Thursday, November 19, 2009

post-virus recuperation

The recent dearth of activity here at I Don't Eat Bacon is the fault of a virus that completely knocked the crap out of my computer (and a little bit of pre-marathon taper madness, when I found myself completely useless at any task involving sustained attention). We are now back in commission, but not without the loss of the program I use to upload photos to the computer. Annoying as this may be, I'm not letting it hold me back. There are overdue recipes to be posted!

I lost track of when I prepared these, but I can do my best to recreate my thoughts about the results (which I'd drafted in a Word document that, of course, was lost when the computer guys "fixed" the computer).

Catch-up recipe #1:
Vegetarian cassoulet

Adapted from Gourmet, March 2008
Serves 4 to 6
Total time: 1 hr 15 minutes

This falls squarely into the "Sounds too simple to be good, but is really, really good" category. After eating it at a friend's house, I was excited to try it out myself, but I worried that my eating buddies (a k a parents) wouldn't be satisfied by it. Whether it's in their heads or their stomachs, my parents tend to think that if there's not an animal protein on the plate, it ain't a meal. But with steamed broccolini and a mound of cooked grain pilaf, this left them extremely satisfied, both hunger- and taste-wise.

Another note: The original recipe outlines making the cassoulet on the stovetop, starting by sauteeing the vegetables in olive oil, then adding beans and herbs. When my friend's mother made it for us, she bypassed all that and simply threw everything in the oven, sans the oil, and baked it. This approach appealed to me because: it tasted amazing without the extra fat; it involved far less attention during the cooking; and, best of all, there'd be fewer vessels and utensils to clean in the end. Baking it meant less surface area to cover with garlic crumbs (see below), so I meant to halve the quantities for the crumbs. However, my notes suggest that I halved the bread crumbs and oil, but not the garlic, parsley, salt or pepper. I can't figure out what happened, so the amounts below match exactly my suspect notes from the night I made this. Good luck!

{for cassoulet}
1 large red onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
4 medium carrots, halved lengthwise and cut into 1-inch-wide pieces
3 celery ribs, cut into 1-inch-wide pieces
4 garlic cloves, chopped
4 thyme sprigs
2 parsley sprigs
1 Turkish bay leaf (I used two; what we have in our spice cabinet is certainly older than I)
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
3 1/2 cans (15 oz. each) cannellini or Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
1 qt. water

{for garlic crumbs}
2 c. coarse fresh bread crumbs
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. chopped garlic
1/4 c. chopped parsley
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper


{make cassoulet}
Preheat oven to 350* F. Combine all ingredients in a large, deep casserole dish. Bake 45-60 minutes, or until liquid is mostly absorbed and vegetables are tender.

{make garlic crumbs}
While cassoulet bakes, toss bread crumbs with oil, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl until well coated. Spread on a baking pan and toast in the same 350* oven. After 6-7 minutes, stir crumbs. Continue cooking until crisp and golden, another 6-8 minutes.

Remove pan from oven and allow crumbs to cool. Return to bowl and combine with parsley.

{seal the deal}
When there's still a bit too much water left, remove cassoulet from oven and pluck out herb springs and bay leaf. Mash some of the beans with a fork or spoon; this will help thicken the surrounding liquid, which is very nice. Top cassoulet with garlic crumbs, then return to oven to continue cooking and to crisp the top.


Catch-up recipe #2:
Pumpkin molasses cookies

Adapted from The Healthy Everythingtarian
Yield: I forget, but it was more than the 2 dozen promised in the original. Like, I think it was twice as many.
Time: 15 minutes prep, 10-12 minutes baking time

I made these the same day as the cassoulet. My only real logic behind that was, Hey, the oven's already set to 350* . . . why not bake some cookies? The fact that I think anytime is cookie time may have been a factor.

2 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp. ground ginger, plus more for dusting cookies
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 c. wheat germ
1/2 c. pureed cooked pumpkin
1/4 c. molasses
1/4 c. canola oil
3/4 c. evaporated cane juice (or sugar or other sweetener), divided
2 Tbsp. water

1. Preheat oven to 350* F (unless it's already set there!). Line a baking pan with parchment paper, or lightly grease it with canola oil.

2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and wheat germ. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together pumpkin, molasses and oil. Then whisk in all but 2 Tbsp. of the evaporated cane juice.

4. Fold pumpkin mixture into dry ingredients, adding water toward the end to help bring dough together. It will be sticky!

5. In a small bowl, combine remaining 2 Tbsp. evaporated cane juice and a couple dashes of ground ginger.

6. Spoon out dough 1 Tbsp. at a time, roll into a ball, then toss in sugar/ginger mixture until lightly coated. Place on prepared pan, then continue with remaining dough. Before putting into oven, press down each cookie with the tines of a fork vertically, then horizontally, to create crisscross lines and to slightly flatten cookies to about 1/4-1/2 inches in thickness.

7. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until slightly firm.