It's a fine January Day, and the last January Wednesday we have to enjoy. So let's get busy. We've got a repeat request for the Naked Cake from an anonymous reader. She has also ended up with "a gigantic plastic bag of kale and I cannot get my husband to eat it because it's so tough. What can I do with that kale to make it appetizing?"
Lynn Carroll commented that a neighbor, Uma Potdar, has become her "guru cooking mentor." So today's big question: Who is your cooking mentor, and what did that mentor teach you? I encourage you to send recipes but also to describe that all-important spirit of your mentor's influence on your life.
In Carroll's case, one thing that Potdar has taught her is "in flavoring and adding nutrition to curries and sauces." In the following recipe, you will note a great deal of room for variation and creativity, as you must choose the amounts of all ingredients according to your own taste. The original discussion began with Starwood's bottled curry sauces and Carroll says this doctored sauce is great over a variety of foods.
To reach us
Fare Exchange is a longtime meeting place for people who love to cook and love to eat. We welcome both your recipes and your requests. Be sure to include precise instructions for every recipe you send. Mailing address: Jane Henegar, 913 Mount Olive Road, Lookout Mountain, GA 30750 E-mail: chattfare@gmail.com
Doctoring Up Store-Bought Indian Sauces
Small amount of oil or ghee (clarified butter, available at Whole Foods and other specialty stores)
Whole cumin seeds
Coarse-cracked pepper
A few curry leaves, fresh or frozen or dried, optional
Any other spice you like
Added protein, cooked to soften (Choose 3 or 4 from the following: mall amount of cashew halves or peanuts, cooked quinoa or canned drained chickpeas, frozen edamame, dried green split peas, small red lentils)
Added vegetables (Choose 3 that complement each other from the following: minced onion, celery, garlic or cauliflower; slices of bell pepper; poblano chilies, Asian eggplant, green beans, shredded kale)
Shredded coconut
A little fresh lemon juice
Threads of saffron, optional finishing touch
In a large pan over medium heat, add a small amount of oil or ghee and stir in cumin seeds, pepper and any other desired spice. Add 3 or 4 proteins from the list and cook, stirring, a few minutes until softened.
Add to oil 3 or more from the list of vegetables and saut until soft. To sweeten, add shredded coconut. To neutralize a salty taste, add a little fresh lemon juice.
If you want a spicy option, add a few curry leaves. You may use fresh if you have curry trees growing in your house, but frozen or dried leaves may be found at the Indo Market on Lee Highway.
The big clincher is don't rush and try to brown the mixture over high heat. Take a few minutes to stir while you savor the aroma. When ready, add bought sauce and heat to desired temperature. A final option is to add saffron threads at the end of cooking.
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Mrs. Odell Waddell prepared a most successful hummus dip for the Waddells' annual Christmas party, and graciously shared it with us in answer to the request.
Warm Hummus Dip
6 (10-ounce) containers of plain prepared hummus (you may use anywhere from 2 to 7 containers, according to preference.)
1 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
2/3 cup chopped Kalamata olives
2/3 cup chopped fresh tomato
1 tablespoon olive oil
This recipe may be easily varied, so use more or less of the cheese, olives and tomatoes if desired.
Spread hummus evenly into an 8-by-8-inch square baking dish. Sprinkle with feta cheese, being sure to evenly cover the surface.
In a separate bowl, gently toss the tomatoes and olives together until blended well. Layer the olive and tomato mixture on top of the feta cheese. Drizzle with tablespoon of olive oil.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Serve with pita chips or other chips.
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Marilyn Murphy sent one recipe. Gladly, that one recipe led to another. So today we share two from her collection, a cookie and a casserole. Look closely at that cookie; this is no confection, but a baked good designed to do you some real good. And of course its name tips you off. She says you may make a batch, freeze them and thaw as needed.
Antioxidant Cookies
1 1/2 cups cooked sweet potato (can substitute 1 can sweet potato or pumpkin)
1 1/2 cups ripe banana
6 eggs
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups almond meal
1 1/4 cups steel-cut oats
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
1/4 cup chia seeds
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup slivered raw almonds
3/4 cup raw sliced almonds (can substitute 1 1/2 cups walnuts for both types of almonds, see below)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla (can substitute almond extract, see below)
Blueberries to taste
Bake well-scrubbed organic sweet potatoes, cool, then cut into cubes so you can also use the skin also.
Mix sweet potato or pumpkin, bananas, eggs and olive oil until well blended, then add almond meal, steel-cut oats, flax seeds, chia seeds, baking powder, nuts and extract.
If using pumpkin and walnuts, use vanilla and add a little pumpkin pie spice, if desired. If using sweet potatoes and almonds, use almond extract.
Stir blueberries into mixture.
Use a small cookie scoop or measure out 2 tablespoons dough per cookie.
Bake on unbleached parchment paper approximately 22 minutes in a oven heated to 350 degrees. Remove cookies from oven and immediately turn them over to allow the bottoms to dry and cook.
Makes 2 cookie sheets of cookies. Make a batch, freeze and thaw as needed.
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The carrot casserole that follows is from the Bright School cookbook. Murphy noted that the original request was for a casserole made with Velveeta, so we'll keep searching for that one. But in the meantime, here's one that simply calls for grated cheese.
Carrot and Cheese Casserole
2 cups carrots, sliced
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs, beaten
2 cups grated cheese
Cook carrots in salted water; mash. Add butter, milk and eggs. Fold in cheese. Bake in heated 350-degree oven for 45 minutes in a greased baking dish.
Makes 6 servings.
Murphy explained that "I think I would be inclined not to mash the carrots but to leave them with some lumps of carrots. Maybe mash half the carrots and not the other half."
This method also works with mashed potatoes; leave some nice lumps to make it clear that these are real potatoes. I say that, however, knowing that super-smooth potatoes are often the only acceptable version for some.
Just a Dash
A certain reader was stricken with pneumonia and hospitalized for 10 days. The family rallied around, wondering what on earth was going to happen at post-hospital mealtime. The husband of our reader was used to the most healthful and generous meals: hot oatmeal every morning, bacon on demand or even without demand, the usual meat and three nightly. Alarmed, their daughter went straight to the house to cook things up and put them in the freezer.
Consider the response of this husband, a perfectly capable fellow. (Why would he have mastered the kitchen before now? She took good care of him, and will do so again when the recovery is complete.)
And so, from that good husband to you, here are the sensible remedies. (I paraphrase his no-nonsense words.) "No casserole brigade needed, thank you. We will have fried egg sandwiches and canned soup, either the low-sodium or light version, Progresso being our current favorite. Maybe New England clam chowder or chicken noodle. And on the other nights we'll have tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. To be even simpler, I'll make up a big batch of Bear Creek soup mix and get some good bread or rolls, and we'll just have soup and bread to dip in the soup. I've got this."
As always, we invite your simplest ideas; you might just-a-dash them off to this column.
Remember, too, that we would like to print your Kitchen Must-Haves. Ingredients? Tools? Cookware? Electronics?