Category Archives: make it

make it/ illustrated: ramp pesto

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bkp_rampshere’s a special treat that i’m really excited to share! i’m teaming up with my friend and amazing artist erin mcgill to bring you an illustrated version of the occasional “make it” post. first up is a tasty ramp petso… eat it on this, eat it on that, eat it on everything – while you can, of course. these babies are almost at the end of their springtime run.

i love erin’s artwork – from animals to food to streetscapes, she manages to capture something truly delightful. i hope you will look forward to seeing her work here as much as i am! recipe for ramp pesto below…

bkp_ramppesto (recipe and images provided by erin mcgill. see more of her work here, or follwer her on twitter: @wallcojr)

make it: chia chocolate pudding

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bkp_5_6_13_chiachocpudding1i’m not normally much of a chocolate person but i do have a taste for it once in a while. i’ve been trying to cut back on sweets, too, but i don’t think this really counts as anything to feel bad about. unlike the pudding that comes in a little disposable cup and has absolutely zero nutritional value, this version actually brings something to the party – lots of protein, natural sweeteners, and, it’s dairy free. i like it better than the real thing.

bkp_5_6_13_chiachocpudding2

chia seed chocolate “pudding”

add 1/2 cup filtered water to 2T chia seeds. let it sit and thicken for about 10 minutes, transfer to the vitamix, and add:

1 cup raw unsalted cashews, 5 or 6 dates, (remove the pits!), 1T unsweetened cocoa powder, 1T maple syrup or agave nectar, 1t vanilla. start with 1/2 cup of coconut milk (or almond milk) and pulse, adding more milk to achieve desired consistency. i usually add about 1 cup of the milk total. also, if you like a stronger chocolate flavor, you can add another tablespoon of the cocoa powder.

it’s good to eat right away, but i think it’s even better once it sits in the fridge for a few hours. it seems like the chia seeds keep thickening even once they’re ground up, and the texture is just great.

bkp_5_6_13_chiachocpudding(photos by laura kinsey for bklynprairie.com)

 

eat it: sesame noodles

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sesamenoodlessesame noodles…. ever since realizing that i can totally make these at home, they’ve become a bit of a problem. a little bit healthy and a little bit not, i want them at almost every meal. this dish has everything – great texture, great flavor….they’re irresistible to me.

now, for you by-the-book types, i know my version is kind of japanese and maybe kind of thai, and kind of not really authentic at all. but this is how i do it, and it’s good!

for the sauce:

2T tahini

2T creamy peanut butter

1T each of mirin, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and siracha. either regular sesame or toasted sesame oil is fine, and you can add some hot chili oil as well, if you have it!

1t grated ginger

juice from 1/2 a lime

for garnish:

handful of rough-chopped cilantro, thinly sliced scallions, and sesame seeds.

for the noodles:

the options are many. in the picture above, i used regular old pasta noodles (actually my last choice – just what i happened to have on hand) but you can use ramen, udon, rice noodles, or buckwheat soba noodles. my new favorite noodle is the black bean “spaghetti” from the brand Explore Asian. they have two ingredients (black beans & water!) and about 25 grams of protein per serving and almost half your daily requirement of fiber. they’re a perfect backdrop for the sauce.

the sauce! oh yes. easist thing ever – mix everything in a bowl, and toss with the cooked/rinsed/drained noodles. scatter the sesame seeds, scallions, and cilantro over the top. if the sauce seems a little thick, add a tablespoon or so of the pasta cooking water or regular hot water to thin it out.

(photo by laura kinsey)

 

eat it: beans & greens

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bkp_beansngreens_3-26-13this has become one of my favorite go-to healthy lunches. it’s simple, cheap and quick. yes, it involves the tiniest bit of cooking and you will have a sautée pan to wash, but it’s worth it. i swear it is…

what you’ll need:

half a bunch of kale (i like the tuscan kale, or cavolo nero, for recipes like this) washed & ready to use

7 oz. white cannellini beans (about half a can)

1 garlic clove, minced

1/4 t crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 c white wine

2 T diced canned tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, OR 2 T tomato paste*

juice from half a lemon

1 scallion, thinly sliced (optional)

olive oil for the pan

make it:

take your kale leaves and cut in half. i remove the stem from the lower half because they get kind of tough at that end, but skip it if you don’t mind a little extra chew. rinse and drain beans so they’re ready to go. set both aside.

put a glug of olive oil in the sautée pan, add minced garlic clove and crushed red pepper. turn on the flame. when garlic starts to sizzle, add kale leaves. before the garlic starts to smell weird and burn, add the lemon juice, white wine, and tomato paste. using tongs, turn kale leaves over and around in the pan for about 2-3 minutes. add beans, and pop the cover on for another minute or two so beans can heat through. if the pan starts to make that hissing dry sound, add a splash more lemon juice or wine.

transfer to a bowl. dress with another little glug of olive oil, sea salt, and fresh cracked black pepper. sprinkle with sliced scallions and EAT.

* i use about 2 tablespoons of a fresh tomato sauce made from canned San Marzano tomatoes that i try to make and just keep on hand. tomato paste works well too, as would some chopped fresh tomato or 2 tablespoons of canned diced tomatoes, just straight out of the can. if you buy tomato paste – buy it in the tube! you can use a little at a time and it’s won’t go bad like it will if you try to save the remainer of the can. i love the kind from Amore. (i’m dying to try their anchovy paste in something, too!)

recipe and photo by laura kinsey for bklynprairie

bakin’ it: fruit tarts

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baking success on saturday! the williamsburg greenmarket had amazing cherries, piles of rhubarb, and lots of beautiful jewel-like red currants. i stocked up, got a few extra fruits from the market, and went home to get started on my project: fruit tarts.

fruit tarts are a lovely yet mildly labor-intensive activity. you’ve got three components to prepare: pastry cream, dough (i made pâte sucreé), and fruit to wash, de-stem, pit, and slice. but none of this really requires a technique that’s difficult to master, so it’s nice to put on some music, make a capuccino, and get started by washing that fruit. (the slicing & de-stemming part gets saved till the end.) the pâte sucreé mixes up easily in the kitchen aid and then hangs out in the fridge for a few minutes, before getting rolled out, draped into a variety of mini tart pans, and baked. the pastry cream comes together easily and quickly too – the only slightly tedious part is to push it through a sieve, but i don’t recommend skipping this step. once the tart shells and pastry cream have cooled down, the assembly can begin…

this is the part that lets you fancy yourself an artiste… and tests your skills in geometry and structural stability. in the end it doesn’t matter; even if your arrangement of fruit is hideous, the tart will still taste like heaven. but i like this part… arranging the fruit in spirals, pyramids, and fans is very satisfying to me.

i made a double batch of pâte sucreé using the joy of baking recipe here

the pastry cream recipe is from smitten kitchen’s recipe for strawberry tart. (double batch.)

for the fruit, obviously whatever you like and can get your hands on is a good choice. some of the tarts ended up with a strawberry-rhubarb filling (which somehow i didn’t take a snap of. hmmm.) for the filling, i pretended like i was making this pie, but just threw all the ingredients into a glass baking dish covered with foil and into the oven it went for close to one hour.

i don’t think it’s worth the space to re-type these recipes here. if you’re keen to make fruit tarts, the links above will take you there. they really are a great use for all this fabulous summer fruit.

enjoy!

(photos by laurakinsey)

friday favorites…

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happy friday, everyone.

don’t ask how, but i managed to come down with a major sinus infection during the heatwave we’ve been having here on the east coast. i’m hoping to shake it by tomorrow so i can practice some baking. turning on the oven might sound like a dumb idea, but there are so many fruits and berries available right now… it just seems like the perfect time to experiment.

if the weekend lasted more than two days, i’d love to do each and every one of these things:

the cheese market and dairy fair at the new amsterdam market tops my to-do list on sunday!

visit monet’s garden exhibit at the new york botanical center

check out williamsburg’s farmers market

a class in making and decorating model boats? sounds interesting…

take a tour of castle williams on governors island

visit the cloud city exhibit by tomás saraceno at the met

(image credits here, here, and here) 

friday lunch

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usually when i’m out to dinner, i want to order something i either don’t like to make at home or don’t know how to make at home, because really, evenings out should be about adventure, in my opinion. for brunch, however, i feel the exact opposite it true – i generally want something involving eggs or pancakes, two things i’ve made at home a zillion times. there’s something about getting exactly what i want, no surprises, first thing in the morning that’s kind of great, and a perfect start to the day.

which brings me to this avocado and egg sandwich. an odd pairing which i’ve been happily enjoying for i can’t remember how long… i think it goes back to those days in fall 2001 when i was suddenly unemployed. i secretly thought of it as my “poor girl” meal. i mean, it seemed so humble, and kind of weird. avocado on bread? who does that? but it was good, and filling, and one avocado could be used for two meals – and i thought it was suitable for any meal of the day, including breakfast.

so as it happens, i ate this frequently for a long time and one day just sort of forgot about it. or maybe i OD’d in it and flat out decided not to eat it anymore…i can’t remember. but it’s re-emerged in my life as of late. i doubt this is really new, but i’m just noticing it on brunch menus at restaurants and as the favorite go-to meal of several blogger types out there… see here, for one example. and a couple weeks ago at allswell in williamsburg, i ordered it off the menu. theirs comes on chili bread topped with slices of avocado and a poached egg on the side and some salad greens and it was amazing. when i do it at home, i like to mash up the avocado with some lemon (easier to eat) and add some chives and sea salt over the top of the whole thing. i tend to use whatever bread is around, including english muffins. (by the way, they’re onto something at allswell with that chili bread…)

(photos by laurakinsey)

strawberry season

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there aren’t many things better than berries straight from the farm, are there?

growing up, my family had strawberry and raspberry bushes in the backyard, a small grove of apple trees, a couple sour cherry trees, and a row of pear trees in the front yard. i think this is why i’m such a fruit fanatic. i’ll take a fruity dessert over a chocolate one any day.

living in brooklyn, i can’t just walk outside and snack my way through the backyard, but i happened to be by the union square greenmarket yesterday, and everyone had strawberries for sale. i bought two big containers, and aside from slicing and eating them, or making fruit tarts like i did in my pastry class, i need to figure out what to do with the rest. thank you, interweb, for these great ideas.

above from left: (click the number to see original recipes and photos)

1. vanilla roasted rhubarb & strawberris

2. strawberry shortcake cookie

3. grilled strawberries

4. strawberry-vanilla swirled frozen pops

5. fresh strawberry pie with whipped cream

6. strawberry fool

(top photo by laurakinsey)

bakin’ it

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earlier this month, i took a baking class. i’m very comfortable cooking almost anything, and i have no trepidation or fears about making cookies and cake from scratch. but anything involving a crust is another story, save for graham cracker crust. i can make graham cracker crust. a three year old can make graham cracker crust.

actually, let me include anything that uses yeast in that category of “things i’m afraid of”. or at least in the category of “things i’m not confident doing”. that means any kind of bread, dough, or crust – brioche, pizzas, pie. but i love brioche, pizzas, and pie.

The Institute of Culinary Education, on West 23rd Street, offers a fabulous pastry program. i know it’s fabulous because i went to the information session and learned all about it, including the fact that the program costs over 30 grand to complete. not really so bad if you’re in your early twenties, haven’t already been to college (twice) and want to truly be a pastry chef. i’m not any of these things. i just want to learn how to make brioche, pizzas, and pies. i want a… comfort level with this stuff.

okay. they have recreational classes. phew. i took the pastry intensive course – it lasted a week, and it was glorious. every day from about 9-3 we baked: pâte sucrée, pâte brisée, pâte à choux… we made pies, tarts, galettes, puff pastry from scratch(!) a fruit strip, paris brest, baklava, éclair, profiterole, strudel, and some wonderful things involving almond paste. we also made all of the accompanying sauces: chocolate sauce, pastry crème, crème mousseline, hot fudge, orange blossom glaze…..

some interesting tidbits i learned: the Paris Brest is a dessert invented to commermorate a bicycle race between the french cities of Paris and Brest. and an old hungarian wives tale: a woman is a suitable bride when you can read through her strudel dough. yikes! (it gets stretched very thin).

so. am super pleased and can’t wait to make some killer galettes and the like this summer. next up is the intensive bread course. please stand by…

(photos taken quickly during class using instagram, by laurakinsey)