Shrimp, Spinach and Black Bean Quesidillas

Here's a relatively healthy meal that still feels a little bit indulgent. It's great for those nights when you don't want anything too complicated, but don't want to do a college throwback and just each nachos or a frozen pizza. Plus, it's fun to cook (not to mention eat). The amount of cheese listed below is approximate because while it would be delicious with more cheese, we were going for moderation. Add more if you're feeling frisky.

Shrimp and Spinach Quesidillas

(Inspired by Serious Eats)

Serves 2-4

• 1/2 pound shrimp
• 2 teaspoons Old Bay
• Juice of 1/4 of a lime
• 2 smallish tomatoes, finely diced
• 2 jalapeños, roasted, peeled, seeded, and diced
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, preferably freshly toasted and ground
• Scant 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander, preferably freshly toasted and ground
• Salt and pepper
• 2 boxes frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 8 flour tortillas, about 6 inches in diameter
• About 2 tablespoons butter
• About 1 cup cheese, such as Monterey Jack, a 'Mexican' blend, or cojita
• Sour cream, to serve
• Hot sauce, to serve

Place the shrimp in a steamer basket over boiling water, and sprinkle with the Old Bay. Steam until just cooked through, stirring once, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Once the shrimp are cool enough to handle, peel them, cut them each into 2 or 3 pieces, and place in a medium bowl.

Add the lime juice, tomatoes, 1 of the jalapeños, cilantro, and the cumin and coriander to the bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Taste the mixture and add the other jalapeño if desired. Allow this to sit for 30 minutes.

Melt 1 teaspoon butter in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add a tortilla and coat with the butter. Cook, flipping occasionally, until each side is slightly crispy with golden brown spots. Set aside. Add more butter to the skillet if necessary, and repeat with the other tortilla.

When the second tortilla is ready, top it with a couple tablespoons of the cheese of your choice. Follow this with a 1/4 of the spinach, and about a 1/4 of the beans (I say about because you may not want to use all of the beans). Sprinkle with salt. Top with a quarter of the shrimp, and a couple more tablespoons cheese. Top with the previously prepared tortilla.

Cook the quesidilla, flipping once, until the cheese is melted and the ingredients are heated through. Remove to a cutting board, and when cool enough, cut into quarters. Repeat with the remaining 6 tortillas to make 3 more quesidillas. You may find that it is advantageous to use two skillets at the same time, in order to speed up the process.

Serve with hot sauce and sour cream.

Sauerkraut

It's too late to make this sauerkraut for Thanksgiving, but sauerkraut with Thanksgiving dinner is apparently just a Baltimore thing, anyway. If you don't live in Baltimore and have never had sauerkraut as a part of your holiday spread, I would highly recommend that you try it next year--the tartness of the sauerkraut is a pleasing companion to the tart cranberry sauce. I love to take a bite of the stuffing, a bite of the tart sauerkraut, a bite of the turkey, followed by a bite of the tart cranberry sauce--it makes for such a nicely rounded dinner, and helps prevent tastebud fatigue.

While store-bought sauerkraut is vinegary and intense, home-made sauerkraut takes the same fermented, almost pickled cabbage taste, and treats it in a much more delicate, subtle manner, and the sauerkraut becomes almost effervescent. It's like moonshine made in the wilds of the Appalachians versus Baker's or Bookers whiskey. Or like grappa versus Grey Goose. Or like a pie bought at Walmart compared to a homemade pie made with fruits from your own tree...you get my point.

Not only is homemade sauerkraut delicious, it couldn't be simpler--you basically cut up a head of cabbage, toss it with some salt, smoosh it down every once in a while, and set it aside and mostly leave it alone. The most you'll have to do is occasionally scrape some of the scummy stuff off the top of the brine. It doesn't hurt anything, but it can apparently affect the taste of the sauerkraut. That, and you might want to move your setup outside if your house starts to smell like cabbage, especially if your house, like mine, frequently smells of cabbage anyway because your downstairs neighbors like to make their own kimchi. 

Sauerkraut

• 5 pounds cabbage
• 3 tablespoons kosher salt

Note: All of the recipes that I consulted directed that the cabbage be put in a crock (a vessel with a round opening and high, straight sides). I don't have a crock, nor do I know anyone who has such a thing, so I used a bowl. My plate fit snugly over the cabbage, so I figured it would work just fine. Perhaps there's a reason to use a crock, maybe it has something to do with evaporation, but I think you'll be okay if you decide to also go with a glass or ceramic bowl. You can even use a food-grade plastic bucket; just don't use metal, as it's reactive.

Remove any outer damaged or wilted leaves, but do not wash the cabbage--its natural bacteria is what's going to do the fermenting. Cut the head of cabbage into quarters and remove the hearts if you would like to, and thinly slice (or shred in a food processor)-you want the slices to be about the thickness of a nickel, ideally. Place the cabbage in the bowl or crock as you go, and sprinkle each layer with some of the salt. When all of the cabbage is in your bowl or crock, mix it up with your hands, then press down as hard as you can on it--you really want that cabbage smashed in there.

Cover the cabbage with a plate that fits snugly inside of your bowl or crock. Weight it with something heavy and clean, like a boiled rock, a big can of tomatoes, or a pitcher full of water. Cover it all with a dishtowel to prevent bugs and dust from getting in there. Let it sit for an hour and wilt. At the end of the hour, remove your weight and smash the cabbage down some more with your hands.

(This is what my setup looked like.)

Periodically, whenever you think of it, mash the cabbage down some more with your (clean) hands. By the next day, the cabbage should have exuded enough liquid that the cabbage is submerged. If not, dissolve a teaspoon of salt in a cup of water and pour it over the cabbage. Continue to do this until all of the cabbage is covered, and there's a bit of extra water over the top of the cabbage.

As the cabbage goes through its fermentation cycle, some water may evaporate, so you might have to periodically add more water. Also, check it every day or two, and remove the scum that has formed on the top. You won't be able to remove all of it, and that's okay--don't drive yourself crazy. The scum/mold is not harmful, and the cabbage is in an anaerobic environment, so nothing bad should be forming in the brine.

The cabbage will ferment more quickly if it's kept inside, but it can also be kept outside if the temperatures are above freezing. Some people claim that a slower fermentation makes for a tastier sauerkraut. In either case, your sauerkraut will be ready in about 3-6 weeks. Taste it occasionally to see how it's progressing, and when it's reached a stage of tanginess that you like, scoop it out into glass jars (with the brine), and store in the fridge.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's almost time for the holidays, and for me, the holidays mean cookies. In fact, one year I made so many cookies that I lived on a Starbucks and cookie diet. I actually lost weight that year, but I think it's because I was working in a very busy restaurant; when I tried the same experiment as a nurse, it had the effect one would anticipate.

While a cookie diet is not advisable unless you're burning about 3,000 calories per day, making cookies with wheat flour might make one feel a little less guilty about eating a few here and there. There's still a lot of butter and sugar in these bad boys, so they're by no means healthy, and that's not the point, really. The point of using wheat flour is that it lends the cookies a nice toasty depth of flavor, and it tames the sometimes cloying sweetness of the timeless treat. Once cooked, the wheat in the dough is not really noticeable, but it makes these cookies just a tiny bit more interesting than your standard chocolate chip (not that there's anything wrong with the standard chocolate chip).

Here's the difference between these cookies and your 'normal' chocolate chip cookies: when I bring a tray of normal cookies in to work, they get eaten through the course of the night, and people tell me that they're good. When a tray of these cookies are placed on the counter and I disappear into triage for a while, I return to the floor to be greeted by cries of "Leah! Yay!", and an empty plate. I would say that's a wholehearted endorsement, wouldn't you?

I made these cookies because Molly from Orangette highly recommended them, and even said that she might like them better than the famous New York Times recipe, which is quite a recommendation. Like the New York Times recipe, I find that chilling the dough in the fridge overnight makes for a more complex flavor, but it's certainly not necessary. In her post, Molly discusses whether it's best to use whole wheat flour, or white whole wheat flour. I decided to go with a combination of the two, and I thought it worked nicely. Feel free to play with the ratios, though. Just be sure to use bittersweet chocolate as opposed to milk chocolate, as the wheat would overwhelm the generally underwhelming milk chocolate.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Adapted from Good to the Grain, by Kim Boyce, and Molly from Orangette)

• 3 cups whole wheat flour (see note above)
• 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 ½ tsp. kosher salt
• 2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes (see note above)
• 1 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped into ¼- and ½-inch pieces, or bittersweet chips

Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven, and preheat to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment. (If you have no parchment, you can butter the sheets.)

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl, and whisk to blend.

Put the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low speed, mix just until the butter and sugars are blended, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. 

Gradually add the flour mixture to the bowl, and blend on low speed until the flour is just incorporated. Add the chocolate, and mix on low speed until evenly combined. (If you have no stand mixer, you can do all of this with handheld electric beaters and/or a large, sturdy spoon.) 

Using an ice cream scoop (not a huge one, though), scoop mounds of dough onto the baking sheets, leaving enough space for the cookies to expand a bit.

Bake the cookies for 10 to 20 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through, until the cookies are evenly browned. I found that the cookies are perfectly cooked when the middle parts are still very soft and fluffy and look almost raw, and the edges are getting a little bit firm, a little bit golden, and a little bit drier than the rest of the cookie. Transfer the cookies, still on parchment, to a rack to cool. Repeat with remaining dough.

Spinach Souffle

Now this is why I do the whole Daring Cooks thing...because when I opened the file for this November's challenge, my first thought was Oh, s***. Perhaps that's not everyone's idea of a fun time, but I like a challenge.

Souffles, how you torture me. I figure that a souffle is something that every semi-serious cook should have under their belt, but my one previous attempt scared me off. It was Julia Child's chocolate souffle, and while the taste was delicious, the texture was like a sponge that had been left in the sink for too long. Nick still makes fun of me for it, in fact, and this was about two years ago.

But because I think that it's a semi-necessary part of one's repertoire, I've always had it in the back of my mind that it must be attempted again, whether I repeat the same recipe or try another.

Fear of repeated failure had me convinced that a savory souffle might be a good place to start, partially because savory souffles are not expected to rise dramatically (my first one, of course, did not rise very much). I had spied this recipe a long time ago on Epicurious, and when I was craving some creamed spinach to go with a ribeye, this sounded like a perfect substitution.

So the verdict? Rather successful. It may not have been the lightest, airiest souffle to have ever graced a plate, but it was satisfactory. Enough so that I am no longer quite as afraid of souffles. Perhaps I'll even try a sweet version.

Spinach Soufflé

(Adapted from Epicurious)

• 5 tablespoon butter, plus extra for prepping the dish
• About 2 tablespoons finely grated fresh Parmesan
• 1 cup shopped shallots (about 6 ounces)
• 2 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, squeezed dry
• 2 cups (packed) grated smoked Gouda cheese (about 7 ounces)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a standard soufflé dish, and sprinkle finely grated Parmesan all over the sides of the dish. 

In a large saucepan, cook shallots in the butter over medium heat, until tender, about 7 minutes. Add flour; stir 3 minutes. Whisk in the milk and cook, stirring almost constantly, until mixture is thick and smooth. This may take almost 15 minutes, as it must be done slowly so that the sauce does not burn or curdle. Remove sauce from heat. 

In a large bowl, thoroughly combine the egg yolks, spinach, 1 1/3 cups cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg. When the sauce is cool enough that it's no longer steaming, stir about 3/4 cup into the spinach mixture. Gradually stir in the rest, being careful not to curdle the egg yolks.

Using electric mixer, beat egg whites in large bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold whites into spinach mixture in 2 additions. Transfer to prepared baking dish. Sprinkle remaining 2/3 cup cheese over. Bake until puffed and set, about 45 minutes

Pasta with Oxtail Ragu

When I came home from the store the other day and announced excitedly that they now carry oxtails, Nick looked at me like I was crazy. And maybe I am, but this cheap, tough cut is much loved by Italian cooks and professional chefs alike. Mario Batali claims that it's the most flavorful part of the cow, so I just had to give it a try.

Because oxtails are tough, bony little critters, they require a braise. In this case, the braise was turned into a ragu, which is a thick, hearty pasta sauce. The stuff they sell in jars is not really ragu--it's tomato sauce. A ragu is a thick, chunky sauce that usually includes a mirepoix and and good bit of wine, but generally no ground beef. Also, it's generally cooked long enough to be considered a braise.

At this time of year, I just love to braise anything and everything, so you'll be seeing a lot of it around here. Braising makes the house smell wonderful for hours on end, and sitting by the fire on a cold night and enjoying those smells is just lovely.

I also love that you can make a braised meal and have the kitchen sparkling clean by the time the meal is ready. This makes braised dishes ideal for company, especially because the meal can even be prepared the day before, and if anything, it actually gets better.

I served this ragu with some homemade tagliatelli, but it would also be delicious incorporated into a simple lasagne. This amount of ragu is enough to lightly sauce four servings, or heavily sauce 2 servings of pasta, possibly with some left over. In the instructions below, I've written for enough pasta to serve 2 people with good appetites. If you would like 4-6 servings of pasta, use 400 grams of flour and 4 eggs.

Pasta with Oxtail Ragu

• 2 1/2 pounds oxtail, cut into 2-4 inch pieces
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 small parsnip, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 small fennel bulb, chopped
• 1 can (15 ounces) plum tomatoes
• 2 cups dry red wine
• 3 small rosemary sprigs
• 3 sprigs oregano
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 cup chicken stock or water
• 200 grams all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon of a combination of chopped fresh rosemary and oregano
• Pinch red pepper flakes
• Balsamic vinegar*

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Trim the oxtail of excess fat, and remove silverskin, if possible. Season with salt and pepper, and dredge in flour, shaking off the excess.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a 6-quart Dutch oven. When the oil shimmers, add the oxtail and brown on all sides. You will most likely have to do this in batches; add more oil to the pot as necessary. Transfer the oxtails to a plate.

Add the onion, parsnip, and fennel to the pan and saute over medium heat until soft and browned, about 7 minutes. Add the wine and increase the heat to high. Boil until reduced by about a fourth, about 5 minutes. As the wine reduces, scrape up the brown bits from the bottom of the pot.

While the tomatoes are still in the can, cut them into pieces with a pair of kitchen scissors. In a piece of cheesecloth, tie up the rosemary, oregano and garlic. Add this herb sachet and the tomatoes to the pot. Put the pieces of oxtail back in the pot.

If necessary, add enough water to come most of the way up the pieces of meat. Bring to a boil, cover, and place in the center of the oven. Cook until the oxtail is very tender and beginning to fall off the bones, about 3-4 hours. Check the meat halfway through the cooking time. If the liquid is no longer coming at least half way up the side of the oxtail pieces, add the chicken stock or water.

While the ragu is braising, make the pasta:

Mound the flour in the center of a large wooden board, and sprinkle it with the salt. Make a well in the center and add the eggs. Using a fork or your fingers, beat the eggs together, then, continuing to use a swirling motion, begin to incorporate the flour, starting with the inner rim of the well.

As you expand the well, keep pushing the flour up to retain the well shape. This takes some practice, and if the eggs break through the wall of the well, all is not lost--just try to combine the eggs and flour as well as you can.

 

When half of the flour is incorporated, the dough will begin to come together. Start kneading the dough, using primarily the palms of your hands. Once the dough is a cohesive mass, set the dough aside and scrape up and discard any dried bits of dough.

Lightly flour the board and continue kneading for 10 minutes, dusting the board with additional flour as necessary. The dough should be elastic, very smooth, and a little sticky. And seriously, this really takes 10 whole minutes--do not try to slack on this part, just find a Zen place and knead away. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and allow to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.

To roll out the pasta, divide it into 3 pieces (if you're using 200 grams of flour). Make the first piece into a flattish shape and cover the rest. With your plain roller set to the largest setting (lower number), pass the dough through once. Fold like a book (one flat piece in the back, and two pieces folded over on the sides so that they almost meet in the middle) and pass through again. Fold like a book and repeat 2 more times. After the last time, send the pasta through as is.

Then, put the roller on the next smallest setting and pass the dough through. Continue to do this on smaller and smaller settings until the pasta is the right thickness (I like a 6 or 7 on Kitchenaid stand mixers). Lay the dough out on a flat surface and cover with a towel so that it does not dry out, and repeat with the remaining lumps of dough.

When all of the pasta is laid out flat, switch to the fettuccine-cutting roller, and pass the pieces of dough through, one at a time. Sprinkle the dough with a little bit of flour so that the noodles don't stick together; cover with a towel so they do not dry out. 

 

When the meat is ready, remove the pot from the oven. Transfer the oxtail to a plate, and discard the herb sachet. Skim the fat off the surface. If the remaining liquid is not very thick, (ragus are very thick sauces), place the pot over a burner and boil until reduced to the proper consistency.

If you would like a fancier presentation, either use a stick blender to puree the sauce, or strain out the vegetables and puree them in a food processor; return to the pot. If you would like a more 'rustic' presentation, just leave the vegetables as they are.

When the sauce is the proper consistency and the meat is cool enough to handle, pick the meat off the bones and return to the pot. Let the meat warm through before serving. Add the red pepper flakes. Taste for seasoning, and add salt, pepper, and more red pepper flakes as needed. This dish is very good with a great deal of pepper.

In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta until al dente, about 2-3 minutes. Drain the pasta and divide amongst the serving vessels of your choice. Spoon the ragu over the top of the pasta and serve. 

*The balsamic vinegar does not have a quantity listed, as I added a few drops only to my own portion. I thought that the dish needed some acidity, and I thought that balsamic would be just perfect, but too much vinegar could have ruined the dish for Nick. For the whole pot, you'll likely want to use about a 1/2 teaspoon. Start with that and taste for flavor; add more if you like.

Note: As I mentioned above, this dish can be better on the day after it's made. Making it the day before is also advantageous because you can skim the fat off the surface of the sauce, and when you pull apart the pieces of meat, you'll be better able to remove the extra fat.

Pizza With Caramelized Onions, Broccoli Rabe, and Goat Cheese

 This pizza was inspired by a recipe over on Smitten Kitchen, and it's remained a perennial favorite in our house, particularly in the winter. It's the kind of pizza that makes a well-rounded meal, and the hearty greens are enough to convince you that you can eat pizza and be nutritionally virtuous at the same time.

The bitterness of the broccoli rabe, the sweet caramelized onions, and the tangy goat cheese become more than the sum of their parts, and when some chewy pizza dough and some garlic oil are thrown into the mix, this pizza makes a just about perfect meal.

I know that some people are turned off by the bitterness of hearty winter greens, but I assure you  when the broccoli rabe is joined by its culinary companions, the bitterness becomes an asset and gives the whole pizza a delicious balance. Plus, whereas some hearty greens benefit from a long cooking time, the broccoli rabe cooks in just a few minutes. Also a nice benefit is the fact that this pizza requires no fresh herbs. So if your herb garden has died, or you don't feel like buying expensive fresh herbs, you're in luck.

Pizza with Caramelized Onions, Broccoli Rabe, and Goat Cheese

• 1/2 recipe pizza dough
• 2 medium onions
• 4 teaspoons canola oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Kosher salt
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons good extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 bunch broccoli rabe (also called rapini)
• Pinch red pepper flakes
• A couple pinches sugar, or a squeeze of agave nectar
• 3-4 ounces goat cheese
• Very good extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Optional:

• 1/2 cup Monterey Jack cheese
• Lemon, cut into wedges

While the pizza dough is rising, slice the onions. In a skillet, heat 2 teaspoons canola oil over medium heat, and add the onion. Cook until very soft and caramelized, about 30 minutes. If the onions start to dry out, add a tablespoon of butter. Salt to taste while cooking.

While the onions cook, combine the minced garlic and the good olive oil in a little bowl. Set aside. Cut off the bottom inch or two of the bunch of broccoli rabe, so that the dried-out, tough parts of the stem are removed. Chop the rest of the bunch into small, bite-sized pieces. Wash thoroughly.

In a large skillet, heat 2 teaspoons canola oil over medium-high heat. Add the broccoli rabe (it's okay if there is still some water clinging to the leaves). Add salt to taste, and a pinch of red pepper flakes, and saute until tender, about 7 minutes. Taste the greens. If they are very bitter, add the couple pinches of sugar or the squeeze of agave nectar. Remove from heat.

When the dough has been rising for about 45 minutes, preheat the oven (with a pizza stone in place) to 500 degrees.

When the dough has almost doubled in size (about and hour and a half), stretch it out into a 12-inch circle. It helps to take your fingertips and make divets all over the surface of the dough, then spread with the palms of your hands, pushing outward. Repeat until the dough is the desired size.

Spread the garlic oil over the surface of the pizza, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Using a peel or an inverted pizza sheet, slide the dough onto the pizza stone. Cook until the dough is getting firmer and is taking on a teeny-tiny bit of a golden color, about 5 minutes.

Remove the pizza from the oven, and close the oven door. Spread the onions over the surface of the pizza. Spread the broccoli rabe over the onions, and cover the whole thing with the goat cheese. Return to the oven and cook until the crust is golden brown and the goat cheese is melted a bit.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle with a bit of salt, the Monterey Jack if you're using it, and the very good olive oil. Sometimes this pizza benefits from a sprinkle of lemon juice, and sometimes it doesn't need it, so perhaps serve some lemon slices on the side. Cut into wedges and serve.

Pumpkin Bread

Here's a nice little seasonal treat that you can whip up in almost no time at all. Is that why quick breads are called 'quick breads,' do you think?

Pumpkin Bread

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup mildly flavored walnut oil
• 1/3 cup unsweetened apple butter or apple sauce
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 16-ounce can solid pack pumpkin
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• Scant 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts 
• About 2 teaspoons turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter (or use non-stick cooking spray) and flour two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans. Beat sugar and oil in large bowl to blend. Mix in eggs, vanilla and pumpkin. Sift flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and ginger into another large bowl. Stir into pumpkin mixture in 2 additions.

Divide batter equally between prepared pans. Sprinkle the walnuts in a line down the length of the loaves. Sprinkle the turbinado sugar over the top. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool 10 minutes. Using sharp knife, cut around edge of loaves. Turn loaves out onto racks and cool completely.