing anything.

This is the go-to dressing at Saturday's Mouse HQ. I make a few others, but they're more complicated than three ingredients in a jar. Two minutes from plain lettuce to salad.

So get yourself a jar. Make sure the lid fits tightly.

And open up the cupboards. Red wine vinegar, honey and your favorite mustard. You can use the mustard that makes you happy here, if you're into spicy mustard, do that, yellow, sure, deli, that's fine, whatever you like. I always use brown mustards and I like it best with very grainy mustard.

It's three parts mustard,

three parts honey,

and two parts red wine vinegar.

That's it. Give it a shake. This is where you appreciate a well-sealed jar.

And top your salad.

Keeps in the fridge for at least a week like this, I haven't tried for longer.

This recipe is cross-posted at Saturday’s Mouse, where I’m working on making food out of food. 

Ingredients

• 1.5 tablespoons mustard


• 1.5 tablespoons honey


• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Instructions

Start with a mustard you enjoy. I like this best with something grainy. Put a tablespoon and a half in a jar.  Add as much honey.  Add a bit less vinegar.  Shake.  Eat.

Details

• Prep time: 2 mins


• Yield: 3 servings

I've been lax about making bread. November - January is so busy anyway, I haven't been making the time. I very intentionally don't order bread through my buying club, because I'm planning on making it myself, and then I don't and everything is on a tortilla. Just the other day I went to the supermarket for fruit and a couple of staples and I was drawn in by the bread and bought some sandwich rolls, since I knew I wasn't going to make them this week. Well, it's a new year. Let's make some bread. Not just bread, either, let's make some sweet and warm and cinnamony bread. This recipe makes three loaves, which I think is perfect because you get one to freeze, one to give away and one for right now. If you don't have three loaf pans, do cut down the recipe. First, scald some milk. Lots of folks out there will tell you that if you're using pasteurized milk, there is no need to scald it, but other folks tell you to go ahead and scald if you're making bread. Scalding is about bringing it up to just shy of boiling, stirring all the while, and then quickly turning it off. I used skim, but you will experience a different level of luxury if you use whole. Set the milk aside to cool. Get it down under 125 degrees before using it. What I like to do, for efficiency, is wait until it's down to lukewarm, and toss in the butter. We're going to need 4oz of softened butter anyway, why not soften it right here in the milk and that'll help cool the milk too. Get some yeast foaming in a cup of warm water and a sprinkle of sugar. Once frothy, add a cup of sugar. And three eggs. And a teaspoon of salt. Then slowly stream in your warm milk and butter, while mixing. And then quite a bit of unphotographed flour. 8 cups - a mix of white and whole wheat. If you use all white, it'll be softer, more whole wheat, it'll be drier. Also, while we're doing the ingredient thing, this is a good time to set aside some butter to soften. You'll need it for greasing the bowl the dough rises in and for greasing the loaf pans, and for brushing with butter near the end. Mix it together either by hand, or until your machine gives up on you and presents you with dough creeping way up and over the dough hook. At this point you can give up and revert to doing it by hand. Knead until smooth. Then roll into a ball and set to rise in a *buttered* bowl. Leave it to rise, covered, until doubled in size. I either put dough in my basement near my boiler, or I tuck it away inside my china cabinet. Meanwhile, make the cinnamon sugar mix to go inside the bread. That's cinnamon, white sugar, brown sugar, nutmeg and yes, cayenne. A pinch of cayenne doesn't make things hot, it makes things better. See? You can't even tell there's cayenne once it's mixed together. Once the dough has doubled (somewhere between 1 and 2 hours), take it out of its hiding place. And divide it into thirds. You're making three loaves. Roll a third of the dough out to about a half-inch on a floured cutting board. You're aiming for a rectangle, but no one is looking. Dampen the dough with a little water - like a teaspoon, and spread that around. Then spread a third of the sugar-cinnamon mixture on top. Roll the dough tightly from edge to edge. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Enlist the help of a spouse or a friend for the dirty work."][/caption] This roll actually isn't so tight. Looser rolls mean gaps in the bread where the cinnamon swirls fall. If the roll is too long now, give it a solid smush and then roll a bit more to re-shape. Do that with each third of the dough and cinnamon-sugar mixture. Drop each into a *buttered* loaf pan and set aside to rise again. You want them to rise until they're fluffy up above the pan. Probably less than an hour. Once they've risen, bake at 350 for about 45-50 minutes, but come back and visit at 30. At the 30 minute mark, take the loaves out and brush with butter, then rotate them and put them back in. They're done when they're golden brown, sound hollow when you thump them, and their interior temperature reaches 200 degrees. Let them cool 5-10 minutes until you're comfortable touching the loaves (not the pans, the pans are still hot) and dump them out of the pans and on to baking sheets. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="310" caption="Don't stack them to cool."][/caption] Give them 20 minutes or so longer to cool and then slice away. We're all ready for a toaster and some butter. This recipe is cross-posted at Saturday’s Mouse, where I’m working on making food out of food.  Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups skim milk (scalded)
• 3 eggs
• 1 and 1/4 cups, plus a tablespoon, sugar, divided
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 2 packets or 4.5 teaspoons yeast
• 1 cup plus three teaspoons warm water, divided
• 1/2 cup (4oz) plus 2 tablespoons, butter, divided
• 3 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• a pinch of cayenne
• 1 tablespoon nutmeg
• 8 cups flour - mixed whole wheat and white

Instructions

• Scald the milk and set aside to cool. Mix a tablespoon of sugar in with the warm water and add the yeast. Let sit until frothy.
• When milk is lukewarm, add 1/2 cup butter.
• Add 1/2 cup white sugar, salt and eggs to frothy yeast mixture and mix together. Slowly add in milk and butter, stirring or mixing.
• Gradually add 8 cups of flour (I prefer 6 white and 2 whole wheat), stirring until well mixed.
• Drop dough onto a floured board and knead until smooth. Roll into a ball.
• Grease a large bowl with butter and turn the dough in that bowl to cover all sides. Set aside to rise until doubled (1-2 hours).
• Mix remaining sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, cayenne and nutmeg in a small bowl.
• When dough has risen, divide into thirds. Roll each third out into a rectangle as wide as your loaf pan is long.
• Dampen dough with water and top with 1/3 of cinnamon-sugar mixture.
• Roll tightly and lay seam-side down in a buttered loaf pan. Repeat for all three loaves.
• Set aside to rise until fluffy over the top of the loaf pans.
• Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes, brushing with butter and rotating midway.
• Bread is done when internal temperature reaches 200 degrees and bread makes a hollow sound when thumped.
• Cool for 5-10 minutes, then remove from pans to continue cooling.

Details

• Prep time: 30 mins
• Cook time: 50 mins
• Total time: 4 hour 20 mins
• Yield: 3 loaves