From Cook’s Illustrated: The Best Make-Ahead Recipe.
Why this recipe works:
After some preliminary testing for our slow-cooker lentil and Swiss chard stew recipe, we decided that large brown and green lentils did the best job of retaining their texture, shape, and flavor through the all-day simmer. As the lentil and Swiss chard stew recipe progressed, we realized it needed more flavorful components to boost the lentils and chard, which, admittedly, tasted pretty thin. After testing a variety of additional ingredients, we most liked the earthiness of mushrooms—in particular, meaty portobello mushrooms pumped up with dried porcini.
PREP-AHEAD TIPS: You can store the following ingredients together, with the exception of the chard leaves:
1. Cook the onion-chard stem mixture as described in step 1, then transfer the mixture to an airtight container and refrigerate; prep the chard leaves and refrigerate.
2. Prep the carrots and refrigerate.
3. Prep the portobellos and refrigerate.
4. Pick over and rinse the lentils and refrigerate.
Serves 6 to 8
Be sure to choose large green or brown lentils and avoid red lentils or lentils du Puy, both of which will overcook. Carefully sort through the lentils to remove small stones and pebbles and then rinse.
Ingredients
• 2 medium onions , minced
• 4 medium garlic cloves , minced (I used shallots)
• 2 TBS Extra-virgin olive oil (for serving, optional)
• 1TBS tomato paste (omitted this)
• 1/2 ounce dried porcini mushrooms, soaked, rinsed and minced
• 1 1/2 tsp minced fresh thyme leaves , or 1 teaspoon dried
• Salt
• 4 cups vegetable broth (I used half water and half white wine since most premade broth includes carrots)
• 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 4 oz. bacon (about 4 slices)
• 1 pound carrots , cut into 1-inch chunks (omitted the carrots)
• 12 ounces portobello mushroom caps , gills removed, cut into 1/2-inch chunks (I used criminis, which are mini portobellos to go even more low-maintenance)
• 7 ounces brown or green lentils (1 cup), rinsed and picked over
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 oz. Swiss chard , stems and leaves separated (see illustration below); stems cut into 1/4-inch pieces and leaves chopped coarse
Instructions
1. Microwave onions, garlic, oil, tomato paste, dried mushrooms and thyme in a bowl, stirring occassionally until onions are soft, about 5 minutes. (Or you can do this on the stove).
2. Stir both broths, bacon, carrots, fresh mushrooms, lentils and bay leaves into slow cooker. Cover and cook on low until the soup is thickened and the lentils are tender, 9 to 11 hours. (Alternatively, cover and cook on high for 5 to 7 hours.)
3. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Stir in the chard leaves, cover, and continue to cook on high until the leaves are wilted and tender, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Season with salt and pepper to taste, add more olive oil to taste and serve.
Technique: Preparing Chard
Hold each leaf at the base of the stem over a bowl filled with water and use a sharp knife to slash the leafy portion from either side of the thick stem or hold the leaves, stacked, on a cutting board and run the knife along the sides of the stem.
Technique: Removing the Gills from Portobello Mushrooms
It is necessary to remove the black gills from the portobello mushrooms because they made the stew muddy in appearance. Using a soup spoon, scrape and discard the dark-colored gills from the underside of each mushroom.
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Recipe #2! Seriously, this could not be easier!
Corned Beef and Cabbage/New England Boiled Dinner from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything
1 corned beef, 3-5 lbs
1 bay leaf
1 head of garlic (I subbed with shallots)
3 dried cloves
10 peppercorns
5 allspice berries or 1-2 pinches of ground allspice
1 onion
small head of cabbage, quartered
4-6 small red potatoes
small bunch of baby turnips or 2-3 turnips, quartered
(a reader also suggested adding corn on the cob and green beans, yum!)
1. Put the corned beef in a large, heavy pot and cover with water. (If the beef is not salted, add some salt here.)
2. Add all the spices, and the onion. Bring to a boil, skimming foam off the surface.
3. Turn to a simmer and cover (or put in a slow cooker and cover, cook on low). After 2 hours (for a small piece or 3 hours for a larger one), start testing with a thin knife if it's easy to pierce through the meat. This should be pretty loose, not like a steak!
4. If the pot is big enough, throw in the remaining vegetables in the last 30 minutes (turn to high if using the slow cooker). If not, take out the corned beef, then boil the veggies separately.
5. Slice corned beef across the grain, serve with some veggies and broth. Correct seasonings with salt and pepper to taste.
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One evening after Christmas, my mom and I were taking a nice walk after dinner, and we ran across two chocolate shops on Main Street in Bellevue (which is a neighborhood east of Seattle proper). One was Fran's--which is local to Seattle and now famous nationwide, especially for their seasalt caramels. However, personally I feel that their product quality is not what is used to be (perhaps due to their global expansion), so was lukewarm about going in. Also, I prefer to support local retailers whenever possible, so was thrilled to pieces to find Amore Chocolates right across the street from Fran's! It is the TEENIEST shop I've ever been in in the US (there were tiny ones in Europe like this), but here was the kicker--they had a sign on the door that said "Vegan truffles--dairy free" and "Gluten-free". How could I resist? I practically dragged my mom into the store behind me.
Once inside, I overheard one of the employees ask, then repeated the question, to someone as to whether she had touched some products because he was working with peanuts and he didn't want cross-contamination. Bingo--I was with my kind of people! I got even more excited, if that's possible. We started chatting, and it turns out that that young man who was concerned about cross-contamination also had food allergies himself. Of course, we began sharing our food allergy lists, and once again, this Food Allergy Queen reigned supreme. (Insert crowd cheers here.) He then goodnaturedly assigned himself the title of Food Allergy Court Jester. So cute!
On to the chocolates! So, it turns out that ALL the dark chocolates in the store are dairy-free and made with coconut milk instead. No cream in the chocolate, or the ganache (usually made with chocolate and cream) fillings. No butter either. Anything with a creamy texture was made with coconut milk! (See picture with bite out of it to see the texture--please ignore the bite mark.) And knowing that dipping chocolates by hand is difficult and a tempermental process in the first place, and also considering the extra challenge of the natural humidity in the Pacific Northwest, I was especially impressed by the hand-dipped chocolate texture and the intense European-style flavors of Amore Chocolates. The owner, Brenda, was on the premises so I was able to ask her directly about how she assembled her products and the ingredients of everything. She was tickled to help me work my way through the choices.
A reader was wondering how to make fruit leather for her child who was allergic to the citrus in the commercial products. I came across a recipe this morning, so here is the link to the original post. To replace the citrus, use either a light vinegar (like champagne, or white balsamic), verjus (sour grape juice), or perhaps a little powdered ascorbic acid (Vitamin C, which you can find at Whole Foods and other health food stores). Perhaps tamarind -- which you can find at Latino or Indian stores.
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A few notes: any good Chinese dish is a combination of flavors and textures, so if you delete items, be sure to replace it with something of a similar texture. For instance, I've made this both with turkey as well as with pork, and when I took out the peas, I added back in diced green pepper. Additions suggested by the original recipe are baby corn, mushrooms, snow peas. Don't remove the sausage though, that's a key flavor in this recipe and helps make up for the lack of soy sauce.
